She’s Got Systems

Find the systems you need to grow your business

Systems for Personal Growth

Personal Development by Leave a Comment

Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, your business success is directly tied to your personal growth potential. The ability of an entrepreneur to mature, take on new challenges, question the status quo and step forward with confidence will all impact your bottom line.

Of course, most people think that they just need a better marketing funnel or sales page so they ignore the most essential element of a business: you.

Personal development can get a bad rap because, when it’s done poorly, it’s little more than rah-rah cheerleading about confidence and chanting mantras. Any course or training or experience that leaves you feeling fired up and excited, but doesn’t create any actual change is no better than an amusement park roller coaster: Fun while it lasts but useless day to day.

Now, I don’t doubt that personal development teachers and coaches want their students to walk away changed but if you’re not equipped with a system to implement that change then it’s likely to be fleeting.

 Continue Reading ￫

Sharing my Super Simple Secret Packing List

Resources by Leave a Comment

Sharing my Super Simple Secret Packing List

Today I’m off for a little adventure, meeting my clients and colleagues for a couple of days sans laptop 🙂

Often I hear from friends and clients that I must be super organized in every area of my life. While that’s not exactly the case, I do like to keep things systematized so that when I’m busy or stressed I don’t make stupid or expensive mistakes.

For example: forgetting to book a hotel and now they’re super expensive or leaving my toothbrush at home and guzzling mints until I can find a drug store.

So today I want to share my super simple secrets to packing list with you as a digital download (no opt-in required).

 Continue Reading ￫

Hurricane Systems in the South

Playbook by 1 Comment

At the tail end of hurricane season last year I found this amazing story of how one company has created a system so comprehensive that it is recognized by the Federal Government. The amazing thing is that this is no bank, institute of higher learning or government entity.

It’s the Waffle House.

For those of you unaware, Waffle House is a regional chain of 24 hour restaurants serving up inexpensive breakfast fare frequented by travelers, broke college students and loyal locals.

Located in mid-Atlantic states targeted by hurricanes, the Waffle House franchise has made an amazing system around recovering from these natural disasters. So much now that the Feds use the reopening of restaurants – or “Waffle House Index” – in an affected area as a metric of how badly an area was hit.

Even better, they call this plan a playbook, “its hurricane playbook explains how to reopen a restaurant and what to serve if there is gas but not electricity, or a generator but no ice.”

You can read the story in its entirety here but here are some of the brilliant aspects of this plan:

They employ a “crisis management team” which tracks and monitors hurricane activity! I love that they refuse to ignore potential problems but are proactive in creating a plan.

The mobile command center waits outside a disaster zone, ready to swoop in with supplies and essentials once the danger has passed. They dedicate resources to recovering as quickly as possible!

Limited menus are prepared well before a hurricane to cover every combination of resources available. I love that they take the time to think how they can serve in limited circumstances! Instead of telling a customer that their favorite food isn’t available due to the grill-only status, Waffle House limits options so they can say yes to every order.

The focus and design is to provide for the community in a time of need. Waffle House could easily reopen within hours with jacked up prices and many would pay while their heat and electricity are out at home. Instead they keep the same low prices, serve until it is too dangerous for the staff and over and again the community is grateful for some normalcy.

The best takeaway here is that it’s not just one manager in one location who figured this out but company wide to over 1,600 franchises. It’s likely that this idea or practice started small but management, seeing the potential, allowed it to take hold and grow so that the entire company is now known for their emergency preparedness, responsiveness and capability.

You may not have a physical location that’s in danger of being hit by a hurricane. But there are some predicable “emergencies” for online businesses. Have you thought about them? Prepared for them?

Building a Support Tribe

Team & Support by Leave a Comment

Who doesn’t love Seth Godin? If you’ve read his book Tribes, you know that he speaks very specifically to building a group of followers, your tribe, as the cornerstone of your business.

Today I want to share some tips on how you can build your own tribe, one that is equally passionate and dedicated in the support of your business – in other words your team. The people who make up this tribe will consist of paid and unpaid members in a variety of positions.

But first, accept the notion that you cannot do it all yourself. There is no true solo entrepreneur, even if you have no paid team. The beauty of online business entrepreneurship today is that we are surrounded by as much support as we need as long as we ask. There are opportunities all around to engage, encourage and develop this tribe that will assist in spreading your message. In fact, need help finding your message? There’s support for that too!

Accepting that you’re not alone is important because once you shift your perspective the opportunities you will see will abound.

You cannot build a tribe unless you talk about your work. That often means you need to initiate the conversations because, well, we’re a pretty selfish culture. That doesn’t mean people are unwilling to help, just that you need to find the right people, the ones who tune in to the work you’re doing and want to be a part of the process.

Did you catch that? They want to be involved. When it comes to your tribe, you won’t have to do a lot of old school selling, convincing clients that they need you. Of course there’s some education involved but speaking your message to your tribe is much different than selling.

Talking about your work can include free training calls, telesummits, events, a newsletter, your blog, guest posting – a variety of avenues to sharing your message and reaching new clients.

One of the most effective ways to get out and teach your message is to network – meeting like minded colleagues who can become clients or refer clients to you is an effective use of marketing time.

In addition to meeting people who have the potential to contribute to your tribe, you need to keep in touch and give value in order to develop a stronger relationship. To ensure timely follow up and that you make connections that last I’ve written two articles: Creating your networking system and refining networking systems to give more value.

Giving to your tribe, sharing your gifts and staying connected is an essential part of building a tribe that understands what you bring and who you serve and helps you reach your goals.

What about my team?

When it comes to finding people who love and support your work, share your vision with others and act as your unpaid sales force, it’s important to have systems to ensure you’re nurturing those relationships.

But the relationship you have with your team is just as important.

As business owners, and former employees, it’s hard to strike the right balance between getting results out of our team members and not becoming the type of boss featured in Hollywood comedies. While this subject requires several stand alone posts, I do believe that when you create systems with clear expectations, stipulations and results that your team can become the strongest part of your tribe.

Knowing what is expected and being treated fairly are hard to find in many workplaces today. Whether employees or contract workers, your team will be more efficient and effective when they understand your vision and how to help you achieve it.

If you caught my interview on Mixergy.com you know that I call this “being the GPS” in your business. It’s not enough to ask someone to go from point A to point B (such as “create a sales page”) because if you don’t give them direction they could be wandering all over the place wasting time and money. Instead, it’s your job to create systems by putting the thought in first and being able to communicate what the sales page will entail, the copy, videos, graphics, design, payment options, testimonials, calls to action and more. Creating these road maps takes time but when you’re able to give your team crystal clear direction so they can proceed and deliver your ideal outcome it’s all worth it.

I’ll be sharing more about systems that support your team and bring them into your amazing tribe of supporters here on the blog and exclusively in my weekly newsletter. If you haven’t signed up to receive systems updates fill in the boxes on this page today.

Refining Your Networking System

Systems by 2 Comments

As a follow up to my popular Networking Systems for Success post last month, I want to show you some additional hacks for measuring your effectiveness at networking and follow up.

First, when you’re networking, as mentioned in Part 1, you want to connect to the people who are interested in your business or you in theirs. This can be easily summarized as “quality over quantity.”  It’s okay to spend 20 minutes talking in depth with one person instead of rushing about meeting as many people as you can.

Several months back I was at an event that was very crowded but with the assistance of the host was able to connect to a few people and had great conversations.  In the middle of one discussion I was passed by a stranger who handed me his business card and walked away.  Rude, right?  Don’t make the same mistake by insisting on papering the event with your cards or collecting as many as possible.  Of course if you don’t have time to really get into conversation, ask for a card so you can follow up.

Second, follow up does not have to mean “begin selling your product or services.”  It’s a little bit like dating sometimes; if you meet someone and ask them to marry you it’s going to sound creepy.  Instead think long term and “date” first by getting to know them better and allowing them to know you. Dating is a process, so start slow and find out areas you have in common by following up after the event.

While it does help to have a good memory when it comes to follow up, I am not known for my short term memory! To compensate I will send myself an email from my phone with the person’s first name, what we were discussing and a quick note on next step.  It’s not unusual to check your phone during an event, and then you’ll have a record for your own notes.

Recognize that reaching out via email doesn’t have to be formal or even overly prepared.  Sure, I use canned responses but the bulk of the message is adapted to be friendly, casual and personable.  Effective systems don’t make others feel like they’re moving through a machine.  We all crave more personal, real connections and as soon as the message seems “canned” I personally tune out.

One prime example of this was a follow up message I got after a networking event referencing a different networking event that I had not attended! Taking time to personalize the message and connect with the person you want in your network is well worth the effort! The time and small cost of a cup of coffee can pay off in unexpected ways down the road.

When it comes to contacting your network the third tip is to give before you request. This will happen more naturally as you grow your network and spend time developing relationships.  Once you know a few fashion design students it becomes easy to connect them to the clothing designer looking for an assistant. Or connect the VA looking for more work to the busy coach who needs to manage her schedule.

Remember, creating systems is all about the results you want to get out of your business.  So here are some sample emails to get your creativity going when it comes to connecting at your next event:

Thanks for the great ideas regarding my business, I’d love to take you out to lunch to hear more about your upcoming projects.

I was intrigued by your business and have some contacts in the industry. Can we talk next week so I can better understand who might benefit from your work or be a strong promotional partner?

Thanks for the information on new marketing tactics for direct mail. It would be great to connect (maybe once a month) over coffee and share resources like this. I’ve got some great ideas and proven tactics for increasing your email open rate that I’d love to share.

I appreciate the offer to connect me to your lawyer, please feel free to use this email or my phone number below to connect.

The trade show you mentioned sounds great and I checked my calendar and can definitely make it that weekend.  I so appreciate your offer to request the booth space from the organizer!

Do you see the trend here? Give and receive and make a specific request and in the instances where you’re waiting on something from the other person (connection to a good lawyer or invite to a trade show) you help by sending a gentle reminder with information that they can use to move forward.

A final tip is this: consistency is more important than getting it right the first time. You may send out many emails and get no response but don’t let that discourage you. We’re all busy and can get easily overwhelmed by email coming in all day long.  Just be consistent, reach out after every event, add people to your CRM software and keep touching base.  If you’re not getting good responses from your efforts, remember to give more.  Give support, resources, connections and give them freely. The more active you are in building a thriving interconnected network the better it will serve you.

Are You Fully Engaged in Your Work?

Resources by Leave a Comment

I want to share with you today a resource helped me when I was building my business. It’s a book called The Power of Full Engagement, and the authors worked with athletes to help them manage their energy throughout the game.

The athletes have a very physically demanding jobs, but the more they worked with them, the authors realized that traditional office workers and entrepreneurs need this support as well.

It can be really difficult to manage your energy. If you find that you’re exhausted at the end of the day, there are ways that you can manage your energy in four key areas. There’s so much in this book, and I’ll go over some of it in this video.

 

 

Types of Energy

Emotional
Physical
Spiritual
Intellectual

Challenge this week

Notice when your energy is high and low. When it’s high you feel like you can take on any challenge, conquer anything and go for hours. When your energy is low even simple work tasks seem herculean.

I’ll be sending out some additional resources from the book in my weekly e-zine so if you’re not receiving it already fill in the boxes on this page to get updates.

Planning for the New Year

Resources by Leave a Comment

I’ll admit, I’m a planner. My family would laugh at this understatement since I tend to overplan when it comes to most everything. I was the kid who packed her bags a month before camp, just to see if everything would fit. I also like lists and have been known to make a checklist of things I already finished just to have the satisfaction of checking it all off.

So when it comes to a New Year, you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that I have plans, oh do I have plans! But instead of the typical, Type A, O.C.D. list with sub points and bullets and footnotes to denote exactly what I’m doing every month, every week of the year, I’ve taken a different approach.

While I do have goals for the months ahead, my priority in the past few days has been finishing my first Mind Movie. If you’re not familiar with the process keep reading, it may be something you want to do in 2012.

The process started a few years back when I was asked to write out, in detail, my perfect day. That appealed to me, it was like a list and covered many aspects of my day on a “perfect” typical day. Even completing the assignment was helpful and eye opening when I honed in on what made me tick and actually made a new friend with a similar perfect day.

Recently I reopened that doc and tweaked a few things before incorporating it into my Mind Movie. Since I have very little patience for video software I used Powerpoint to create my movie. It’s about 4 minutes long and consists of a series of pages with words and pictures that represent the life I want. It’s not incredibly detailed but enough.

In the slides about travel, for example, I used a Polaroid frame for images of the cities and monuments I want to visit in the next few years.

Photobucket

Instead of looking at a list, now I daily watch this short movie about my life. It’s a little like a future looking autobiography. And the images evoke a much stronger connection than simple words.

So if you struggle with coming up with a 2012 business ‘plan’ or you’d just like to do something a tad more creative to represent the life you have on December 31, 2012 then try a Mind Movie. Begin each day watching your movie and then get to work making those images reality.

Cloning Yourself in Business

Outsourcing by Leave a Comment

I firmly belief that in any business a solo entrepreneur can learn to clone his or herself on 80% of the tasks that are currently being done. But I also believe that most people think it’s too hard, takes too much time or is impossible to clone themselves and fail to try.

It’s hard for young entrepreneurs to learn because we’ve been told so often that we’re “unique snowflakes” that cannot be copied and thus everything we do becomes special and unique in our own estimation. And more grounded and mature entrepreneurs have often tried working with a team or an assistant and most of the time things don’t go very smoothly.   “It’s easier to do it all myself” they convince themselves, struggling through all the tasks that need to be done until they’re exhausted and slightly disgruntled with the work.

Cloning yourself in business can be done with integrity, without enormous cost or time investments and still enable you to be uniquely you.

I’m sure you’re aware of the 80/20 principle and its applications in marketing and clients.  If you haven’t read the book, the theory is that 80% of your profits will come from the top 20% of your clients. You’ll get 80% of your marketing results from 20% of your efforts.

And, if you’re wise, you’ll continue to focus on the 20% that produces the best results to grow your business and make the most of your investments.

Your time spent in the business is no different. You are unique in what you teach and how you serve your clients, that’s the 20% and the special sauce you should be focused on. Instead of giving 20% of your time to clients and 80% of your time managing the business, clone yourself!

What do you mean “managing the business”, Kelly?

Well, if you’re working on your website, creating your own graphics and logos, formatting ezines or blog posts, and doing all of your own scheduling, emails, billing and marketing then you’re probably spending 80% of your time managing aspects of the business that do not directly relate to developing content or serving clients.

That’s fine if you’re just getting started and you need to lean in some of those areas because you’ve got more time than capital to invest. But if you’re full up on clients and either turn new business away or simply stop marketing, the truth is, no matter how complex your business,  you can absolutely recreate those results with the right set of instructions.  Think about an image detailing the process of making paper snowflakes.  They look complex and certainly there are several steps involved, but what someone has done is taken the time to write out instructions, provide photos showing the process and take a paper snowflake novice from no knowledge to expert.

If I concede it’s feasible, the question remains how do I get started today?

Well, that’s what I’m here to do – show entrepreneurs how it’s possible and guide you along the way. First, if you haven’t downloaded my free book you’ll need that first. It gives you the solid foundation for why this is so important and resources and action steps to get the software you’ll need to begin.

Get the Play a Bigger Game Business Playbook now!

The second way to get started is to take very small steps toward creating the systems you need in your business. Just like making paper snowflakes, it seems silly at first to say “collect a sheet of white 20 lb paper and a pair of sharp scissors” but that’s how good tutorials work – they take all of the questions out of the process!

 

Act Your Stage

Business Building by

When it comes to small business there are a slew of options for marketing, websites, networking and even Twitter. Often I hear entrepreneurs asking what solution is right for their needs and where they should start.

Do I need a $15 website template or should I get one free?
Should I hire a graphic design team and website developer or figure it out myself?
Which is better: Infusionsoft or Aweber and 1ShoppingCart?
Who should I hire first: a VA, personal assistant, or copywriter?

And the answer is: it depends on your stage of business!

Most businesses don’t like to tell paying clients ‘no’ so they choose not to share who their product or service doesn’t serve. It’s tempting too, because when you read that Infusionsoft makes automation and marketing campaigns easy, you want to sign up. But if you don’t have an established list or you’re not selling products and packages, then it may not be a wise investment. After all, I believe InfusionSoft is a great product, but it won’t help you if there’s nothing to market or no one to market to yet.

Notice the yet.

It’s imperative that you are honest and self assess what stage of business you’re at now and where you want to go. There are plenty of services that are amazing and well worth the investment but if you’re not ready for them, it’s a waste of money for you.

While it can be hard to scale up and spend more money when you’re used to a low budget approach, it can be equally difficult to scale down if you go for the best option too soon.

In the beginning stages of business, you’re often working to build your client base and have fewer financial resources. This is the perfect stage to dig in, figure things out, and learn the ropes of your business. This is also the ideal time to write your systems as they are in the beginning, so you can improve and teach them to others as you grow. It may take you hours to learn all the tricks so be willing to ask for help, read free reports and content rich e-zines, network, and ask your colleagues for help when you get stuck. Be aware and honor the time of others though as you learn and support them when you’re ready to invest more and within your network.

Once you’ve built a business model that works and your time is filling with client work, it’s time to outsource in the areas that will bring you the most leverage. I covered that in detail in this post.

When you grow into the stage where outsourcing can leverage your time so you can serve more clients and earn more money, your systems will save your sanity. Not only will it make training a team a smoother and faster process, but your time will really free up when you’re not answering a ton of questions every single day.

At the stage when you are able to invest thousands or tens of thousands of dollars each month in the products, technology and team you need, you may look back and remember being reluctant to pay $24 a month for a project management account. Neither approach is “wrong” just as your current stage cannot be wrong. It’s just where you are right now.

When you’re evaluating how much to spend on products, services or coaching to grow your business, you need to evaluate the impact on your revenue. Who are these products and people serving and do you fit the criteria? It can be hard to find those who are in complete integrity and able to tell you “no, you’re not right for this right now,” but those are the very coaches, teachers and trainers that you want to seek out.

Building your business and choosing to invest in the right things at the right time is an on-going process. But just as you can take a plant or flower and watch it grow, keep putting the right elements into your business and watch it blossom.

Remember, there’s no judgment in choosing a cost effective, do it yourself option, nor in investing to have experts support your business growth – it all depends on your stage!

Life Support Systems

Systems by Leave a Comment

Last October I was spending a lot of time reflecting on support, both in life and business, as my Grandpa had recently spent weeks in the hospital before dying at 90 years old. At the time I considered how important life support systems are to us all, healthy or ill.

If you are in the hospital and your body is struggling then the medical experts with years of collective experience will use their knowledge and available systems to get you back in good health.

Now, there might be some complications if:

the patient doesn’t believe they’re sick
the patient sees signs but ignores them
the patient won’t accept treatment

Each of these complications can be overcome but only if the patient is willing to change their viewpoint and accept help. Our businesses are just like a patient facing a medical problem, and we must overcome similar challenges if they are to operate in optimal health.

It’s absolutely amazing how many resources are available to businesses, and many experts and coaches provide valuable free content that can help you reach your business goals. Why then do some entrepreneurs refuse to accept that support?

If the business owner believes,

I am happy with the way business is running, no matter the inefficiencies
I make the changes in my business, no one else can tell me what to do
that’s nice you want to help but I’m not interested in improving that right now

Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? But just like the patient in the hospital protesting that they don’t really want to pay the insurance deductible and you know, they just don’t have the time to go through treatment and it doesn’t hurt that bad – you may be deluding yourself in your business as well.

Are you afraid to make changes because you’d have to spend money or invest time? Does the idea of turning to an expert for their opinion make you nervous? Are you unwilling to face that you might not know everything?

Be aware of these thoughts when they come up and identify why you’re not taking action.

A year ago my Grandpa passed away, possibly before his time, because he didn’t acknowledge symptoms that pointed to a serious medical condition. By the time the doctors were aware it was too late to treat.

Now obviously, your health is something to pay close attention to because the consequences can be severe. Similarly, don’t sacrifice the health of your business by ignoring symptoms and ignoring life support systems.