Today marks the 7th month of an experiment I took last year to give myself more time to enjoy my business. Every month on the 14th I take the whole day off – no appointments, no work scheduled – and do whatever I want. I’ve visited San Francisco and New York City, Miami and even locally around my own small town. Some months I spend time with family and other months I’m jet setting. Today, when this post goes live I won’t be queuing it or tweeting or writing Facebook posts but all of those things will happen anyway. Continue Reading →
Why You Need to Give Your Clients Systems
When it comes to systems you don’t just need them to smoothly run your own business but to give great value to your clients. Let’s take the example of a coach who incorporates calls and occasionally content for her clients.
Your clients come to you to learn something they don’t know, to understand your process and get your insights and advice. And this is true whether you’re a fitness, nutrition, marketing, dating or writing coach. But if you depend on your clients to attend calls, take their own notes and then “go implement” between calls with little direction, then it can be frustrating for you both. Continue Reading →
Customer Service vs. Community Management
There’s definitely crossover in the online business world when it comes to customer service and community management but if your business is growing fast you’ll want to be clear on the boundaries between the two – or your clients could suffer.
Most people, entrepreneurs included, are familiar with traditional customer service which may include potential clients, current and past customers as well as other stakeholders in the business. Answering a question from an affiliate partner is just as important as responding to a lead inquiring about a program.
Community management, in contrast, is the process of guiding and growing a community of followers around common interests, sometimes by bringing in additional members but also serving within the community. While this may begin very small with just a few private clients, by excelling in these two areas a larger community can flourish. Continue Reading →
How is Customer Service Different in an Online Business?
In online business one of the primary challenges of is finding, attracting and converting ideal, interested leads into engaged, paying clients.
All along the way, you’ll have the opportunity to serve, surprise, and delight your audience with customer service. There are definite advantages and also there are unique challenges that can put an unprepared business at a disadvantage. Continue Reading →
How Important is Customer Service?
Everyone knows that dissatisfied customers make a big deal and tell more people than happy customers and with the widespread use of social media the world can know, instantly, when one person is unhappy.
But how important is customer service for the small business, the solo practice and the online business? The answer is that great customer service is more important than ever.
Are you an Unreasonable Boss?
As often as I write about choosing the right employee for your team, it’s equally important that assistants and team members are able to choose the right boss. And sometimes when I work with private clients it’s a hard pill to swallow that the boss is the one being unreasonable in her demands, attitude or constant changes.
How to Keep Your Team on Track
When your business grows and it’s time to bring a team on board a common question we hear is “how do I keep everyone busy and on task?” especially from those entrepreneurs who are already stretched thin and don’t have hours upon hours to babysit other people.
It will take some adjustment but with a little organizing and our favorite software system you can easily track the work of 2 or 20 team members without spending a lot of time.
Get Past Procrastination Infographic
Here at She’s Got Systems we believe that it’s not enough to know what needs to be done, you need a plan and action steps and deadlines to get it done. Most of us have our goals and vision but struggle when it comes to take business from dream to reality.
See the procrastination infographic below for more insights on why and how often we procrastinate and the impact on our lives and businesses.
Infographic by OnlineClasses.org
Does this procrastination infographic sound familiar?
Distractions are abundant! So if you find yourself losing focus, try these 3 targeted tips:
*stop desktop notifications of new emails and use filtering to move non-urgent emails into folders to check later
*disable notifications on your phone from Facebook and Twitter – being tagged in a post is not important enough to distract you from your work!
*set a countdown timer on your phone or use an egg timer from the kitchen to work on whatever task you need to finish for just 10 minutes, you’ll be surprised how much you can get done
The tips at the end are great, here are some ways to implement them in your business:
1. Set deadlines for your goals whether it’s submitting an article for a news magazine or reaching out to potential clients about new packages.
2. Start small and be consistent. It’s more important to do the right 5 things 100 times each than try 5,000 different things once. Remember that your habits will build over time so don’t break the chain.
3. Find accountability that works for you – some people work best with a friend over coffee, others need a group setting, and many entrepreneurs need a coach who they pay to keep them on track over several weeks and months. Be honest about the type of accountability you need and implement it in your business to beat procrastination.
Big thanks to OnlineClasses.org for this great infographic on procrastination!
Where do you find good Virtual Assistants?
Many times when members of the She’s Got Systems community have finished the 5 Days to Finding Fabulous Help video series the question comes up, “Where do I find good people to support my business?” Sometimes members are looking for in-person support for their online business so here some things to consider when you’re looking.