17 Ways to Make Your Small Business More Earth Friendly — Reduce Costs, Increase Efficiency, Add to Your USP

August 8, 2008 – 1:45 am

(Be sure to read all the way to the bottom where I’ve included links you can use to get listed in green directories, join campaigns, and add credibility to your site if you’re running a green business.)

Let’s start this month’s article with a friendly disclaimer. I am aware that not everyone agrees with Al Gore, Leo DiCaprio, Al Sharpton or Pat Robertson. There’s a quite a debate with interesting scientific evidence and support for several perspectives on the issue and I respect that. So, if you don’t believe global warming could be the end of civilization, there are other compelling reasons to take action to be environmentally friendly in your business.

Respect for the planet and life all around you is the most basic of those reasons, but here are three others: it can reduce your costs, increase your efficiency, and add to your USP (unique selling position).

By following the familiar reduce, reuse, and recycle mantra you can save financially, which will allow you to invest more into growing your business or free up family finances.

You can increase your efficiency and get more organized by making small “green” changes such as printing less. For example, fewer piles of overflowing paper will make it easier to keep that working space clean and uncluttered so you can stay focused.

Sharing that you care, whether it’s about the planet, the people, or some other angle, or some other cause entirely, helps you connect with your market and become more “real” than just a hidden person behind a faceless website. It’s okay to allow your personality and passions to shine through your website and marketing. In fact, it’s smart marketing!

So with those benefits in mind, here are some small steps you can take to make your business greener:

1) Reduce the amount of paper you use. Before you print, think. Do you *really* need to print out that email or document? If you just need a backup copy, pick up an inexpensive USB thumb drive and use it to save copies of important files.

2) Reuse and recycle. Keep a small box or tray for paper that you’ve printed on but no longer need and announce to your children that they are welcome to color, paint, cut, etc with the paper. Kids don’t mind recycled paper and some really creative projects can result from paper that’s already been used.

3) Buy EnergyStar appliances. Watch the energy usage on any appliances you purchase–computers, sergers, sewing machines–whatever tools are required for your trade. Always turn them off when not in use.

4) Go paperless for billing. Many business models easily lend themselves to e-billing. If yours does, do it. It will save you not only paper/envelopes, but also time and postage. Bills get where they need to go quicker, too.

5) Use organic, recycled and/or natural elements. If you’ve got choices in the materials you use, take a few minutes to research your options. You may be pleasantly surprised by the range of choices available.

6) Choose reusable. Instead of notebooks and paper for your to do lists, consider a dry erase board or go to a digital online version. Try Google Calendar instead of a paper planner. If your products require certain materials during the production process, can you use something reusable instead of disposable?

7) Buy in bulk. You’ll save time as well as trips back and forth to the store if you purchase in bulk.

8) Change your lighting. Open the windows in your home office or working area and enjoy the beautiful, natural light! Replace your old style light bulbs with energy-saving fluorescent bulbs to save energy and reduce your electric bill.

9) Choose a VA (virtual assistant) instead of an in-person assistant. Work with employees or contractors who work from their homes and you’ll help save the gas and emissions from cars driving back and forth as well gain as many, many other benefits.

10) Combine errands and schedule meetings selectively. Can you do them all on one day? Fewer trips in your car are better. If you can eliminate some errands by having the USPS carrier (who’s already driving by) pick up packages or meeting with clients via Skype instead of in-person, consider it.

11) Buy Green Tags. With green tags you can compensate for your CO2 usage. I purchase mine through https://www.greentagsusa.org/GreenTags/index.cfm

12) Go 100% Replanted. Through http://www.replanttrees.org you can have trees planted to make up for your paper usage.

13) Choose your packaging materials carefully. You can find green packing materials starting at http://www.sustainablepackaging.org or http://clearbags.com/?category|BIOBAGS Recycle or reuse when feasible.

14) Deliver your products digitally. Can you offer a digital version of your products? How about offering your patterns as a PDF download? Or a PDF ebook option of your printable book? Encourage the digital options. Check out http://www.e-junkie.com for an easy way to sell digital items online.

15) Sell locally. No need for shipping if you sell to local customers. Try craft shows or farmers markets if they fit your products. You can find listings online at http://www.indiecraftfairguide.com or http://www.indiecraftshows.com Depending on your products you could also work out discounts or commission based deals with tourist shops, museums, locally owned bookstores and other businesses or organizations in your local area.

16) Support green businesses. Does your webhost power their servers with green energy? Does your printer offer recycled paper for brochures or business cards? Look for ways to support other businesses who are making an effort to be green.

17) Share your commitment! Websites listed below maintain link directories of eco-aware businesses. Add yours if you’re taking action steps to be earth friendly.

• EcoFirms: www.ecofirms.org/support.php
• EcoBusinessLinks: www.ecobusinesslinks.com
• Green People: www.greenpeople.org/addlisting.cfm
• Coop America’s Green Pages: www.coopamerica.org ($75)
• OCA Green People: www.organicconsumers.org/btc/BuyingGuide.cfm
• US Green Commerce: www.usgreencommerce.org/bestbb

Got more suggestions? Leave a comment below and share your ideas.

Posted in Brainstorm eZine, Working from Home | No Comments »

4 Simple Keys to Increasing Your Website Credibility

August 7, 2008 – 6:12 am

Note from Michelle: I worked with Rebekah recently (she proofread of my newest ecourse) and can wholeheartedly recommend her services.

Remember the old days? When you were seeking information on a topic or looking for that perfect gift, you knew exactly where to go. The librarian went to grade school with you and the department store clerk coached your son’s Little League team. You knew you could trust their judgment and advice. Today, we are constantly bombarded with information and advertising from every corner. With the advancement of the Internet, that has never been more true. Anyone can put anything on the Internet…and they do!

When we are putting our own sites online, we know that we are trustworthy. But how can we show that to our website visitors? People today are being taught evaluation techniques to implement when reviewing websites. If we understand what they are looking for, we can be sure to provide them with that information. There are four specific keys to website evaluation: Authority, Accuracy, Currency, and Objectivity. Let’s look at each of these very briefly.

Authority
When designing and creating content for your website, make sure you include exactly who you are. You might be surprised at the number of websites that share information or attempt to sell a product and yet never clearly state who they are or who the parent company is.

Accuracy
Hire a proofreader. Seriously. Many people do not take the time to have their website proofread and the typos and grammar errors that are usually sprinkled throughout are the biggest credibility killers.

Currency
People like to know when certain information was published. If you are blogging, the date of the post is usually displayed. However, if you are writing articles for your website or elsewhere, including the date of the article is paramount to keeping you credible in the eyes of your visitor.

Objectivity
Presenting your information with a minimum of bias is not as easy as it sounds! Your desire should be for your visitor to recognize the value of your information—not because you spoke passionately, but because you took a step back and shared the whole picture.

This is just a small taste of what you can do to increase the credibility of your website—and you! If you are interested in learning more about this topic, I invite you to register for my free teleclass. We will be discussing these four keys and looking at even more ways you can increase your website’s credibility.

–
Rebekah Jones is a Virtual Assistant and Business Trainer for Real Estate Agents. She provides simple strategies for streamlining business tasks, thereby giving Agents the freedom to grow their business. Are you ready to minimize your time behind the desk and get back out there to meet with potential clients? Then be sure to visit www.rjprofessionalservices.com for your free information!

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Did you know that August is Leave Your Legacy Month?

August 4, 2008 – 10:18 am

As a business owner, you get to do something you’re passionate about every day. It’s fulfilling to be able to do work you love and make a real difference for people.

Have you ever really sat and thought about the impact your having - not only for your clients, but on the world?

Building a business is big work and it cannot be done alone. As an entrepreneur, you need help, and you need to be supported. For the month of August, I’ve teamed up with 12 other fabulous business-building professionals. These women are experts in their field, they relate to what you’re going through, and are eager to help you build a strong business.

We are offering tools and resources - free - that you can download and check out right now. Simply go to http://www.MindfulBusinessesPartner.com to meet these fantastic women and get the help you need.

Be sure you check it out soon - the page will only be active for the month of August. After that, the bonuses come down to make web space for another project.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

10 Easy Ways to Get More Links to Your Website

July 29, 2008 – 5:02 pm

Here are ten easy ways you can get more links to your website.

Comment on High Traffic Websites: One great way to not only boost your website rankings but to also increase your visibility and get additional traffic to your website is to post  meaningful comments on blogs and websites that are relevant to your website’s products/services.

Specialized Directories: Use the search engines to find trade associations and product directories that you can be listed in.  One example is http://www.diaperpin.com for cloth diapering websites. You can find good, targeted directories by searching Google.  For example, try this:  “product name” directory.  For example:  “cloth diaper” directory or “website design” directory

General Directories: General directories such as http://www.dmoz.org and http://www.alexa.com are free to request a link from.  You may want to consider paid directories on individual basis.  Their value for you will depend on your particular business and the type of traffic the directory generates.

Other Directories: Look at local directories such as http://local.yahoo.com and http://cityguides.msn.com as well as small business directories, environmental/ethical directories, and other similar sites to request listings on.  Also check the websites of the retailers/wholesalers you purchase from, the shopping cart or web host you use, and other businesses you work with.  Many offer directories of their clients or retailers and you may be able to pick up some links and targeted traffic by being listed.

Article Marketing: Submitting articles you’ve written to article directories can be a great way to get links back to your website.  Anyone who publishes you article will link to you in the resource box.  My favorite article directory sites are http://www.ezinearticles.com and http://www.wahm-articles.com

Shopping Websites: A very popular way to shop online is with the shopping directory and product comparison sites like Google Base and Shopping.com.  Are your products listed there yet?  It’s easier than you might think to get added! Google Base is a great place to begin.  Formerly named Froogle, it’s a popular, free, easy to use comparison shopping website from the geniuses who brought us Google.  http://base.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=59260&hl=en
Many popular carts offer a built-in system to upload directly to Google Base, so check with your cart’s support team or site owner.  You can also upload your items one at a time or using a spreadsheet: http://base.google.com

Review Products & Services: Take a few minutes to write honest testimonials for other small or home-based businesses and email them.  They are likely to print them on their websites and be willing to include a link to you (I do this if someone sends a testimonial about my ebooks or services, I link to their sites and they get some free promotion).

Blog: Start a blog!  It’s a great way to get search engine traffic as well as build a sense of community with other bloggers and to help your visitors get to know you.   Be sure to use your Blogroll feature, turn on your RSS and pings, and use social bookmarking plug-ins on your blog.

Social Networking Pages: Websites like MySpace, Facebook, and Ryze that allow individuals to connect with others by sharing their interests, opinions, photographs, and whatever parts of their lives they choose.  Take some time to explore a bit and see which sites are a good fit for you and reach your target market.

Links from Other Sites: Create a “Link to Us” page and offer visitors both well-written text links and a selection of banner ads to use.

Pick one or two of these ideas and get started!  More links to your website means more opportunities to be found, and it will help boost your search engine rankings, too.

Posted in Brainstorm eZine, Online Marketing | 3 Comments »

Stay Organized: To Do Lists Go Digital

July 12, 2008 – 4:47 am

If you need an easier way to stay organized, take a look at Ta-Da List.

I’m one of those list-makers.  Between my husband, two boys, one girl, a cat (Whiskers), the Russian Tortoise (Snappy), the ant farm, and plants I must remember to water (thankfully my Ficus Tree is fake), if I didn’t make lists, I might really loose it.  Lists and schedules and daily tasks are what keep me running.

Thanks to aforementioned two boys and one girl, my lists often disappear or get buried under beautiful Crayola masterpieces.

And in steps Basecamp!  I’ve just subscribed but I can already tell I’m going to love it.  The to-do list function alone will be a life-saver for me.  And you can get the lite version of the to-do list in http://www.tadalist.com free!  Give it a try.

I’ll be back with a Basecamp review after I’ve used it for a bit.  So far it’s looking good.

Posted in Staying Organized | No Comments »

Free Online Classes for Small Business Owners

July 8, 2008 – 5:14 am

The SBA (Small Business Administration) is a great resource for small businesses.  You can find some of their free classes available online at http://www.sba.gov/services/training/onlinecourses/index.html

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Jazz Up Your Website: Two Easy Ways to Add More FUN!

July 2, 2008 – 11:18 pm

You’ve only got seconds to grab a visitors attention and get them to stick around and browse your website. What can you do to help keep them there? Here are two easy ways to add an element of professional fun to your website.

1) Slideshow of Your Products or Portfolio

There are several options for creating a slideshow of images. Here are four (the easiest is last and takes very little technical know-how, if you’ve got pictures and can follow directions, you’re all set).

** Animated gif — combine several images into an animated gif using software like Adobe Image Ready, Jasc Animation Shop or Banner Maker Pro.

** Flash — make a flash video with the images using Adobe Flash or similar program. Some swfs allow you to control them with an XML file, which is easier.

** Java Applet — there are some java applets you can use to do a slideshow. That’s more technical though as far as the coding and requires that you have a hosting account or somewhere to host the java applet file. If you outsource your website design your designer/programmer can probably handle this for you.

** Easy Option! Put all your images in www.photobucket.com or www.slide.com and make one there.

You can see a slide.com slideshow in action at www.zoombabygear.com or a photobucket.com slideshow in action at my design portfolio page.

2) Add a Real “Hello” to Greet Your Visitors

You’ve probably seen the websites where the owner greets you with a recorded message — “Hi, and thanks for stopping by my website…”

You can add this to your website, too! I’ll share the free way, and then the easy way.

If your computer comes with a built in microphone, or you can plug one in, you can download the free program Audacity to record an audio file with and convert it to MP3. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Or you may already have a program on your computer for sound. I use GarageBand on my MacBook.

Next, upload it to your website and you can either link to it or use a flash file like this one to play it: http://www.macloo.com/examples/audio_player/

See it in action on the top of my webpage at www.themusesguide.com

If you want to avoid recording programs and flash code, the easier way to do this is with Audio Acrobat. You can sign up for an account, then just call a special phone number and record your message by phone. They’ll provide you with copy and paste code to add it to your website. www.audioacrobat.com

Posted in Website Tips & Tricks | 5 Comments »

A Basic Checklist to Help You Start Your Own Online Store

June 22, 2008 – 3:06 pm

A subscriber on the Powerful Business Networking group asked for a checklist of steps to starting an online store.  Here’s what I shared..

Off the top of my head, here are some steps I’d recommend:

* Check local and state licensing/permit requirements for the business area and structure you’ve chosen — get your DBA or LLC setup, etc
Federal (US) — http://tinyurl.com/262r7x
State — http://tinyurl.com/2hbrul
Local — http://tinyurl.com/yvxzus

* Choose your business/product line names and do searches to be sure you don’t violate an existing trademark or service mark: http://tinyurl.com/26dp91

* Decide on your account method (keep good records!)

* Decide on and sign up for your payment acceptance methods
PayPal — http://www.paypal.com
Google Checkout — http://checkout.google.com
Merchant Account — http://cdgcommerce.com

* Research and choose a domain name and website host
I have a free PDF on my website that is helpful for this step, called “Getting Started Online”:
http://themusesguide.com/resources.html

* Start working on a marketing plan.  Be sure to include getting listed in online shopping directories, Google Base (http://base.google.com), etc.  I offer a free mini marketing workshop that covers some basics at http://www.marketingbrainstormworkshop.com/miniworkshop

* Begin researching and choose your shopping cart
Start by listing out all the features that you need, such as types of products you want to sell (virtual downloads or physical shipped products), what shipping and payment methods you need, whether you need to be able to collect taxes on your products, your technical ability level (because some carts are much more user friendly than others), etc.  Be sure to really research shopping carts and make sure that you know what features you want before you pick one.  Look around to see what other stores in your business are using and how it works for them.  Ask friends or colleagues what carts they’re using and if they’re happy with them.

* Create your logo and customize your website/shopping cart, setting up your payment methods, shipping methods, categories, products, informational pages, etc

* Setup a newsletter/announcement list and add it to your website.  I recommend www.aweber.com but there are lots of other options.  I do not recommend Yahoo Groups or anything similar that requires your customers to go sign up for an account somewhere just to get your newsletter.  Make it easy for them.  Yahoo Groups is great for connecting and interactive groups.  Other services are better for business newsletters.  Spring for one that does not add advertisements to your newsletters.  www.ymlp.com is another good, reliable service to consider.

* Request feedback on your website/store so far from trusted colleagues, your business coach, etc

* Do a final check on your site to be sure it’s easy to purchase from (run test purchases), and that it’s easy for sutomers to find the important information such as your policies, shipping prices, payment acceptance methods, etc.  You may find the “Writing Your Polices” and “Creating Customer Confidence” downloads on my site helpful in this step:
http://themusesguide.com/resources.html

* Open your store for business and being PROMOTING!!  Follow your marketing plan and dono’t get discouraged if it takes a bit of time to get your business going.  It usually does but if you stick with it and keep marketing things will happen.

Posted in Doing Business Online, Working from Home | No Comments »

How to Write, Sell, and Promote Your Own eBooks or Virtual Products

June 22, 2008 – 3:00 pm

I’ve been asked several times how to get started writing and selling ebooks, workshops, or other virtual products. Here’s my process and some other advice from me.

** Writing Your Own eBooks **

There are lots of different ways to write, this is just what works for me.

1 ) Choose Topic and Deadline

Obviously the first step. You need to choose your topic. Before you choose make sure there’s a market for what you’re planning to write. Set a reasonable deadline to have your project completed.

2 ) Write Outline and Sales Page

Next, write the basic outline of your ebook including any worksheets or supplementary material you want to include. This can be a great point to write your sales page at because as you’re writing it you can include the things you want to share and the benefits of the product, which will help you develop and focus your outline.

Take your outline and set mini-goals for each section based on your overall deadline so you know which part needs completed when to reach your goal in time. Leave time at the beginning for research and time at the end for proofreading and seeking feedback.

3 ) Research

Based on your outline, you should have a good idea which areas you already know what you need to write and which areas you need to research. Like any other writing project make sure you have multiple sources for your information. Consider the library, books, periodicals, reference books, wikipedia and online resources, surveys, interviews, etc as you research.

4 ) Write

Next step is writing. It takes me anywhere from a few days to a few months to finish a special report or ebook, just depends on how much time I can invest in it (I work from home with my website design/hosting business, homeschool my two boys, and have a 3 year old daughter, so I don’t always have a ton of time to spend on my ebooks).

I use Microsoft Word to write my books in if I’m on my Mac (99% of the time) or Open Office if I’m on my PC. If you need nice software to write in with formatting features, try www.openoffice.org

As I write I sprinkle in clip art or photos where appropriate to add some visual interest. I like www.istockphoto.com and you can also check www.bigstockphoto.com or www.clipart.com for royalty-free images.

5 ) Proofread

When I’ve finished writing, I print a copy then set the ebook aside for at least a few hours or a day, and come back and proofread with fresh eyes. I generally also have my VA proofread for me.

Hint: If you have more than one person proofread, have them turn on “track changes” in Microsoft Word so you can easily spot their edits and decide whether you agree or not.

6 ) Get Feedback & Revise as Needed

Send your completed ebook to a few colleagues or friends who are willing to review it for you and offer their impressions and advice, then make any necessary changes. This is also a good time to solicit testimonials and feedback that you can add to your sales page.

7 ) Convert to PDF

If you’re on a Mac running OS X, you can print to PDF by doing File / Print / PDF. It’s pretty easy.

If you’re on a PC and don’t have Adobe to convert your file to PDF, here are some free alternatives:
www.pdf995.com
www.pdfonline.com

I don’t recommend using .exe format files because you’re cutting all Mac users (I think it’s about 8-10% of computers right now, and growing) out of your market if you do. I’ve seen more than one ebook that I would have loved to purchase, but it was only available in .exe format so I couldn’t purchase. If you are determined to use .exe, please consider providing an alternative .pdf format and purchase route for Mac users who may want to purchase your ebook. And make sure you note somewhere what format your ebooks are in. I’ve also purchased a product before after scouring the sales page to be sure it didn’t say Windows only, then sure enough when I downloaded, it was Windows only. I won’t be purchasing anything from that internet marketer again.

8 ) Design Cover & Add to Website

Sometimes I do this step sooner with a “Coming Soon!” note. I personally use Photoshop to design my boxshots and covers. For boxshots I design the cover image, then use the Perspective or Distort tool to make it 3D-ish (this is how I did Jenn’s boxshots and the ones for my workshops). An easy way to do a report cover is to purchase an image from somewhere like www.istockphoto.com then put your cover on top of it (this is how I did the report series covers I have — the spiral notebook image was from istockphoto). Or use layers and shadows to make your image look like a few pages (this is how I did the images on the “Free Resources” page). You can see samples at www.themusesguide.com if you’d like.

** Selling Your eBooks **

There are a lot of ways to sell your products. After a lot of research and trial and error… I don’t recommend the strung together solutions where you hack a traditional shopping cart to make it work for downloads. You’ll spend more time trying to get it to work and dealing with frustrated customers when they don’t get their downloads or can’t figure out where to download their product, etc. Go for a cart that is *designed* for downloads and you’ll be able to sleep better at night. ;-)

The solutions below range from FREE to $100/month. So even if you’re just getting started, one of these will work for you. :-) These are generally copy & paste type code buttons. You login, setup your product by giving the name, description, image, price, etc, and then when you save your info the service will give you a bunch of HTML code that you then copy & paste into your website. This can be used on plain HTML sites, Wordpress sites, any site that you can access your coding or add HTML snippets, you can use these carts to sell your products.

Payloadz
www.payloadz.com
Quick and easy to use, the files are securely stored on their server, and it’s free for under $100/month in sales. Here are the features and price points for various sales levels: https://www.payloadz.com/account/acct_levels.asp

e-Junkie
www.e-junkie.com
$5 per month, no limits, no other fees
works with PayPal, Google Checkout or Authorize.net

YouPublish (new site/service, just launched)
www.youpublish.com
Video overview here: https://www.youpublish.com/pages/welcome_video
You get 50% of sales prices on your files here, sort of like if they’re an affiliate promoting your products

WAHM Cart
www.wahm-cart.com
$30/month
Includes your cart/checkout plus newsletters and autoresponders

1ShoppingCart and all the variations
Around $100/month
Includes your cart/checkout plus newsletters and autoresponders

I haven’t used this one but it’s the gold standard of carts for internet marketers and a lot of them have their own branded versions like MichaelPort.com offers it as the Booked Solid Cart.

** Promoting Your eBooks **

Here are some easy ways to promote your ebook:

– If you sign up with Payloadz or YouPublish some of your promotion will be done for you since they list your books in their searchable catalogs. But here are some other ways to promote your books.

– If you accept PayPal, get listed in the PayPal marketplace:
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_profile-site

– Choose a good, helpful excerpt from your book and convert it into an article to share. Be sure your blurb at the bottom is strong and includes a promo for the book with a link to your sales page. Submit it to www.ezinearticles.com, www.wahmarticles.com, etc or have your VA submit for you.

– Convert your title page, table of contents, and a few pages from your ebook into a “preview” version and offer it free on your website for visitors to download. This way they can get a good idea of the contents and style of your writing to see if it will work for them.

– Post about your ebook on your blog. Include a link to your free preview file.

– Add your ebook preview link or sales page to your forum signature and/or email signature.

There’s my process and some other info that I hope helps you as you create and publish your ebooks.

P.S. You’re welcome to stop by my website at http://www.themusesguide.com to see the ebooks, special reports, and workshops I’ve created and how I set them up for sale including their product images, the cart I’m using, the previews (previews are down for some edits right now but I’m hoping to have them back up within a few days), etc. There’s a special deal available on my report series right now celebrating the launch of my two newest products, it’s on the “special reports” link.

Posted in Doing Business Online | 2 Comments »

How Do You Handle “Problem Areas” in Your Business?

June 22, 2008 – 2:51 pm

I take one of four approaches to something I cannot do, do not like, or don’t understand (any of these three reasons make it a “problem area” in my mind).

1) Learn it. I don’t deal well with failure so I just do whatever I have to do to improve.  Whether it’s research online, practice/rehearsing, or calling in someone else to teach me to do it, there’s a way if I really need to learn something.

2) Get backup. If there’s something that you absolutely can’t avoid, find a way to have a “backup” available when you need it.  I fill this role for my design partners for a cart I work with.  If they get stuck on a design or coding issue, they know they can email me and I’ll reply ASAP with a solution or help in the right direction.  The end client does not ever need to know they were stuck.  And when I get stuck with certain programming, I have a php expert who I can call in.  Knowing that you’ve got a relationship with someone, a colleague or even a paid by the incident support team, can be a huge relief when you need that help.

3) Outsource it. If it can be outsourced, then I’ll outsource it either to my VA or a hired temp for the specific project. Some familiarity though is needed on my part to outsource something, or else a very well established relationship of trust with the outsourcer, so I know whether they’re completing the task properly.

4) Don’t do it. It took me a while but I’ve accepted that option 1 cannot be the answer for every problem area.  There are a few specific services that I do not offer.  I could, and I know most designs firm do, but for various reasons I don’t.  For example, I do not do print logo design because I simply don’t like doing it.  I’ll be happy to help my clients get a logo done and I’ve got a list of reliable references to both great designers I’ve got personal experience with (like Cicily at www.augustafternoon.com and Laura Jane at www.chickenscratchstudio.com) and other options (like www.logoyes.com).  If the problem area is created by a product or service that isn’t essential, consider what would happen if you just didn’t offer it.  It might not be the end of the world.  In my case it’s helped me build valuable relationships with other great designers (who yes, technically are my “competition” but I don’t view my world in terms of competitive business but instead collaborative business benefiting everyone).

Sometimes these are combined for a problem area — like my monthly accounting statements.  I outsourced them until I found a system and learned to do it myself.  Now I can do it in less than an hour and I’m not wasting half a day every month so I moved from option 3 to option 1.

There are my four strategies for handling “problem areas” in my business.

Comments?  Want to share how you handle them or what works for you?  Feel free to post a note below in the comments section.

Posted in Business Challenges | No Comments »