WOMEN MEAN BUSINESS - Blog

What's "Not Wanted on Voyage" in 2010?

Here's a blog post I originally wrote this time last year. Sometimes the more things we let go of, the more successful we can become! Let me know what you think.

"I love New Year! There's such a feeling of possibility in the air. I've had a great time planning for what I want to have in my life and business this year,and just as important, I've been saying goodbye to things that are not wanted on the voyage this year.

I've made some fairly radical decisions and not everyone may be happy with these decisions, but it's my life and my business so I'm really taking charge this year! I've done a major overhaul of all areas of my life and business and came up with an amazing list of what I decided to let go of or stop doing. This list included stepping down from any voluntary or leadership positions for this year. For most of my adult life I have been on various Boards and Committees. That was my choice and it was a fantastic experience. However,  I made the decision this year to carve out more time for me and more time for creative projects both business and personal.

One of my more radical decisions is to drop local face to face networking unless I am the keynote speaker. Don't get me wrong, I love networking some of the time and it's one of the main ways I built a successful business in the first few years. However, it doesn't fit with my new business model which is based on making my business even more "virtual" this year.

A few years ago I made a decision which has made a huge difference in the quality of my life - I decided to  see clients only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. This is simply taking the idea one step further. I want to fit my business into my life, not just fit my life into my business!

My "Not Wanted on Voyage" list includes lots of other things. When I look at this list of what I've let go of it feels immensely liberating! It's freeing up my time and energy for new projects. I am so excited about what I have planned for this year."

I followed through with these plans for 2009 and it made a huge difference to my business.

So my question for you is this: what do you want to leave behind  as "Not Wanted on Voyage" in 2010?

What's your big, brilliant, bold goal for your business in 2010?

What's your big, brilliant, bold goal for your business in 2010? It can be all too easy for 2010 to become a carbon copy of 2009! Set your exciting goal for your business and make sure you do at least one thing every day towards making it a reality.

Get a head start with your own free copy of the Women Mean Business SUCCESS KIT. 4 audios and Special Reports, including "12 Keys to More Business." Simply fill in your name and email in the blue sign up box at the top right of the WOMEN MEAN BUSINESS blog or website.

Set aside scheduled time to market your business

I don't usually work on weekends, but today I'm having lots of ideas for blog posts. So I've decided to make the most of it and get all my ideas written down and stockpiled for future use! I'm a great believer in blocking your time so that you can work on related tasks in pre-assigned chunks of time.

For instance, my days for working with clients and running classes are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. On Wednesdays I also set aside a couple of hours for concentrated writing projects. Fridays are my business building days where I work on new ideas and marketing plans for Women Mean Business.  I also devote time each week to my own continuing business development by learning new things and working with my own mentors.

Make sure you set aside ring-fenced time to work on your marketing. If you wait till the mood strikes you or you have "enough time" it may get pushed onto the back burner. Why not take out your 2010 diary and schedule a set time every week to work on marketing your business?

Ditch Those New Year's Resolutions!

Lots of people will have made New Year's Resolutions for 2010. If so, I wonder how many are the same as ones they made at the beginning of 2009? Often we decide on 1st January that we are going to do things differently this year. But, come February we can find that we've slipped back into our old way of doing things.

The mistake we make is in trying to change everything at once. And usually, New Year's Resolutions consist of depriving ourselves of something, or forcing ourselves to do something we don't really want to do! Getting motivated is tough under these conditions. Maybe "quit smoking, cut down on alcohol and chocolate, reduce credit card spending, lose weight, get rid of clutter, etc" make it onto some lists year after year. You think to yourself - here we go again! So what can we do differently to get different results?

Ditch the resolutions! Yes, you heard me right! It is much more powerful to set intentions and goals for what you DO want, rather than what you don't want. Also, try concentrating on one or two life areas each quarter of the year. Consider your health and fitness, finances, career, home life, relationships, personal dreams. Decide which one thing would make the biggest difference to you if you worked on it this year and start there. With just one major change to concentrate on, you are much more likely to make headway. The feeling of achievement will then give you the motivation to carry on.

Instead of just launching headlong into resolutions and goals, this is a good time of year to take stock. Taking stock works best as a written exercise as you can go back and review it again later, but you can still benefit from just thinking things through. Ask yourself: What did I achieve in 2009. What were the highlights, personally and professionally? What would I like to have done differently? What have I learned from that? What are the most important roles I play in my life? For instance, if being a parent is most important to you, do your working hours reflect that? Ask yourself: what do I want more of in 2010 and what do I want less of? Is there any area of my life where I might be limiting myself or afraid to move forward? Who are the people in my life I want to see more of - or less of? What do I want to be true for me at the end of 2010?

Remember to live in the present! Don't put off doing what you truly want to do. Don't wait till you lose the weight, find a new relationship or get that client. Enjoy your life now!

If you can't imagine not having resolutions, really think about why you want to make changes. What are the long term benefits? Reframe how you look at your "resolutions". For instance, instead of counting calories, cutting out everything you enjoy and feeling deprived, try making the new regime about healthy eating. Fresh food made from scratch, instead of ready meals, might be the only change you need to make in your eating habits.

If you really want to go to the gym three times a week, go for it! Otherwise consider the alternatives - walk more, take up a new sport or go to a dance class. Exercise doesn't have to mean the gym.

To tackle overspending, keep a spending log. If you really know where the money goes it's easy to make savings and you can still afford to treat yourself from time to time. Remember, it can take as little as 21 days to form a new habit.

A fun exercise you might like to try: Imagine it is December 2010. Write down an account of the year you have just had, as if it had already happened. What do you want to be true for you at the end of 2010? Don't edit or criticise what you write. Look at all areas of your life - career, relationships, finances, health and fitness, social life etc. This is even more powerful if you hand write it as this connects more directly with your subconscious than using your computer. Try to take stock of your life every few months. It really will pay enormous dividends. Have a great year.

(c) Shona Partridge

The Business Turnover Myth

This year I've noticed a lot of "gurus" I follow celebrating reaching the $1 m*illion dollar annual turnover mark. This is absolutely fantastic and I congratulate them all on a brilliant achievement. However - there's something really important missing from the fabulous picture most of them are painting for us.

It's not about the turnover. It's about the profit! In fact I heard the following just the other day: "Turnover is vanity and profit is sanity!" It's all too easy to get carried away when we have a great turnover total. The figure that really matters though is -  what do you have left after you've covered your taxes and all the other business expenses?

There's also the fact that some of these businesses have grown to the level where they need office premises and full time staff. For me that would take away from my personal freedom too much! I made a decision more than 7 years ago that I would work from home and I would run my business without any actual employees. I do have help and support, but I don't have any permanent staff. It's important to be clear on what you want your business model to look like as well as what you want to earn from it. 

Think about your personal values in relation to your business model. One of my strongest values is personal freedom. Yes I'd love a $1 million turnover, but as long as the major chunk of my turnover is retained as profit, I don't need a huge empire with all the associated costs and potential headaches!

Of course this is my very personal view of what I want from my business. Your ideals may be quite different. So next time you read about a $1 million dollar success story, stop to think about all the other costs involved and what the profit margin might really be.

Bottom line: in your own business, get clear on your profit margin, not just your turnover and be clear on having a business model that ties in with your strongest values. Otherwise, why be self employed?

(c) Shona Partridge, Women Mean Business   website

Plan Ahead for 2010

This is a great time of year to set the foundations for a successful year ahead. Carve out some time over the festive season to give some serious thought to how you want your business  -and your life - to look like this time next year.

A good starting point is to take stock of the year just gone. What went well, what didn't go so well and what lessons did you learn? How can you increase your profits, how can you increase your time off? Are there systems you need to put in place to ensure your business and your life run more smoothly? Some people never do this review, but it is a vital part of making the next year one of your best ever.   

Often we'll sit down and write our plan for the next year without reference to what's already happened. This is not a good idea as we'll miss out on the lessons learned.  So make sure you do some kind of review of the previous year. Ideally this kind of review and the forward planning will be written down.Initially you may just want to brainstorm ideas, but capturing your thoughts in written form will  provide focus and aid clarity.

There are lots of planning tools you can use, both on and off line. Most people have their own favourite time management tool. And if you don't, now's a perfect time to choose a paper based or electronic system to help you really get organised for 2010.

I highly recommend Jinny Ditzler's fantastic book "Your Best Year Yet" which I have used for the past five years for my own planning. This will give you great questions and a structure for deciding what are your top goals and priorities for 2010.

YOUR TAKE ACTION CHALLENGE:

You might want to try the "Year Ahead Exercise".  Imagine it's already December 2010 and you are writing a letter or journal entry about the year just gone. It's best to hand write this exercise as this makes it easier to get in touch with your creative brain.  Don't worry about what seems possible. Just go with the flow and write what pops into your head. Don't edit and don't over analyse. You may be surprised at what crops up.

Some of my clients have found brilliant new business ideas through doing this exercise. You never know what fantastic thoughts your subconscious will present you with that you may never have discovered at an intellectual level. Have fun with this and don't rule anything out as being too fantastical - the clues are there for taking into next year's plan.

(c) Shona Partridge, Women Mean Business

This is a great time of year to set the foundations for a successful year ahead. Carve out some time over the festive season to give some serious thought to how you want your business  -and your life - to look like this time next year.

A good starting point is to take stock of the year just gone. What went well, what didn't go so well and what lessons did you learn? How can you increase your profits, how can you increase your time off? Are there systems you need to put in place to ensure your business and your life run more smoothly? Some people never do this review, but it is a vital part of making the next year one of your best ever.   

Often we'll sit down and write our plan for the next year without reference to what's already happened. This is not a good idea as we'll miss out on the lessons learned.  So make sure you do some kind of review of the previous year. Ideally this kind of review and the forward planning will be written down.Initially you may just want to brainstorm ideas, but capturing your thoughts in written form will  provide focus and aid clarity.

There are lots of planning tools you can use, both on and off line. Most people have their own favourite time management tool. And if you don't, now's a perfect time to choose a paper based or electronic system to help you really get organised for 2010.

I highly recommend Jinny Ditzler's fantastic book "Your Best Year Yet" which I have used for the past five years for my own planning. This will give you great questions and a structure for deciding what are your top goals and priorities for 2010.

YOUR TAKE ACTION CHALLENGE:

You might want to try the "Year Ahead Exercise".  Imagine it's already December 2010 and you are writing a letter or journal entry about the year just gone. It's best to hand write this exercise as this makes it easier to get in touch with your creative brain.  Don't worry about what seems possible. Just go with the flow and write what pops into your head. Don't edit and don't over analyse. You may be surprised at what crops up.

Some of my clients have found brilliant new business ideas through doing this exercise. You never know what fantastic thoughts your subconscious will present you with that you may never have discovered at an intellectual level. Have fun with this and don't rule anything out as being too fantastical - the clues are there for taking into next year's plan.

(c) Shona Partridge, Women Mean Business

Create a year end plan for your business

Do you have a strong, detailed plan in place for your business? Have you planned ahead, knowing what your end of year goals are? Don't worry if you haven't quite got the plan worked out - help is at hand! The guidelines in this post should give you more clarity.

Many small business owners can be a bit reactive when it comes to deciding what to do next. We tend to look at the short term and what's right in front of us. And often, even if we make a plan, it ends up gathering dust on a shelf and we don't revisit it.  I'll be honest with you - I used to fall into this category! I was quite good at the year end goals and having a weekly plan, but I wasn't looking at the six monthly, quarterly and monthly picture. And just as importantly I didn't look far enough ahead.

If you want a compelling vision for your business that will pull you forward, then looking further into the future to three and five years is vital. A spell of a year simply isn't long enough to get you thinking "out of the box". The danger here is that unless you go for a longer term vision, this year could end up looking like a carbon copy of last year.

Once you've worked out your year end plan it pays to do six monthly, quarterly and monthly plans to break things into bite sized, manageable chunks.It's sounds simple - but it's not easy! It takes discipline and planning to remember to revisit you plan! So to save time - try using the one I've developed:

Look further ahead than just this year - where do you want to be in three years time? Or even in 5 years' time? This longer stretch of time can really help you to think bigger. Don't worry too much about the "how" in this longer term vision - use long term planning to let you see what might be possible for your business.

Get really clear on your year end goals. Make them realistic and measurable yet a bit of a stretch. Your longer term vision may  help you create brand new goals.

Devise headings that work for your business - for instance: earnings, number of new clients, new products developed, networking events attended, speaking engagements booked etc. The main thing is to create measurable targets.

Take a look at your current business model - is it still working for you or are there changes you want to make this year? For instance, maybe you want to do less traveling , or you want to add new products or services. Perhaps like me you are planning to make your business more virtual this year by doing more work by telephone and on the web. Maybe you want to create a day a week when you work "on" your business and devote time to business development and marketing strategies - these vital tasks that get pushed into the background when we're busy. Take some time to really think about what you want your typical working week and month to look like.

Once you're happy with your year end goals, start to work backwards. "Reverse engineer" your year. What needs to happen at the six month point of the year for your plan to succeed? Then do the same exercise for each quarter. Carve your year up into manageable project chunks.

Then you're ready for your monthly targets and more detailed plans. You can take this planning right down to the weekly and finally, the daily level. However - don't overwhelm yourself by trying to do weekly plans too far ahead. Just remember to revisit your plan regularly - even diary in appointments with yourself to work on it so it gets done.

I once heard this about planning and it's so true: "We overestimate what we can get done in a week and we underestimate what we can get done in a year!"

Make regular planning a priority and you'll end the year closer to your goals and much more productive.

(c) 2009 Shona Partridge Women Mean Business

Keep an achievments log

Saturday again already and some of us are wondering where on earth the past week went! That's how I used to feel most Fridays and then I decided to keep a record of what I actually accomplished each week. Today for instance I immediately thought - "Gosh, don't think I got very much done this week," and then I checked my diary. I write a quick note every day of what I've done and then on Fridays I can tally things up. I was pleasantly surprised at what I'd actually accomplished when I could see it all written down.

This week I launched my new website and got my July newsletter written and sent out. There were various client sessions, blog posts, meetings, forward planning, new newsletter subscribers, ideas for products, business opportunities etc etc... So I'm going into my weekend feeling pretty good! See how much you can put on your own list.

This simple tip can accomplish several things:

• You get more done because you're keeping track
• Hopefully you'll have a written 6 or 12 month plan for your business and you can measure your results against this
• You get a confidence boost because usually you've done more than you realise!
• And if you really have had an unproductive week, then it gives you a reminder to get more done next week!

Marketing 101 - Tip # 7 Have a networking plan

Networking is the life blood of many small business marketing plans. In fact - in some small businesses it's the only marketing they do. Don't get me wrong - I love networking and it's one of the ways I built  my own business in the early days.

Make networking part of your marketing plan, but not the whole effort you put in! When you've picked your niche, check out which groups are available  locally  for your target clients. It's better to attend a small number of networking groups regularly than to go to lots of different ones only now and again.

When you're at events ask questions first so you can find out what the person you're talking to really needs. Be a good listener and don't talk about you and your business unless it's specifically focused on the person you're talking to.

I'll talk more about networking  in future posts.

Marketing 101 - Tip # 2 - Create "Client Free" days

One of the most important decisions I ever made in my business was to only see clients 3 days a week!

I decided to ring fence times where I did not see clients or even do a lot of client  work. Nowadays, I don't see clients on Mondays or Fridays and  I limit any client work I do on these days.

My key days for seeing clients and doing client work are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. This means I have two days a week to concentrate on other things. Maybe it's marketing and PR, writing, creating new programmes,reading or learning new skills or maybe just taking some time out to re-charge my batteries.

This may sound a bit shocking, but I'm not exaggerating when I say it changed my life. Instead of rushing around at the whim of my clients, I took control of my time and my commitments. My clients benefit too because they know when I'm available for them.

Trust me - this one decision will repay huge dividends in extra time, energy and a feeling of control.