Business

How weekly planning gave me my life back

As a mom, wife, and business owner, my life is busy.  Today I want to share how weekly planning gave me my life back. Now you might think that you don’t have time to plan.  But taking a little bit of time out each week is going to help give you the structure that you need to have the kind of life that you want.

What is weekly planning?

When I talk about planning, I’m usually referring to my weekly plan. Every single week, I put together a plan for what I want the next week to look like. And the great thing with that is that I’m super intentional about what we’re going to do, where we’re going to go, what we’re going to eat. So when I get into the week and things are really busy, I’m just following the plan.

When I do my weekly plan, I’ll usually do it either Friday afternoons or Sunday afternoons, depending on what we have going on that week. And I always said that the week before I close out the next week. So that means that if you don’t book an appointment with me by Friday afternoon for the next week, my week is closed. And you have to book into the next week.

You could do that too. Let people know that to book with you they need to give you at least 48-72 hours in advance. Or whatever time frame you need. This way you have an idea of what’s coming next.

Planning for the next week

As I am planning for the next week, I ask myself these questions:

What’s happening next week?

I like to be able to sit down on Friday and look at what’s happening next week. And I know exactly what next week is going to look like. Now as a mom, I know that things come up, people get sick, kids get sick, and stuff happens. But I like to know that my business appointments are set. That gives me peace of mind going into the weekend, knowing what to expect next week.

What am I planning?

As I sit down to figure out what I’m planning, I look at my week.  I go through my paper planner and open up my Google calendar.

Then, I look at all the appointments I have. These could be doctor, car, or client appointments.  I see if there are any courses that I need to attend or speaking engagements that I’m doing.

Also, I look to see what commitments I have with my coaching clients and my Bookkeeper Training School students, as well as meetings. And Everything goes on my schedule.

This helps me see how hectic next week looks. And I’m also looking to see what my blocks look like. I’ll then determine what open time do I have left.

What do I need to plan for dinner and lunch?

Doing this gives me lots of information.  For example, if Monday night I’m doing a New Member meet and greet for my students in Bookkeeper Training School, then I know that I need a quick dinner that night.

Having all this information helps me craft out dinner and lunch plans.

What other things do I need to include in my weekly planning?

Doing the above first gives me a nice roadmap for what the rest of the week is going to look like. Then I sit down and see if any cool events are happening that we might want to go to.

And I’ll make sure that I put all that stuff in my schedule for the week. Then I look to see what my team has assigned to me. We use Click Up to look at my to-do list. Then I figure out what is a priority this week. This helps determine what are things I have to get done.

Set your big goals for the week

That helps you decide what your big goals for the week will be. And when you start pulling all of these pieces together, it gives you structure for the week.

Start filling up those empty blocks with the things you need and want to get done.

Way too often you don’t have a plan for where you want to go. Nor do you have a plan for the things you want to do.  You have a general idea of what you want to do, like homeschool, cook more, or do other things. But if you don’t have a plan for all the things, and you’re just hoping they’re going to happen, it won’t.

What do I want to do with my family?

And what planning does for me is it allows me to figure out what I want to do with Erik. This morning I went to the park with Erik. Because it was mom and Erik time. So we went to the park and we had a blast. The reason we did that was that it was on my schedule to bring him to the park today. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have thought of it. I probably would have just hung out and watched an episode of Paw Patrol with him.

So as I’m sitting down with my planner and figuring out what I want to do with my week next week. I ask myself, “What do I want to do with my son and with  my husband.”

Weekly planning allows you to craft the life you want

When you figure out what you want to do during your weekly planning, it allows you to craft the life you want to have. It’s interesting because, in budgeting, you create a budget to spend your income on paper before the month begins. And with your planner, you get to spend your time on paper before it actually happens.

When you get to craft the life that you want, it allows you to be intentional with your time. Life slips away so fast if you’re not intentional with it.

Spend some time on weekly planning

You’ll need about 1 to 1.5 hours to plan your week.  Typically if you do this on a Friday afternoon when you’re not feeling productive anyways, it will give you much hope for the coming week. Or you can do this on Sunday night. Whatever works best for you.

Knowing what’s going to happen next week, will fill you with hope. You will feel joy and anticipation because you know what is coming up. It will decrease your stress levels, because you aren’t sitting there trying to figure out what you’re going to have for dinner. When you plan everything together, it will all sync.

Weekly planning helps you know in advance what’s going on

When you plan your week in advance, you know what appointments you have and what you have committed to. You then get to decide what you are going to do, what your downtime is going to be, when you’re going to work out. You get to decide. And it’s empowering to be able to take control of this piece.

And so of you just feel like you’re spinning and you don’t know where the time or priorities are going. Then I encourage you to sit down and try this. All you need to do is sit down and plan your week. You can do it on a blank piece of paper, a paper planner, your Google calendar. Whatever feels comfortable for you.

You don’t need a complex system for weekly planning

You don’t need a complex system. You just need something where you can write it down.  Get it down somewhere. Whether it’s on the screen or paper, have a plan. Because as Brendon Burchard says, “what makes it on your calendar gets done.” And I’m a huge believer of that.

So if you’re in Bookkeeper Training School and you’re struggling to get the work done, schedule blocks with yourself on your calendar.

Planning gave me my life back. It gave me structure, and it gave me fun.  I have a better relationship with my family. Because if it was up to me, I would probably be sitting behind this desk a lot more than I do.

Planning makes me get up and go and be with my family and do the things that we want to do. I hope this is helpful. I would love to know how planning has helped you. So please leave me a comment below.

How to stop things from falling through the cracks

Every day just like you, I’m trying to figure out all the things to make sure that everything gets done so that my business and my life can go smoothly. I’m going to share about how to stop things from falling through the cracks.

With so many things on your plate, you need systems to help you remember it all.  And let me tell you, when I was trying to remember all things, I wasn’t going to bed. I wasn’t sleeping well. And I was constantly distracted. My brain was trying to keep me remembering all the things that it was worried that I was going to forget.

I tried post-it notes. And used to have post-it notes all over the place.  So I came up with a system that works very well for me. And I hope that it works for you too.

How to create a system to stop things from falling through the cracks

There’s a couple of different ways that you can create a system. I highly recommend something electronic. Because when you create something electronically, you will have reminders that pop up. You can use whatever system you want. But I’m going to recommend a couple.  Just make sure that whatever you pick is electronic so you can set up recurring things.

Using a digital calendar to help stop things from falling through the cracks

Setting up recurring events helps remind you when things are going to happen. For example, you want a reminder for your mom’s birthday. So when you create this event in your calendar you can set it up to be recurring every year on that specific date. That way you will have it in your calendar every year, without having to remember to add it at the beginning of the year.

When I do this I set up three reminders. One on the actual birthday day. And then I create a recurring reminder at the beginning of the month to buy birthday cards. The other reminder is a week before the actual birthday that will remind me to mail out the birthday card.

This might sound like a lot of work. But once you do the brain dump and you set it up, it’s set up forever. You can do this with anything that needs a recurring reminder.  It’s so helpful if your system is available on your phone. That way you can set up reminders on your phone as you remember them.

I set up reminders for bill payments, changing air filters, setting up doctor appointments, health checkups, vet visits, insurance renewals, among others.

Use your digital calendar for reminders for your work with clients

I even use this for my work with clients.  I set up what day of the month I’ll work on their stuff. Quarterly, end-of-year, engagement letter, among other things.  The more I can get out of my brain onto my digital calendar the better it is for me. So anything I don’t want to have to remember, I add it.

The more you do this, and the more brain space you clear out, the more productive you’ll be at the things you need to get done. The more time you will have to do the creative things that you want to do. Or the self-care things that you need to do. And so I believe that this is vitally important to get all of this junk that is not serving your brain.

If all this stuff is out in a place that you trust, your brain can relax. Because it’s not going to keep on thinking that you won’t remember. And it won’t keep trying to remind you about things.

Systems that help so things do not fall through the cracks

So let’s talk about some systems. Systems change all the time. I’m going to share a couple of systems that I’ve personally used. But there are lots more out there. I’m a big fan of keeping everything in one place. So whatever system you use, I would just use that one system.

You can still your electronic calendar like Google Calendar with Google tasks. That’s a super simple way to do it. But things can get kind of cluttered in there if everything is on your calendar. I prefer to use something like Trello or Asana.

here’s also, I think that kind of gets cluttered up though, if it’s all in your calendar like that, you could use an app called Trello or Asana.

Trello and Asana

Trello is a project management tool. It’s mostly board-driven. It’s designed for you to be able to move things through stages. But some people like that visual view. , I am a list person. So I like Asana. And both of these tools are free, which is pretty awesome.

Asana is a list-based tool. Which will allow you to create lists. You can create groups, categorize things, tag things, set due dates, and reminders. I used the Asana for a long time before we grew our team.

If you do have a team and you need some more complicated setups, you can use ClickUp.  There is also a tool called Monday, which I’ve never used. But it’s similar to ClickUp.

Asana or Trello can be used for larger groups. But they’re great for individuals. ClickUp and Monday are really for multi-person organizations.

I would not recommend you use a spreadsheet or document, because those will not give you reminders. And you will not be able to make things recurring.  For the system to work for you, you need those two elements: reminders and recurring. That will help you keep things automated. Your upkeep will be low and if things are in your system, you’ll use it.

Key components needed to help things not fall through the cracks

To wrap up, if you want to stop things from falling through the cracks, you need to create a system for holding all of the things. And it has to be a system that your brain trusts so that your brain will allow you to offload that mental weight into the system.

The key components that you need for this system are:

• You need something electronic, that allows for you to check it on multiple devices, your computer, and your phone.
• You want reminders so that it pushes you to get things done.
• And you also want it to have the ability to make things recurring. So it will automatically recreate the task at the next frequency you need it. Whether that is tomorrow or two years from now.

If you have any questions you can comment below, fill out the AskKristin.net form (where your answer could become another podcast episode or live on Facebook), or join us in the Small Biz Mama Facebook group.

Business Retirement Plans

If you’re providing services or products to people. Whether as a bookkeeper, virtual assistant, store owner, or whatever you’re doing. You’re a small business owner. A small business owner is anyone who has less than $25 million in revenue every year.

And that’s the vast majority of individual businesses in this country. Today I’m going to share with you all about business retirement plans.

Business retirement plans are such an important topic. Because women generally do not save enough for retirement. You either rely on your husband or spouse to save in their retirement plans. What happens is you’ll retire. Since men typically die a lot earlier than women do, that uses up a lot of the financial resources. Then you’re stuck.

The plans I’m going to share are easy to set up and you can do them anywhere. However, there are three questions that you need to ask yourself when deciding to set up a retirement plan. And then I’ll share the different plans that are available to small business owners.

Three questions to ask yourself when setting up a business retirement plan

There are three questions you need to ask yourself before you decide what kind of business retirement plan you should pick:

1. How much do you want to put away? Not just for today, but how much do you want to be able to put away in the future? You should be thinking at least in the next five years
2. Are you going to have employees?
3. Do you want to pay the taxes now? Or do you want to pay the taxes later?

How do you set up business retirement plans?

Many business retirement plans can be set up by you. Or you can find an online broker like Edward Jones or Raymond James. You can also find a local broker.  Many times you can find one through your chamber of commerce.  Make sure you get more than one recommendation though. You need to find somebody that is going to help you answer all the questions that you have made sure that you’re comfortable with what you’re doing and what they’re doing.

Interview a lot of people to make sure you find somebody who makes you feel comfortable. Because if you are investing a significant amount of money, you want to feel comfortable with the person that’s helping you manage that.

What options do you have for business retirement plans?

The importance of knowing the answers to the three questions above will make picking a plan much easier.

Knowing how much you want to put away in the future will help you know what kind of plan to pick.  You don’t want to keep changing plans because your income and your contributions are going up. So you need to know what your projections are for your business over the next five years.

When you decide if you’re going to have employees in the near future, that will also help determine which plan you will pick.  Some plans require you to not only put away money for yourself, but you have to also put money away for your employees as well.

Taxes and business retirement plans

Knowing if you want to pay taxes now or later will help you pick between a traditional or a Roth plan. The difference between those two is the tax rate. What do you think your tax rate is today versus what you think it’s going to be in the future.

Financial planners used to think that people would be in lower tax brackets when they retired. But they’ve found that to not be true. People’s cost of living does not drop significantly when they retire. Generally, when they retire, they are in the same tax bracket as they were before.

If you’re in a lower tax bracket now, then it might be a good idea to pick the Roth option. However, if you’re in a high tax bracket and you think you’re going to be in a high tax bracket later on. Or you think you’re going to be one of those people who will pay less in taxes in retirement then maybe going the traditional route would be better for you. So you must talk to your tax advisor.

Now mind you, none of this is tax advice. I’m just doing this for education, so it’s important that you talk to your advisors, and get clarity for what works best for you before you set up any plan.

Commonly used business retirement plans for small businesses

The following are the commonly used plans for small businesses and the amounts you can put into each plan.

IRA – Individual Retirement Account

The IRA is an individual retirement account. There is a traditional option and a Roth option. This is a personal plan and this isn’t considered a business plan. So that means that if you set this up, you wouldn’t have to put money in for employees.

The issue with the IRA is that you can’t put in a lot of money. An IRA is capped at $6,000 per year. That’s the amount for 2021-2022. If you are over 50, you can put in an additional thousand dollars per year. You can set up this plan so that you’re doing regular contributions to the plan.

So you don’t have to come up with $6,000 or $7,000 in April. You do have until the date that your taxes are due to contribute.  If you do go this route, make regular contributions every month.

The traditional IRA and Roth IRA are simple to set up. You can set them up pretty much with any brokerage, online brokerage, or anybody that sells securities.  Also, you can also set them up with your bank. Just make sure you don’t invest them at your bank because your bank is only going to do CDs and stuff. You want to make sure that you’ve got more options.

Simple Plan or Simple IRA

I love this second option for small businesses.  It’s a nice bridge between an IRA and some of the bigger plans. This plan is a business plan. So if you pick this plan, you and your other employees could put money into the plan. And then the company will do a match. The match is 3% of salary or a max of 3% of salary. If the employee puts money in, you can do 2% of the salary for all employees. If your employees don’t contribute to this plan, then you don’t have to match their contributions.

This plan doesn’t cost a lot of money.  There is a fee for each employee. Which is usually about $20-$40 a year.  There are no tax returns that you have to file for this plan. So it’s a simple plan.

Each employee, including you, can put up to $13,500 per year. And the employee contribution will come out through payroll.  If you are a sole proprietorship or a partnership, you could either make regular contributions to the plan, or you could make your contribution by the end of January. And then you could make a matching contribution by the date your tax return is due.

So for 2021-2022 you can contribute $13,500. And there’s also a $3,000 catch-up contribution you can make if you are over the age of 50. Now this plan does not have a Roth option. Everything goes in for taxes with this plan.

401K or Roth 401K

A 401K plan works via contributions out of payroll. If you are a sole proprietor, you can make regular contributions to your 401k. There’s a plan called a solo 401k, which has fewer requirements and it’s less expensive to run. But 401ks typically have higher fees.

The setup fee can be $500-$1000 per year for a small 401K plan.  But you can contribute $19,500 for 2021 and $20,500 for 2022. Plus there is a $6,500 catch-up if you are over the age of 50.

Now we’re starting to get into big numbers and then with the employer match, you can craft how you do the employer match for a 401k. You can do no match,1%, 2%, or 3%. Some businesses will do 50% up to 6% of salary. Employees have to put in money to get a full match.

And there is also a profit-sharing option where you could do up to 25% of compensation. So with a 401k, you can pretty much pick any percentage, but the total max that you can put into that plan is $58,000 for 2021 and $61,000 for 2022 plus the catch-up amount.

To hit those big numbers, you have to have a high compensation.  You’ll need a salary of approximately $200,000.

SEP – Simplified Employee Pension Plan

This plan has the same max numbers as the 401k. But all the money is put in by the employer. So $58,000 for 2021, and $61,000 for 2022. And this is a profit-sharing plan. So you’re putting away up to 25% of the employee compensation and your compensation.  Your compensation would be your profit.

So you can put up to 25% of your profit away if you’re a sole proprietorship, but you have to do that for all your employees as well. And they don’t have to put anything in now. You can set the percentage every year, but once you get locked into that plan, you can’t put money in for yourself, unless you’re willing to put in money for your employees.

A SEP is only a good plan if you have a highly profitable business and you want to put that money away for your employees as well.  If you don’t want to do that, then you want to avoid SEP because the employee contribution can get very large, very quickly.

However, if you are going to be solo and you have a very profitable business. Then a SEP could be the way to go. There is no Roth option on the SEP.

The only two that have the Roth option are the IRA and the 401K.

If you have any questions at all, you can leave them in the comments. You can fill out the AskKristin.net form. Or you can message our Facebook page, or send me a DM on Instagram.

Low-tech productivity solutions

Did you know small businesses are any business with less than $25 million in annual revenue? There’s a lot of small businesses out there. And they’re all trying to navigate this crazy world that we’re in right now. A lot of moms are out there trying to run businesses and balance the kids and balance all the things.  So today I want to talk to you about some of my favorite low-tech solutions to help you with your productivity.

Very often we’re looking for the next piece of tech that is going to get us going. Or make a difference in our productivity.  I’m going to share three low-tech solutions that are very helpful.

#1 Low-tech productivity solutions

The first thing I want to talk to you about is my paper planner.  For those of you who know me, I’m a tech junky.  However, I use technology typically to capture things over the long term. And then I use low-tech or paper to capture things for the day.

Because my goal when I’m working is to try and minimize distractions. And the more tabs and apps I have open, I usually end up doing something else.  I’m more likely to end up on Facebook, listening to a podcast, or reading news. I’m going to end up where I’m not supposed to be. What I’ve found that works for me is if I can keep track of my day on paper, my day is more productive.

Long-term appointments are in my Google calendar. Complex tasks or tasks that I don’t get finished at the end of the day, go into Click Up. You can use Asana or Trello. But the important thing is to have some type of container to house these tasks so you don’t lose them.

Work on paper throughout the day

When I’m working for the day, I’m working on paper. So the first thing I use is my Full Focus Planner.

The Full Focus Planner has a planner for each quarter. So it’s not a big planner. It’s beautiful, durable, and has a nice feel to it. The planner also makes you put your goals in every quarter. So you need to keep going back to your goals. It has room for your important tasks every day. You can write things in your schedule to help with your time blocking.

How I use my Full Focus Planner

Every day, I open up my Google calendar. That’s where I capture all my appointments. I’ll fill in all my appointments for the day. And then I will close Google calendar for the day.

Then, I will look at all the empty spaces I have on my schedule and see what I can do during that time. I will look at those open blocks and figure out what I can get done today.  That is when I will open up Click Up. Which is where we house all of our tasks. All the things that the team needs to get done.

You can use something like Asana or Trello. Asana is great for individual work. So I check what is on my to-do list, and see what is coming down the pipe, and then I put it down on paper. This way I can close Click Up and work from my planner throughout the day.

What else does the Full Focus Planner have?

I can take notes during the day. If new tasks come up, I don’t need to open the task manager on my computer. I just write it down in the notes section. I also have my meal plan written down. My whole day is being managed through this.

This helps me stay off of tech. And it makes my life so much easier.

#2 Low-tech productivity solutions

The second thing is like a paper whiteboard.  Now, this is not my idea. This is Julie Stoian’s idea. What I use as my paper whiteboard is a mixed media notebook. You can get these at Michael’s. Or Walmart has them in the art section.

Essentially this mixed media notebook is an art book. It’s spiral bound and it has no lines, just blank pages.  This helps when I’m trying to figure out a process. Or if I’m trying to get some thoughts down on paper and it’s more than what I can fit in my planner. I use it from brainstorming and for taking notes when I’m on calls with clients, on Q&A calls, or coaching calls.

This notebook comes in different sizes. And they a pretty inexpensive.  The paper is thick. So if you want to use markers, highlighters, or felt tip pens, you can.  If you’re creative and like to map things out and do visual notes, this is great for that.

Using paper helps you be more productive

Doing so much on paper when I’m working, helps me stay as productive as possible. And I can stay on task.  Because every time I open a tab, my brain goes, “We can use.  Or we can go to Pinterest. Do we need a dinner recipe tonight? Why don’t we go to Pinterest? Let’s go to Food Network.” My brain just doesn’t want to do the work.

The fewer tabs I have open during the day, the more productive I am.

#3 Low-tech productivity solutions

The third low-tech productivity solution is a timer cube. You can find these in Staples or on Amazon.  On this timer cube, there are four different timers. One on each side. The timers can be 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, and 30 minutes. Or some come with 60 minutes and 15 minutes. They all have different configurations.

Using the Pomodoro Technique

If I need to focus on something for a short amount of time, I like to use the Pomodoro technique. The Pomodoro technique is somewhere between 25 minutes and 60 minutes of working, and then you take a break. So you turn on the timer and when it goes off, you’re done! For example, if I’m going to spend 20 minutes brainstorming a module for the course, or what I will cover on a call or a podcast. I will set the timer.

Using a physical timer, rather than your phone, will help with productivity. Do you ever go into your phone to turn on the timer? And 20 minutes later you realize that you’ve got everything on your phone except the timer. Or if you use a timer on your computer, you are on other stuff and never make it to the timer.

Three low-tech productivity solutions to help you get more things done

So my three low tech productivity solutions to help me get so much done during the day are:

• Full Focus Planner
• Mixed Media Notebook
• Timer cube

These three things work very well for me. They might not work for you, but if you struggle with technology and constantly getting distracted on your phone, or your computer, try it out. Try some low-tech solutions.

I’d love to know what your favorites low-tech solutions are. So leave a comment below or go to the Small Biz Mama community on Facebook. This community is our Facebook group where we’re hanging out, talking about business. It’s where I go live every single week. And I typically go live twice a week. So it’s a great place to get more information, community, and some cool business tips.

Great place for finding new networking opportunities

Small businesses are everywhere.  There are over 30 million small businesses in the United States alone. I love sharing how to help you create the business and the life you are looking for. So I am going to share a whole bunch of great places for finding new networking opportunities. Some are online and some are offline. I will mention some organizations that you may not have heard of before. And some websites that you haven’t heard of before.

Online networking opportunities

A lot of people love Facebook, but many times you do Facebook wrong.  Why? Because you join these giant Facebook groups that have around 60,000 people in them. The problem is that you get lost in the group. There is going to be lots of competition for what you do. And it’s hard to get known and be seen.

Look for the smaller Facebook groups. You will be able to connect with small business owners and then joining groups that have around 200-500 people in them. If the group is active, then that’s the kind of group that you want to be in. Anything up to around 2000 people, is going to be a good group to join. Just make sure it’s an active group.

Sometimes you get into those smaller Facebook groups by joining a course or membership.  That is another way that you can get into some of these active groups.

I’m in a couple that I pay like $30 to $40 a month to be in those groups. And I’m learning a ton of stuff. One of those is Jennifer Allwood Inner Circle.

I love those smaller Facebook groups. I’ve gotten a ton of work out of them.  And I’ve referred out a ton of work from them. They are just great places to be.

Other groups on Facebook

You can try:

• Business groups
• Your local Facebook groups

I’m in a ton of local Facebook groups where I live.  There is one for my town. One for the Space Coast because that is where I live.  What I do is use those local groups to help find other local groups. So once you get into a really solid local group, then you can tell them you have a business and ask where you can find local networking opportunities.

Finding new networking opportunities locally

There are many informal networking groups that people don’t know about unless somebody tells you about them. So asking in your local Facebook groups can be a great way to find out about them.

There is BNI – Business Networking International. It’s a group that you have to pay to join, but there is only one of each type of business in that group. And they focus on referrals.

Chambers of commerce are great. If you’re doing local networking, civic organizations are great for local networking.

You can also find a Toastmasters group that focuses on local businesses. Toastmasters is a speaking group. They are also great for confidence as well. So if you’re struggling with your confidence, or you think that you’re awkward on calls with people, especially doing zoom calls. Toastmasters is a great way to help you get over that fear and meet some great people too.

I want you to think outside the box because there are business owners everywhere.

Business owners are everywhere

There are around 30 million small businesses in this country.  I believe that number is low because there are also around 59,000 freelancers out there too. A lot of times freelancers don’t consider themselves small business owners. And so I think the number is probably around 60 million.

I’ve been asked if I’ll put a cap on how many bookkeepers I’m going to let into Bookkeeper Training School. To meet the demand for bookkeepers right now, we probably need at least 10,000 new bookkeepers. And so if we hit 10,000 bookkeepers we might be cutting it off.  But we are not anywhere near that.

There is a huge huge demand for bookkeepers right now. The average age of a small business accountant is about 65. So there’s 25% of accounting professionals that are going to retire in the next five years.

And so we have a lot of headway to make, to make sure that all the small businesses out there are getting served.

And also anytime that there’s either an economic downturn or some sort of strife, like a pandemic, lots of new businesses form because people are tired of living by the rules that everybody else sets.

And so I think we’re going to see tons of small businesses come out of the pandemic. I know lots of people are doing side hustles and they’re doing those as small businesses.

Think of new ways to seek out new business

A lot of people are turning away from having a second job and are creating something on their own. These are all the folks that are looking to connect with other businesses owners.

Don’t just be looking for business groups. But also be looking for groups that you’re interested in. Because networking is so much fun when you’re interested in participating.

So there is:

• Volunteerism
• Civic groups
• Moms groups
• BNI
• Chambers of Commerce
• Meetup.com
• Alignable: Alignable is a great place to hook up with other businesses. So Alignable is a networking platform for small businesses. That is a great place to actually has groups that you can join.
• LinkedIn has groups.
• Connect with your college. Look up your alumni network on LinkedIn. They may also have one on Facebook as well.
• NextDoor is a hyper-local site. That might be a good place to let people know that you have a business or to ask about networking groups.

Finding new networking opportunities with connectors

I love connectors. Connectors are people who are good at networking and connecting with other people. So find those connectors. Connectors are typically lawyers, insurance agents of all different kinds, financial advisors.

You can also check out your chamber of commerce. See who’s on the board of that chamber of commerce because a lot of them are typically connectors. Also, look at just chamber members, and pick out some who know a lot of people. You can reach out to them and let them know that you are considering joining the chamber and that you are looking at other options. Find out their favorite ways to network and just reach out. You can reach out on LinkedIn.

If you find them on Alignable, you can connect with them online. A lot of times they have their email address available on their chamber website or maybe their Facebook page. So reach out to people

Avoid the biggest mistake when finding new networking opportunities

The biggest mistake that your small business makes when you’re first starting to network is that you think that if you just put yourself in these groups, you’re going to get business. But you have to connect with individuals. People want to do business with people they like and trust. And so you have to talk to people.

You need to:

• Talk to people
• Comment on post
• Send private messages
• Create conversations

Business on Facebook is not happening in the groups. It’s happening behind the scenes in private messages. And so messenger is where all the businesses happening. It’s not happening publicly in the groups. So you need to start talking and connecting with people.

I’ll have people that will message me because they’re looking for a bookkeeper, I will have them fill out my form. Or I’ll put their requests into our group.

But that’s because of all the networking that I do and all the connections that I’ve made. When people are looking for a bookkeeper, I’m on the person they go to. That takes a little bit of time to do.

The more that you engage with other people, the more relationships you build, the more likely it is that your firm will grow faster.

Maximize your networking opportunities

I want you to maximize your networking opportunities for the amount of time that you’re spending. And so if you are cold calling, that is one phone call you’re making. That’s one person you’re trying to connect to. You’re trying to connect to the right person. You’re going to have voicemails or anything on hold. It’s slow networking.  If you are going to network in a group, that would be so much better.

I’m trying to maximize the number of businesses that you can touch and can connect with within a short period. And so I found that this method of networking is without a doubt the most effective.

If you have any questions you can always go to askkristin.net, and fill out the form. And we will answer your questions either on a future podcast or a live. Or you can connect with us in our group, the Small Biz Mama community on Facebook.

Business in the New Reality

This is the third post in the series of Designing your Post-COVID reality, I am sharing about how to create the life, business, and family you want in this new reality.  Today I am going to share what business will be like in the new reality, and how business is going to change in the post-COVID era.

I don’t even know if there is a post-COVID. But we’re living with COVID. Everything is reopening and moving forward. So what does that mean for business?

Predictions for business in the new reality

I’m going to share some of my predictions having 20 years of experience working in business and seeing downturns and other kinds of things happen during those years. You remember 9/11 and what that did for business. This has been a much longer period than 9/11. I remember the economic downturn in ’07, ’08, or ’09.

Business trends going forward

I’m going to share what I think the trends are going to be in business going forward. What’s going to stay and what’s going to go.  When businesses go through something like this, they start to think about what they learned.  As a business owner you need to ask:

• What did I learn from this?
• Did I do anything to adapt?
• What do I want to keep?

Think back to how your life changed and how the businesses around you adapted or didn’t adapt when everything shut down.

In Connecticut, where I was for most of the pandemic, a lot of businesses offered curbside pickup. And a lot of boutiques started doing Zoom or FaceTime sessions. You could sign up for a session and schedule a meeting where they would help them pick out a gift for someone.  Lots of service providers were doing quotes virtually.

Schedule meetings virtually for your business in the new reality

If you are a service provider, and I recommend this for my bookkeepers, if you’re driving from meeting to meeting to meet clients, it’s very time-consuming. Whereas if you do these meetings on Zoom, you out of one meeting, and hop into another meeting. You can even keep the same link all day and have a waiting room. You can tell your clients that your next meeting is in the waiting room.  It helps you move from one appointment to the other. It’s much more efficient and time-saving to do your meetings virtually.

I think you are going to see a lot fewer in-person meetings and more zoom meetings. Especially since Zoom is such an easy platform to use.

Digital business will still be a thing for business in the new reality

You are going to continue seeing a lot of digital business and digital signatures. And I think that technology is only going to get better every year. Delivery will get better each year.

Family-style meals

I think one thing that restaurants will continue to do is family-style meals. I believe this trend will continue.  When we moved to Florida where things are much more open, we still see a lot of that here. Family-style meals are one thing that’s wonderful that came out of COVID.

Virtual conferences for business in the new reality

In the conference space, I think we’re going to continue to see the virtual ticket as an option. Promoters and people who do conferences have realized that there’s a large market out there of people like moms that find it hard to get away but would love to be able to participate. So to have that option to allow you to attend live or virtually is fantastic. And I believe that that is going to continue. We’re seeing that with a lot of conferences, even conferences that are booking into next year that are giving that option.

Advanced child tax credit

There is a lot of pent-up income right now. And with the advanced child tax credit coming this month, I think we’re going to see more money going out there. So there’s a lot of pent-up demand and spending. I think we’re going to see a rush and then we’re going to see a pullback. Especially if the child tax credit advances stop in January, we’re going to see a pullback after that.

And even in business, we’re going to see people wanting to go out, see people and spend money.  Initially, we are going to see a big push of money come into the economy. And then we’re going to see a little bit of a pullback. And I don’t know if it’s going to be a recession-sized pull back.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about with the advanced child tax credit, which you can go to my Facebook page and watch the video. That money coming into the economy is going to make a huge impact on the economy.

Entertainment with business in the new reality

Travel, amusement parks, and hotels are seeing this huge pent-up demand all coming at the same time. Once people get that out of their system, then I think there’s going to be a pullback.

Local businesses in the new reality

Local business is going to continue to do well as long as it keeps serving its customers and what they want. Many local businesses adapted well and upped up their social media game. But if you are thinking that with everything opening up again, that you don’t need to do the social media game anymore.  You’re wrong.  You have got to stay in the social media game.

You’ve got to keep inviting people into your store. Reminding people that you’re there. Keep doing the videos that you were doing, and those updates.

Many people took this opportunity to see if they liked the service providers they are working with. Or figuring out if they want to work with somebody else.  They see all the social media posts and they are reminded of all the services out there. People might make the switch and never come back.

Social is more important than ever.  Through the pandemic, people realize that they have a lot of options out there now.  They may not have realized it before.

You don’t realize how many salons are in your town until somebody in the moms’ group says, “Hey, I’m new to town and I need a haircut.” And then the flood of recommendations starts coming in.  As you look through the Facebook pages, you see what’s out there, and then you pick on based on what you see.

Online networking

Facebook groups

During the pandemic, we saw people rushing to social media to connect to local Facebook groups and things like that. I’ve talked to some moderators in Facebook groups and they say that local groups have grown tremendously during this process. People wanted to stay connected to their communities and what was going on and what was open or not open.

Many people are relocating around the country and they want to connect to their new area. And so that means growth in Facebook. This also means that it is important for you as a small business owner, to make sure you’re connected to your local groups.

It’s a great way for you to connect with new and existing people, and to be a part of your community.

Nextdoor

If you’re not on Nextdoor, that is a phenomenal place to be if you’re a business owner. Because it allows you to connect with people. Nextdoor is almost like a giant local Facebook group. And just by putting in your address, you get connected with the neighborhoods around you. It’s not a good national networking tool, but if you want to network locally, Nextdoor is fantastic.

Alignable

I also know some people who are having good luck with Alignable as well, which is business-to-business networking. And so that might be something that you want to check out as well. With Alignable you can more national.

Online networking is still here, and it’s not going to go anywhere. But I think that as things continue to open, you’re going to see more people wanting to network locally.

Meetup 

I’m starting to see meetup groups that are popping up. If you’re on Meetup and you haven’t been on in a while, go check it out. There are lots of new groups popping up as people are craving connection.

Local Networking for Business in the New Reality

Civic Groups

I’m hoping that the civic groups use this as an opportunity to recruit. I know a lot of the civic groups were struggling before the pandemic hit. When I talk about civic groups, I’m talking about Lion’s Club, Out’s Club, Kiwanis Club, Silva, Tan, the Jaycees, which is a Junior chamber of commerce.

Now they are trying to figure out what their memberships look like. A lot of these groups that have buildings are selling them because they just couldn’t sustain the membership. If you are younger and looking to meet people, or you’ve got a group of friends that are looking to help out in your community, go check out one of these groups.

There is a lot of business owners in these groups. And there is a lot of knowledge in these groups. It’s a natural mentoring situation. And, it’s a great way to help your community. They do lots of fundraisers and good things in your communities.

Go check out your local civic groups and see what’s available in your area because they do so much good behind the scenes that don’t see. And unfortunately, these groups are dying out.

Chambers of Commerce 

I’m also interested to see how chambers of commerce come out of this. Because a lot of chambers just kind of sat there and waited. They did not do a good job supporting their business members during the pandemic. And it’ll be interesting to see if the businesses continue to support them because I know a lot of people did not feel supported by their chambers during this. If you’ve got a great story about your local chamber, I’d love to hear it.

Millennials and business in the new reality

A lot of millennials who are very entrepreneurial are wanting something different and exciting. They want something to teach them and help them grow. The problem is that many of the chamber events teach outdated things.

Millennials need new strategies. They need to step up and show people how this all works. 

There is much better technology out there.  So we need millennials to step up and give better guidance.

Online service providers

Online service providers such as bookkeepers, virtual assistants, online business managers, need to put themselves in front of local people. You need to show them how you can help them, and help them understand what you do.

You also need to show them that they aren’t hiring an employee. Explain to them how you can help them in a way that they can afford. Because most people are thinking if they get a bookkeeper, it’s going to cost thousands of dollars a month. They don’t understand that they can hire someone coming out of Bookkeeper Training School for a couple of hundred dollars a month that will help them with their bookkeeping. And getting everything caught up every month so that they have numbers to work with.

If you’re a business owner and you just want to get a bookkeeper for a couple of hundred bucks a month, we have a hire form. Click here to fill out the form. We’ll connect you with QuickBooks certified bookkeepers that can help you with your business. This doesn’t have to be hard.

Business in the new reality is both national and local

You need to get out of the online space and explain to people what you do. Create those relationships. I did episodes earlier this month that all business is national and all businesses local. You need to need to tap into both of those, especially as things reopen.

I want to know what you think business is going to look like in the next year. Please leave a comment below or share your thoughts in our Small Biz Mama group on Facebook.

• Do you think the economy is going to grow or shrink?
• What is networking going to look like?
• What is a conference is gonna look like?

How to make your service-based business stand out

Today we are going to talk about how to make your service-based business stand out from the crowd.  You might think you need to dress up all the time, wear makeup, and be really present on social media.

I’ve just been hearing some horror stories about bookkeepers, tax preparers, and service providers in general, who are out there doing all the things on social media. But when you sign up with them and the work isn’t great. It’s not getting done on time though. And the level of communication is not good.

In order for your business to stand out, focus on the client experience

What I really want you to spend a lot of time focusing on is the client experience. I will tell you that one happy client is worth more than all the social media.  Because that client is going to tell everybody about you.

There are a lot of courses out there that spend so much time focusing on the acquisition of clients but they’re not spending enough time talking about how to actually service those clients once you have them. So let’s talk a little bit today about making your service-based business stand out from the crowd by providing awesome customer service.

What does the initial contact process look like? 

First off, I want you to think about what the initial contact process looks like. When somebody reaches out to you via social media, email, or your website, what does that initial interaction with you look like?

That initial interaction will set the tone for the rest of the relationship. You need to have a plan and a process in place.  In Bookkeeper Training School, we teach that that process should be having a booking software such as Calendly, Acuity, Book like a Boss, or anything you want. But you need to have something so that people can book an appointment with you. Having a very smooth process for people to book with you is very important.

Even if you don’t have a piece of software, write back and say, “Here are three times that I have available next week. Do any of those times work for you?” Try to minimize the back and forth. But having a booking software that works well is a great way to do that. Most booking software will check your calendar and make sure that that time is actually open. It will check everything before someone can book an appointment with you.

In order for your business to stand out define what you’re going to talk about during the initial call

Second, I want you to know what you’re going to talk about on that initial call. Make sure you have a questionnaire that you send out in advance. Because when you’re going to hop on a call with somebody for 15 minutes, you want to use that 15 minutes getting to know the person so that you’re comfortable with sending them a proposal.  But if you spend that entire time asking questions, you are going to be so focused on gathering that information that you’re not going to be focused on if you like this person and feel like you can work for him/her.

What does that look like? Do you have a questionnaire you send out in advance to get information? What are you going to talk about on that call?

What does your proposal process look like? 

Then once you know that you will be a good fit, what does your proposal process look like? How do you send out a proposal? Are you going to send it out just as an email and then if they accept it, you send your contract? Do you send it out and then schedule another call to discuss it?  

What does your contract and payment process look like?

Once you’ve defined what the proposal process looks like for you, then you need to define what your contract will look like. As a service provider you always have to have a contract so you don’t get burned. Define how you are going to have them sign the contract. And then what does your first payment process look like? You’re probably going to send them an invoice. And you can automate this to go out on a monthly basis.

In order for your business to stand out, have a clearly defined onboarding process

After that has been defined, you need to know what your onboarding process looks like.  As you are going through this process, create a list of all of the documents that you’re going to get from the client. Give them a deadline for when you need those documents, and then book an onboarding meeting.  This onboarding meeting is to make sure that you have access to everything you need in order to be able to do the work.

As a service provider, you’re going to need access to passwords and usernames. I’d recommend using a password vault for those things. If you’re a bookkeeper, you want to make sure that all of the accounts are connected or that you have your own access so that you can connect the accounts.

Create your “How I Work” document

After you’ve defined what your onboarding process looks like, you need to have a “How I Work” document that you send to your clients. And I would send this with the contract or with the proposal. But the goal of that is to say how your client can communicate with you, and when they can expect to hear back from you. Information such as:

• When the work will typically be done during the month
• The hours that you generally are available for contact.
• If they want to have a meeting with you, how do they schedule that meeting? And how much does it cost if it’s not included in your proposal?

Define what your process looks like if you aren’t getting what you need from your client

Once you’ve created your “How I Work” document, then you need to define what your process is if your client doesn’t provide you with the documents you need.  What does that process look like? How often do you follow up with them? 

So if by the 10th of the month, you do not have all their documents. What do you do? Do you send an email, text? 

In order for your business to stand out create standard operating procedures

All of these procedures become your business’s standard operating procedures or SOPs. The more SOPs you have in your business, the easier it is to put your business on autopilot.

A lot of times what happens with small businesses is that when things start to go wrong, you start spiraling with negative thoughts. “Something is wrong. They don’t like me. Or they don’t want to work with me anymore.”  But if you have all these procedures in place, you just follow the steps. This helps you run your business.

You are not going to identify all the issues the first time you onboard a client. You are going to mess up your first contract. There are going to be things you’re going to wish you had included.  So next time you’re going to put that in the contract. Because you cannot think of every single thing that has to be in every contract or has to be in every document. Every discovery call you do is going to make the next one better. 

What can you learn from the mistakes in your business?

And so I want you to think about all this as a learning process.  So next time something goes wrong in your business, ask yourself what you can learn from it. You need to know that it’s not a failure, it’s a lesson for improvement.

That is one thing we work on in Bookkeeper Training School. It’s one of the reasons why I think community is so important. You can see things that others are doing that will benefit you. Things you wouldn’t have thought to put in your contract, or questions you wouldn’t have thought to ask in a discovery call.

When things go wrong, contact your client immediately

Really think about these processes and know what it looks like to work with you if you want to stand out from the crowd.  If something goes awry contact your clients immediately. Let’s say if you get injured,  sick, or aren’t going to be able to deliver on time, let them know right away. Because clients get antsy when their service providers disappear.

If you have gotten behind, or think you’re going to get behind, just reach out to your clients. Don’t give them a rosy overenthusiastic deadline, give a realistic deadline. Because when you do that and you finish before the deadline, you’re going to look like a superhero. So think about the deadlines that you give.

But honestly, in this day and age, it’s not hard to be a service provider superstar. Be honest with your clients. Have a clear process for how you do things and communicate.

Let me know if you have any questions about this, especially those of you that are in Bookkeeper Training School. You can always ask questions. You can go to askkristin.net and fill out the form. If you’re in Bookkeeper Training School, we’ll answer them on our live calls. If you’re not in Bookkeeper Training School, we will use them as a podcast episode, Facebook live, or other free content. 

Learning to sell like a mother with Renee Hribar

In this last episode in our series “Sales and Marketing,” Jeff and I interview Renee Hribar on learning to sell like a mother.

Who is Renee Hribar

Renee Hribar has been a sales professional since 1994 in New York. She has sold millions of dollars in products and services and trained thousands to sell for the first time.

Renee is known in her industry as a fun, energetic executive sales coach who leads with heart. She is a TEDx speaker who offers training sessions at global conferences. Renee skillfully breaks down her decades of sales expertise, and with her one-of-a-kind “laugh & learn” teaching style, you will certainly gain a new view of the “softer side of sales”.

Learning to sell by connecting with people

Kristin:

Many of the people in our community ask me about sales all the time. Unfortunately, many of them hate sales.  You are super passionate about sales.

Renee:

Sales are never just one thing. The sale happens throughout your connecting with people from the moment to before you work with them, while we’re working with them and then after.

Why Renee loves sales so much

Kristin:

How did you got started and why do you love sales so much when most people think it’s a four-letter word? 

Renee:

In 1994, I graduated from college. Five days after I got a summer job. I took the job. It was selling house to house. And I loved it. What I loved about it was that people are so raw. So it allowed me to connect with who they are right away. I got promoted to the New York office in Manhattan. We were getting into the telecom world. I rode that wave and I never looked back.

Then, I started my first company and made my first million before I was 25. So I bought my mom a house and a car. I moved her across the country. And I traveled constantly. I loved what I did and was at all the events, getting the equivalent of the two comma club award, you know, 20 years ago. And I loved it.

How Renee became passionate about learning to sell on the online space. 

Renee:

And so I became passionate ultimately about this space when I became a mom and I didn’t want to be traveling all the time. I didn’t want to have to leave my little world of my family to be able to impact people positively.

It’s what I found mostly in the online space is people that were entrepreneurs that felt that sales were a four-letter word. And so the way I look at it to answer that question quickly is just having a conversation with people. Why do you love your business? And what you love about it is probably what makes it different. It’s your passion that will be part of that differentiator. 

Jeffery:

I met Renee in person at a Digital Insider event in New Haven earlier where she was speaking to a small group of entrepreneurs. It wasn’t a selling exercise. She was just talking about her business and the love she has for this topic just knocked my socks off.

I learned a lot just listening to her talk about a business. She has an incredible passion for what she does. I think all entrepreneurs should love sales and I don’t. It was a real struggle when I started my first business years ago, just because I hated getting up there in front of people. I felt like I have to do a dog and pony show for them. When I know what I’m doing, they should just buy my stuff, and it strange how that doesn’t work out for you.

Learning to sell means going into buyer mode

Renee:

Many people hate sales and think people should just buy your thing. You get caught up in that dog and pony show. We feel like that’s what sales are. It’s not. The buyer doesn’t even care. 

First, I want you to go into buyer mode. When you buy something, what makes you buy it? Are you comparing widgets to widgets? Most of the time.  You won’t even listen to somebody talk about their widget if you don’t even like it.

Learning to sell means being yourself

Renee: 

So it’s not like you have to try to be likable, just be you. That makes it easy to sell all the time. So instead of trying to be likable, just be who you are. You will repel most people. And then you will attract the right ones. Because trying to be somebody else is exhausting, thus the dog and pony show.

Learning to sell means asking questions

Renee: 

Instead, I encourage you to ask questions, if you haven’t already. And so once you ask the right questions, you will hear from the potential buyer. You are not selling to big companies, you are selling to Bob.  Even if Bob happens to be a big wig at IBM. So ask Bob some questions, discover what Bob is concerned about, what he needs, what he feels is the problem, and where the issues are. And see if you, as a seller, have the solution. Then talk about that solution in a way that Bob talks about it. Not in a way that you talk about it. And this is where the expertise starts to flip us around, and the whole idea of I have to prove myself.

Learning to sell means speaking your customers’ language

Renee: 

So here’s an example. I talked to Bob, I asked him his questions. Then, I hear how he explained things. I know Bob is explaining it wrong. As a seller and an expert, I might feel that to prove to Bob that I know my stuff, I need to use the big words to explain. All that does is alienate Bob from me. Bob now feels like I’m condescending, a know it, and that I’m going to be hard to work with.

Whereas if I just explained things the way Bob explained them, Bob will go, “Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.” As an expert, I know how things work. And everything is going to work out fine because I’m going to be the one in charge if we end up working together.

This little piece right there in the sales conversation is where I see so many people mess up because they’re going into it like it’s a sales conversation. I have to prove myself and show him a dog and pony show. That what freaks your out. 

Kristin:

People struggle with that and are so busy trying to list out the benefits and show how smart they are rather than building relationships. You need to use the terminology your customers use.

Is there a difference in selling to women versus men?

Kristin:

What are some differences in selling for women compared to men?

Renee:

I’m going to use a little analogy. So when you think about the dating world and think about how men are built and wired. It doesn’t mean that women and men are superior or inferior. They are just different. 

Kristin:

So it’s important to acknowledge that. It’s also important to design your ideal character and sell to them. 

Renee:

So when I pitch something to men, I’m still going to ask questions, but initially, they’re going to need fewer details. Women want to talk it out and talk it out again. For men, it’s just the facts. I still have to speak in his language, but he just wants the facts and he wants it quick. And he doesn’t need eye contact Women need eye contact.

Jeffery:

Stellar truth. Me. I kind of look at specs and I go off of that. If you have the specs, you have what I want. I’m going to buy it from you. And I’m not going to go anywhere else to look around.

Renee:

That’s the other thing too. Loyalty. Men tend to be very loyal. And women like to talk things out and discuss all the options. With men, I just need to connect correctly initially and quickly and get to the sale a lot quicker. Whereas women will have a longer pre-framing time if you’re going to speak about sales cycles. 

Learning to sell means speaking to your customer as an individual

Renee:

And you know, speak to your customer as an individual is the key. 

The biggest mistake people make when trying to sell their small business 

Kristin:

What do you think is the biggest mistake that people make when they’re trying to sell in their small business?

Renee:

They come at it with a pitch. 

Learning to sell means asking great questions

Renee: 

Good salespeople have good pitches. So there’s nothing wrong with a good pitch. It’s going to get to some things. But great salespeople ask great questions.

Let me give you a very specific example. I have one client who meets most of her clients in networking events. She meets one-on-one with somebody. What she used to do was she would hear some things that she knew she could solve. And she’d be like, Hey, you know what? I can help you with that. And guess how many customers she got? Very few. She had a good pitch.

What we first worked on was to identify what she heard. She knew she could help them. But instead of saying, “Hey, you know what I can do for you?” Instead, she switched it to, “Hey, I have a question.” And she would start with a few questions. Tell me more about that. How are you working on that? What have you tried so far? Are you looking to do X, Y, and Z? Or tell me what you’re looking to do with that.

Ask questions

Renee: 

So as opposed to, “Hey, this is what I can do for you.” Switch it to, “I have a couple of questions.”

And then because had a few questions versus, Hey, I want to pitch you. Some people’s barriers, go down. People like talking about themselves. 

Kristin:

What they teach you about doing discovery calls,  is asking three questions to get more information. So tell me about your business and what do you do. What systems are you using? And in that five-minute discussion, you can build enough rapport with somebody that they’re will call you the next day.

Learning to sell means spending more time listening than talking 

Kristin:

One of the first things that I learned about networking was that you spend more time listening than you do talking.

Renee:

So whether it’s digital marketing, where they come down a funnel, it’s all about asking questions and having them continue because they feel heard.

Before I become a seller, I have to become a buyer and empathize from that buyer’s perspective. Why would I buy from someone over here versus over there? I want to buy from someone. And especially with women, I want to be heard. I want you to listen because I am a unique flower. As a buyer, you want to feel seen and heard. And that alone will endear someone to you.

Is it possible to make sales fun?

Kristin:

So one of the questions that our audience had is, is it possible to make sales less scary and maybe even fun? 

Renee:

Yes. Well, again, back to the dating analogy. It can be nerve-wracking if you go into the pub at 21 and you’re like, “oh, I wonder if I’m going to meet my future mate for life or something.” You can put all that pressure on yourself. Or you can just go in and try to talk to one person at a time.

Learning to sell means speaking to one person

Renee:

This is where digital marketing can mess with your mind. You can’t talk to everyone. You can only talk to one person at a time. In the digital world, we talk about knowing your ideal client avatar and all those things.

Just speak to Sue. If you’re speaking to Sue, think about Sue, look at who Sue is. And talk to Sue. If you’re talking to Bob, then look at who Bob is, know him and speak to him. And so even if you are writing a broadcast email, imagine that one person that you’re talking to, and then guess what? You will speak to that person.

They’re going to come toward you. They’re going to hear themselves.

How can you sell more? 

Kristin:

What is the most important thing? People need to start selling more. 

Renee:

Well traditionally, you know, the way to sell more is either sell to more people or sell more of something to the same person. You need to either have more traffic or more upsells. But in terms of an individual business owner, how can you sell more? What I find often is you’re not inviting people to what’s next. 

Learning to sell means sending a personal message

Renee:

One of the fastest ways that I can suggest today right now, whatever you’re listening to this stop and think about the last 10 people that walked into your business, or that came to your page, or that liked your page, or that somehow connected with your business in any way, shape or form.

I want you to look them up, think about who they are. And I want you to send them a personal message. Send them an actual note, and simply invite them to something. Even if you have to create that thing.

Kristin:

That is great. You’re inviting them to the next piece.

Learning to sell is inviting your customer to the next thing 

Renee:

It’s a natural invitation to something. Even if it’s not an actual product, it’s just an invitation to something. It could be, “Hey, I’m doing the live stream next week. I would love to have you come join me. Do you want the link to check it out?” Video converts really big. So to reach more people faster, use video.

Using automation

Kristin:

In the digital space, we get too caught up in how do we automate? What can you automate? And sometimes it’s going back to that personal touch that is incredibly efficient.

Renee:

Automation can only be done for something that you’ve done over and over again so that you know that if it’s automated, it will still produce the same results. So it’s good for traffic and volume. But if you’re not somebody who needs volume or you’re not ready for volume, then hold off on some of that automation. There is more automation as you scale. 

Look and see who is opening up your emails

Renee: 

You can have a great automated email sequence. But you need to see who’s opening them. And then actually reach out to them beyond the email sequence. If Joanne has been opening every single one of your emails for the past month, you should reach out to her. 

Kristin:

And that’s, I mean, I think like that is like the best tip of the episode. Go into your email list and see who is opening your emails and go reach out to them because that is someone who likes you and loves you and is eating up your message. Invite them to the next thing.

The best way to contact Renee:

Renee’s Website

Renee’s Facebook page

Renee’s Instagram

Renee’s LinkedIn

Why all business is national

In this 4th episode in our series on “Sales and Marketing, I am going to talk about why all business is national. Now I know what you’re thinking because if you listened to last week’s episode, I just said all businesses are local. And I convinced you why you needed to have a local presence in your community.

You are sitting there going “Kristin, and now you’re telling me you have to be national. What is going on?” So here’s the thing. The reason that you need to have a national presence or virtual presence is that you never know who’s going to want to buy from you.

I remember when I got my first out-of-state client and I was thinking that I couldn’t do this since I’m in Connecticut.  I had some clients in Massachusetts, but I was licensed in Massachusetts. Because as a CPA, you’re licensed by the state. And so having a client from Massachusetts is fine because I’m licensed in Massachusetts. But then I got a client that was way upstate and I’m had to say taxes are taxes, and bookkeeping is bookkeeping.

Your business is national so you have to have a virtual presence

If you’re a virtual assistant, executive assistant, or graphic designer, it doesn’t matter where your clients are. But I think that sometimes you put up hurdles for people to work with you virtually. And so I want to talk about some of the hurdles that we have to get out of the way so that you can work with people anywhere.

So first off, for those of you that have a storefront or a location, you need to make it easy for people to find you online and to order from you online.

For instance, I like to order flowers for people all over the country. Typically what I’ll try to do is find a local florist. Sometimes these local florists make it so hard to order from them. They don’t answer their phone. Or they have terrible hours, especially leading up to a holiday. They don’t have sample photos on their website of the possible things you could order. And they just make it difficult to order online.

Make it easy for customers to contact you on your webpage

You want to remove as much friction as you possibly can. Now, listen, you don’t have to have an online order form, especially if you’re a service-based business, but you need to have information to make it easy for people to contact you if they want to work with you. So make sure that you have a form on your website for people to fill out.

Don’t do the email me thing because is a lot of times when you put an email link, the email link will try to open Outlook and most people don’t use Outlook.  So if you put an embed a form on your website, then people can contact you directly, instead of trying to send you an email.

Get a virtual phone number

You can also have a virtual phone number, like a Google number that will allow people to leave you a message. But it doesn’t interrupt your phone.

To ensure your business is national, make sure your Facebook page is active

Make sure that you have a Facebook page that is active. I can’t tell you how many times I go to Facebook pages for businesses that don’t have a post in like a year and a half. And all I can think is if the business still open. Since there is no activity on the page, I just don’t know. So you want to make sure that you’re posting regularly, so people know that you’re still around and that you’re still active. Do the same thing too if you’re on LinkedIn or wherever else your business shows up.

Make sure your information is current

Make sure that your information is current. So if you moved and your phone numbers and address has changed make sure to fix all that information. So that way, the most accurate information is available there. That also goes for your hours as well. Make sure that your hours are accurate if you have them listed on Facebook or Google or anywhere else. That way people don’t show up when you’re closed.

Since your business is national you’ll have a different perspective

If you want to work with people anywhere in the country, you can post about your business locally and what you’re doing locally. But you don’t want to be over-focused on that either. So you want to make sure that you focus on a broader area as well. That’s important even if you want to get the majority of your clients locally. Being in some business groups with a broader focus will give you a different perspective.

Joining these national groups and getting exposed to businesses all over the place, will show you the differences in mentality.  For instance, in New England, the malls close at 11 pm on Saturday. But here in Florida, they close at 7 pm.

Get exposure to other places and types of business

So it’s important to get exposure and to other places and other types of businesses. If you want to niche down, then having a more national or regional presence makes that a lot easier. Because if you want to focus on a particular type of business, you are going to learn how their whole system and fee structure works. Then you can be a good bookkeeper for these types of businesses.

There are a lot of different types of businesses you can specialize in, but you need to have a national presence. We’ve talked about this in Bookkeeper Training School. There is Shopify and Woo Commerce.

When you work with virtual businesses, they’re used to working with people all over the country. It can sometimes be a lot easier to sign with businesses like that because they’re used to working with people all over the place.

You can work with anyone anywhere

You need to be a local business, you need to be involved in your local community, but one of the amazing things about what we do, and I think the pandemic has made this all a lot easier, is you can work with anyone anywhere.

Whether you’re looking for clients anywhere, or you’re hiring people to work for you from anywhere. It’s just amazing what is available to you. But you’ve got to get out there and find the opportunity.

How do you find clients nationally to make sure your business is national?

How do you find clients nationally? Knowing your ideal client, who you want to work with. I’m a big fan of networking in Facebook groups and just being friendly and nice. If you listened to the episode I did two weeks ago about discovery calls, it’s not about being salesy. It’s about getting to know people, being helpful, being nice. Most people want to work with somebody that they like and trust. And if you’re salesy, they’re not going to trust you.

Facebook groups

When I look for Facebook groups to join, I’m looking for really active groups. But I’m also looking for groups that are not very big. I’m looking for groups that have less than 5,000 people in them. You want to go where you know your ideal customers hang out. There are so many business groups on Facebook. You can find a group for everything now. And if you can’t find one, you can start one.

LinkedIn

What I like to do on LinkedIn is when you set up your account,  connect all of your email accounts and then look for people who are on LinkedIn. And then once you send invites to them and they accept, you can see their networks. A lot of times that’s a great way to get outside your local area. Connect through the people that your contacts are connected with. A lot of people know a lot of business owners and can help connect with other people.

Clubhouse

You can also use Clubhouse, which is now on Android. Clubhouse is a voice-only app where you can join rooms. You can raise your hand. You can create your rooms. It’s almost like the old party line telephone system where it’s just a whole bunch of people that are listening in. It’s almost like an on-demand talk radio where people just create a room and talk about any topic they want to.  You can join the room, raise your hand, ask questions, or comment. It’s a little bit more casual than when you’re watching people on a YouTube interview or Facebook live.

Clubhouse is a cool platform that you can get involved in. It’s by invite only right now. So you have to find somebody that has invites. If you’re in Empower Bookkeeper Network, I’m giving out a lot of invites that way. So that’s another way to connect with people anywhere.

Instagram

Instagram is a good way to find people. You just have to put yourself out there. So some searching, and digging.

National Groups

There are national groups as well that you can join. We’re members of the US Chamber. I know Forbes has an entrepreneurs group you can join. You can join mastermind groups. There are many different ways you can connect with business owners either free or paid. And I do find that when you’re in paid groups, the quality of the group is typically a little bit better, than the free groups.

Your business is national, what is your national strategy going to be?

Hopefully, you got some ideas and are starting to think about what your local strategy is going to be. And what your national strategy is going to be. And you are finding out how you can identify some groups where you can do some good at a local and national level. You can grow your business both ways.

If you have not listened to last week’s episode, please make sure that you do so. Because I think it’ll give you some interesting ideas.

Here’s the thing. You want to have a multi-pronged approach so that your business can grow.  I can’t tell you how many times our local economy hasn’t been doing well, but nationally things are going well or vice versa. And so by being able to pivot and say, I’m going to spend more time on local clients right now because we’re doing okay here. That allows you to make your business recession-proof.

Why all business is local

This month we were talking all about sales and marketing. And in this episode, we are going to talk about why all business is local. Now I know what you’re thinking. You did not get into this to be a brick and mortar business. And you don’t want to have a storefront, or a location. You just want to be virtual.

Before moving to Florida, about 40% of my clients were local, and I met with all of them virtually.You think that if you have local clients you have to meet with them locally. Or you have to go and work from their location. That’s just not the case. You just have to establish ground rules. Especially if you’re a mom with littles.

Do some local networking

So, even though you are working virtually, you should do some local networking. You are always looking to make connections with people. And the greatest way to network with people is to establish connections. Part of the problem with online networking is that it is harder to establish those connections with people.

But when you network locally, even if you’re going to do the work virtually, you have that instant thing in common. You’re from the same state, town and country.  So it’s a lot easier to make those connections when the location is one of them. Most times, you’ll speak the same language, like the same restaurants, and maybe your kids go to same school.

If your business is local, do not go door-to-door

If you are networking locally, it is not a good strategy to create flyers and go door to door and talk to businesses. Why? Most businesses have a gatekeeper. And the gatekeepers job is to make sure that you do not bother the owner.There are also lots of businesses out there that don’t have a storefront. If you want to network locally and you can’t just walk into businesses, what are you going to do?

Strategies to network locally where your business is local

I’m going to share a couple strategies for you that you can use to do this. Some of them are more businessy and some of them are more fun. It just depends on what you want to do.

Join online local business groups

First off, there are lots of online local business groups that you can join. Those work well for networking. Some of them are better organized than others. You’ll find that some allow promotions, and some of them really have community where people are helping each other out. So you just have to find one that works for you.

In order to find those groups, go to your local Facebook groups. There are lots of them. Let them know in one of the groups that you are a business owner, and you’re starting up your new business. Tell them that you are looking to network with other business owners. And ask what groups are out there. That’s a really good place to start because they’re going to tell you where the local online groups are.

Check out local colleges

The other thing I would look into is any colleges you have nearby. Those colleges will have business incubators, entrepreneur centers, women’s business groups, or minority business groups that you can get involved with. Those are great places to network.

Try your local chamber of commerce

Other places that are great to network in is your local chamber of commerce. Even if it’s expensive to join, most times you can pay for a couple of meetings, and some of them are even free. And if you can find one client there, a lot of times it’ll pay for your annual membership. With one client, in your first month you can pay for that membership.

Join mom groups or start one

Another thing you can try too, is a lot of moms groups have moms that are business owners. And so that is a great way to meet other business owners. If you don’t find any moms groups, you can start a moms group in your area.

By attended groups like that, you’re going to find business owners. Because business owners are everywhere.

Get involved with local business organizations

It’s important that you think outside the box. You can also get involved with your kids PTO. A lot of those parents that are involved are small business owners. You can get involved in charitable organizations. A lot of people that are active actually own businesses because they have the flexibility in their schedule to be able to be active. And I think I find too, that small business owners, because their businesses in the community, have a vested interest in making sure that the community thrives.Most of the small business owners that I’ve ever known have been super involved in their community.

Try civic organizations

The other thing you can try are civic organizations. Things like the Rotary Club, or any of the service organizations, like the Lions Club. Typically if you reach out to your chamber of commerce, they’re going to know what the active civic clubs are.You might also have a downtown organization that helps promote businesses downtown. And you don’t have to be downtown to be in that organization, but just let them know that you support downtown businesses.

There’s just so many opportunities out there. I think a lot of people want to make sure that their town or their county is doing well. Because the better your town does, the lower your property taxes are going to be. The better your schools are going to be. There’s going to be less crime.

Start networking where your business is local

And so I just believe that no matter what you do, you need to start at home,  and you need to be active at home. And so whether that’s looking for clients locally or whether that is just getting out there, getting to know people, getting involved in your community, that will probably end up leading to clients.

I want to encourage you to get out there and be a leader in your community. Get out there and network locally. You can get involved, and connect with the businesses.

Networking where your business is local leads to referrals

Here’s the other thing too. When you start getting clients locally, even if you’re working with them virtually, people will start to talk about what a great job you’re doing. And you’re going to get more clients. It’s just that simple.

I talk about it in Bookkeeper Training School that there’s this switch that flips where you’re working hard to get clients. And then all of a sudden you start getting referrals. It then gets to the point that you don’t have the market anymore because you’re just getting referrals.

That’s where I been with my business for a long time. And it’s so awesome because you just know that new clients are going to come to you. That happens a lot faster with local networking than it does with virtual.  I still get referrals from people locally from the networking that I did five, 10 years ago. ​

So get out there, get in your communities and let me know how it goes. I really want to hear back from you guys about that. You can email us at podcast@smallbizmama.com or comment below.