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.