Sometimes when you’re an online entrepreneur it feels like you’re stuck in a rut and you’re just not sure where to even start in terms of actually y’know *doing* something productive and grow your business!
The list(s) is as long as your arm – you know you’ve got a million hats to wear and that’s before you’ve even started thinking about keeping your home going, the kids going and everything else you’ve got going on in your busy life.
So here are 10 quick-wins you can do in just a few minutes to KOKO (Keep On Kicking On).
1. Include a CTA (Call-to-Action) in every single newsletter you send out.
This can be from the very easy “click here to join my Facebook group” all the way through to “hit reply to set up a discovery call with me”.
Cost = 3 minutes
2. Get More Sleep.
I know right? As if – in this crazy modern world who am I to ask you to shove everything to one side and hit the pillow? But trust me, nobody’s creative brain works well on too few Zzzz’s. You don’t need to do it every single night – but make sure you replenish yourself regularly.
Cost = 30 minutes
3. Plan and Schedule That Shit!
If you’re not setting aside time to plan every single week without fail then you’re going to fall into the abyss of post-its, electronic notes, brain fog, lethargy and avoidance. Believe me, I know because I wrote the book on it! Get serious.
Whether you’re a paper gal or love your online planners and diaries – make sure you set aside time to schedule your top priority tasks which move you further towards your goals.
Cost = 20 minutes
4. Schedule the Good Stuff
Why are you even here doing what you do in your business if it’s not for some lifestyle choice, change or ambition? Are you walking the walk and hustling the hustle because you’ve always dreamed of doing an eco-tour in Costa Rica? Or maybe you wanted to get the garden landscaped or that pedigree puppy. It doesn’t matter what your personal goals are – big or small – but put some skin in the game – book it, organise it and start working towards it!
Cost = 60 minutes (and the rest… this is internet research time! )
5. Turn it Off
Step away from the PC, get offline and let your creative juices flow. Just don’t forget a pencil and paper!
When I worked corporate as a programmer I’d spend hours staring at the same piece of code unable to see where the bug lay. It would be when I stepped away from my desk to head off in search of coffee, chocolate or a medicinal cigarette (oh to be young again!) that my brain would re-start and the solution found.
A change of scenery can do wonders for your creative process – so throw on a warm coat and hike up the hill with your dog, or check out a new coffee shop and let your creativity run free.
Cost = 60 minutes
6. Focus Time
You may have heard of the phrase “swallow the frog” and what it means is that you’re supposed to get stuck into that horrible, big, difficult task as soon as you start work so that you can get it out of the way. Who wants to chow down on all those sticky-out wriggly legs though? Rather than ploughing on with this difficult task it’s all too easy to swerve “work” all together.
Sometimes you’re in tip-top shape and ready to do battle with the meanest of tasks and you’ll throw yourself into it with gumption. Other times not so much… But I *know* you can do 30 minutes of that yucky task. Just stick the timer on and crack on – 30 minutes for 5 days a week is going to bring you to the completion of this task so much faster than ignoring it for weeks on end because you think you’re failing at not doing it all at once.
Ugh. Frogs.
Cost = 30 minutes
7. Always be Sharing
Take time out every day to poke around a few groups on Facebook and see what people are talking about. You might not have anything useful to add right now – but it helps to stay in the game and see what’s going on in the online world and do a touch of trend-spotting.
Cost = 10 minutes
8. B.I.G. Goal
Got an idea which sounds absolutely crazy and little ol’ you could never do that? Don’t wanna hear it. Write it down. Park it. Come back to it. I love digging through old planners and coming across ideas which were a crappy fit back then but now when I re-read them make me think “oh hell yeh”!
Cost = 5 minutes
9. Track your Tribe
Take a few minutes to create a spreadsheet in Excel or Google Spreadsheets so you can track your followers and ensure the numbers are increasing. If you’ve only got 50 followers don’t let that make you feel bad. I bet on Day 1 you had 2 followers… and one of those was your mum.
The numbers are not a reflection of your character – just a business metric. Of course you want to grow and increase those numbers, but don’t dwell on them. Repeat after me – just a metric!
Cost = 20 minutes
10. Organise your Desk
I don’t even want to fib and say this is a small task. My desk is drowning under the weight of an ipod I should re-charge and put away, nail polish I never applied, a bowl full of healing crystals, post-its, pens-pots, an empty box from the phone I bought my son, etc., etc., – you get the picture! But yep… I really do need to organise it so that it once again becomes a work-space and not just a dumping ground for household admin.
Cost = 1 million years.
I hope you feel you can implement a few of these ideas and give your business a little boost without feeling you need to sink a straight 5 hours into a job to actually move forward. Incremental steps work just as well as those huge big chunks – and let’s face it, we’re all women juggling a thousand tasks daily and we’re still slaying it – yay us!
