Get Business Consulting & Marketing Help

Posted on September 23, 2010 by admin

Welcome!

We cater to small business owners that would like to start new businesses or improve their current businesses by offering affordable online marketing services, web design, social media management,  business consulting and free business improvement articles.

Rather than spending your valuable time  stressing over all you need to do or trying to figure out how to build a website, market it and stay on top of your social media services-let us help.

We’ll help you prioritize your most important tasks and take some of them off of your hands while working within your budget.

We offer services that include:

  • Business Consulting and Coaching
  • Graphic & Web Site Design
  • Business Facebook Fan Pages
  • Online Web Site Marketing
  • Social Media Management
  • Text Message Marketing
  • Article Marketing, Local Directory Listings & More

Request a  free consultation by completing the form on the right side of the page, or contact us at 727-504-0777 or email Kathy Marlor.

Feel free to review some of the Business Help Articles while you’re our guest.


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SEO Your Web Site with a Keyword Domain

Posted on March 17, 2011 by admin

An inexpensive and simple way to get organically higher in the search results is to have a domain for your web site that includes your main keyword.

Domains with keywords in them seem to have an easier time getting ranked and really aren’t as hard to get as you’d think.

If your keyword is already taken, try adding a word in front of or behind the keyword.

For example if my key word was: st  pete business coach and that domain was already taken, I could try variations like:

beststpetebusinesscoach.com or stpetebusinesscoachfl.com.

If you already have a keyword domain, you could also have one or two additional keyword domains to point to your web site.

If you’d like to get more domains you can save money at Godaddy.com by using this link:

Domain Sale! $7.49 .com at GoDaddy

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Posted in Business Advice, Low Cost Marketing, Online Marketing Tips, SEO, Small Business Help | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

13 Status Updates to Share with your Customers for Small Business Owners

Posted on January 17, 2011 by admin

If you are like most small business owners, chances are that you have a Facebook Fan Page for your business and a Twitter account, but may not be keeping up with it due to time constraints or not knowing what type of content to share to make the most of it.

By posting helpful, valuable content, you can improve retention and get new clients or members.

Building social relationships takes time and tenacity. The payoff is when you begin to get a few new customers each month and build stronger relationships with your current ones. Create and keeping even a few customers could be worth thousands of dollars to you.

Best of all, any new fans or followers you add, will likely have a list of friends, families and businesses that are local or that share some commons interests and  will get to see some of your social messages and invitations. This gives you the possibility of building a group of warm leads or fans.

To help you figure out what you could post on your social networking sites for your small business, I’ve listed: 13 Social Network Updates for Your Small Business.

Please notice that the majority of the posting topics are of benefit to the reader and aren’t asking for a sale. This is key as well as sharing updates on a regular basis.

1. Upcoming Events- Do you have an open house, anniversary celebration or some other important event to promote this month? If so, be sure to create an event on your Facebook Fan Page and invite your fans and friends through Facebook.

2. Funny Video clips, Pictures, Bloopers- As long as it’s in good taste, share your online funny or amazing videos and pictures related to your business by sharing them on your social media accounts. You’d be surprised at how many comments and retweets you can get.

3. Public Appearances- Are you supporting a local event, demonstrating your product or services at a tradeshow, or donating items for a silent auction? Be sure and let everyone know through your social networking sites where your team is going to be. In addition, ask the organizations that you’re supporting to share it on their social networking pages too. For example, if you’re going to do the Great American Teach In at a school, mention the school in your posts and ask the school to post that you’ll be there too for greater exposure.

4. Fundraisers for a Cause-If you’ve got a fundraiser planned to help a charity or benefit a cause, then don’t be shy about it. Let people know what your business is doing to help, how your staff is making a difference and what your customers and the general public can do to join in and help.

5. Positive Messages-Share motivational quotes and feel good comments on your social sites. Just about everyone likes positive messages and quotes and it can help them understand that you’re company is a positive one.

6. Give Customers Recognition on your Social Sites -There are many opportunities to publically thank or congratulate your customers or sponsors publically on your Facebook Fan Page and other social sites. So give a public “shout out” to congratulate customers on their birthdays, for winning contests that your business is hosting, supplying feedback used to improve a product or service, etc.

7. Promote your YouTube Videos- Do you have a YouTube Channel with some entertaining, informative or instructional videos to share? Then share them on your social networking sites or even add your YouTube channel as a “tab” on your Facebook Fan Page.

8. Gift Certificates- Once in a while promote your gift certificates by mentioning them, putting them on sale or by having everyone enter to win one by asking fans to share or tweet: “I love (the name of your business) on Facebook or Twitter.” Select a winner at the end of the week and post their name congratulating them.

9. Give Bonuses to Your Fans and Followers-You can provide extra perks to those that follow or “like” you on Facebook, Twitter, etc by sharing links for additional information that’s of value to your target audience, extra discounts for your products or even share a service or new program with them before anyone else.

10. Ask for Opinions and Feedback- Post articles on what’s going on in your local area or things that are relevant to your business and ask everyone else what they think. Interact with those that reply. You can also ask their opinions on new menu items if you’re a restaurant, what colors, sizes, flavors, etc; they’d like to see your products in and more. Thanks those that respond publically.

11. Contests -Host online photo caption contests, trivia questions, the best random act of kindness ideas and more to get members a chance to interact with your business.

12. Testimonials-Did someone say something nice about your business or employees? Then shamelessly let everyone know, by reposting the kind words and publically thanking the author. It’s a great way to build social proof and also positively reinforce the act of praising your program.

13. The Benefits of Using Your Product and Services- Remind everyone how and why your product or services can benefits them. You can include your mission statement or tagline, but it’s great to specifically mention how and what benefits come “buying” from your company.

Now, after reading this far, I’m sure you have plenty of ideas of what you could post each day on your social media accounts. There are tools out there to make your posting more time effective for you.

If you’d like help creating branded Facebook Fan Pages, creating content to share on your sites and/or having it shared and monitored for you, then please contact me through my Facebook Fan Page ( and feel free to “Like it” LOL.) at: http://www.facebook.com/Kathyconsults

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Posted in Business Advice, Low Cost Marketing, Small Business Help, Social Media | Tagged | 1 Comment

15 Social Network Updates for Your Martial Arts Business

Posted on November 9, 2010 by admin

15 Social Network Updates for Your Martial Arts Business

By Small Business Consultant Kathy Marlor

If you are like most Martial Arts instructors and small business owners, chances are that you have a Facebook Fan Page for your business and a Twitter account, but may not be keeping up with it due to time constraints or just not knowing what type of content to post to make the most of it.

By posting helpful, valuable content, you can improve retention and get new clients or members. It does take time and tenacity to build social relationships and if you get just one new member a month from your social media efforts and retain them for a year, then 12 new members will bring in about 14,000 in tuition revenue plus merchandise sales, and referrals over time.

You can get a custom fan page like the one I use for personal training and kickboxing lessons.

Best of all, any new local fans or followers you add, will likely have a list of friends, families and businesses that are local as well who will get to see some of your messages an invites so you have the possibility of building a group of warm leads or fans.

To help you figure out what you could post on your social media sites for your Martial Arts Business, I’ve listed 15 Social Network Updates for Your Martial Arts Business below.

Please notice that the majority of the posting topics are of benefit to the reader and aren’t asking for a sale. This is key as well as that you post on a regular basis.

1. Upcoming Events- Do you have an open house, demo, tournament, graduation, anniversary celebration, reunion, picnic or some other event this month? Then be sure to create it as an event on Facebook, and invite your fans and friends, and send out emails including it for more exposure.

2. Funny Video clips, Pictures, Bloopers- As long as it’s in good taste, share your online funny or amazing martial arts related videos and pictures by posting to your social media accounts. You’d be surprised at home many comments and retweets you can get. 

3. Public Appearances- Supporting a local event, performing at a carnival, donating time or lessons for a silent auction? Be sure and let everyone know where your team is going to be and whenever possible post it or have it posted on the other organizations pages and social accounts. For example, if you’re going to do the Great American Teach In at a school, mention the school in your posts and ask the school to post that you’ll be there too for greater exposure.

4. Fundraisers for a Cause- If you’ve got a fundraiser planned to help a charity or benefit a cause, then don’t be shy about it. Let people know what your school or club is doing, how your students are making a difference and what the public can do to help.

5. Positive Messages- Post all or part of your Words of the Week or motivational speeches that you give during your classes, or at least motivational quotes. Everyone likes and really needs to be feed positivity.

6. Congratulating Students by Name –There are many opportunities as a martial arts school owner to pat students on the back. Publically congratulate students for birthdays, good grades, promotions, being student of the month or week, fundraising efforts and more.

7. Promote your YouTube Videos- Do you have a YouTube Channel with some entertaining or instructional videos to share? Then share them on your social networking sites or even add your YouTube channel on your Facebook Fan Page.

8. Gift Certificates- Once in a while promote gift certificates by mentioning them, putting them on sale at a discount, or by having everyone simply enter to win one by asking fans to post or tweet:  “I love (the name of your business) on Facebook or Twitter.” Select a winner at the end of the week and post their name congratulating them.

9. Give “How to” or Training Tips- Provide tips on how to throw a killer side kick, hit harder, how to choose a martial arts school or how to practice at home.

10. Ask for Opinions and Feedback- Post articles on what’s going on in your local area or things that are relevant to your business and ask everyone else what they think. Interact with those that reply.

11. Safety Tips- Provide a weekly safety tip that is appropriate for the time of year. Safety is much more than about watching out for the bad guys and it would be pretty easy to come up with 52 weekly tips to use each year.

12. Contests –Host online photo caption contests, martial arts trivia questions, best random act of kindness ideas, best martial arts ways to practice videos, and more to get members to interact with your business.

13. Testimonials-Did someone say something nice about your program? Then let everyone know, by reposting the kind words and publically thanking the author for the kind words. It’s a great way to build social proof and also positively reinforce the act of praising your program.

14. Membership Specials- Each month as you run a new promotion, be sure and post it and encourage others to “like it” and pass it on or retweet it to someone else who needs it. To keep it “fresh” if you offer several different services, rotate your special offers. For example one month it could be your self-defense class special, next time a kids program, etc.

15. The Benefits of Training in the Martial Arts- Remind everyone how and why training at your school benefits them. You can include your mission statement or tagline, but it’s great to specifically mention how and what benefits come from the training be you telling your current members, their parents or their friends and family.

Now, after reading this far, I’m sure you have plenty of ideas of what you could post each day on your social media accounts. There are tools out there to make your posting more time effective for you.

If you’d like help creating custom Facebook Fan Pages, creating content to post on your sites and/or having it posted and monitored for you, or a new web site, then contact me through my Facebook Fan Page ( and feel free to “Like it” LOL.) at: http://www.facebook.com/Kathyconsults

I have over 12 years experience working with martial arts business owners through positions I’ve held as Senior Consultant & Director of Continuing Education at NAPMA, Member Solutions, and writing a column for MA Success magazine in the past.  I’m also a 4th degree black belt under John Graden of the Martial Arts Teachers Association and former World Open TKD Kickboxing Champion.

You can see my recommendations on my LinkedIn or check out my bio.

Get a free consultation by visiting: http://www.kathymarlor.com.

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Posted in Business Advice, Low Cost Marketing, Martial Arts Business, Small Business Help, Social Media | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Evaluating Your Life:What’s Working, What’s Not, & Where to Start

Posted on October 19, 2010 by admin

Coaching: Getting to Know Yourself Questionnaire

Print out the following pages and take the time to answer the nine questions to help you understand where what type of goals you’d like to set first. Or complete it and email it back to me if we’re going to work together. :-)

Completing this questionnaire can be really helpful if you feel lost and aren’t sure where to start or just want to look at the overall picture of your life.

1. What is working best right now in your life or business?

________________________________________________________________

2. If you could have one more thing in your life right now, what would it be?

________________________________________________________________

3. Rate each of the following areas of your life between a 1 and a 10 (10 being the best it
could be and 1 needing serious improvement).

Your Career ____ Your Business ____ Your Finances ____

Your Fitness ____ Stress Level ____ Personal Growth ____

Family Time ____ Relationships ____ Life Balance _____

4. What areas are you willing to improve (realistically) over the next six months that
would make the biggest difference in your life?

Your Career ____ Your Business ____ Your Finances ____

Your Fitness ____ Stress Level ____ Personal Growth ____

Family Time ____ Relationships ____ Life Balance _____

5. What is one goal you want to achieve within six months that would make a big
difference in your life?

_________________________________________________________________

6. If you could have one more thing in your life right now, what would that be?

_________________________________________________________________

7. What are you putting up with or tolerating in your life right now?

_________________________________________________________________

8. What is one thing you would like to achieve, but aren’t sure if you can?

_________________________________________________________________

9. Assuming that everyone has some way of holding themselves back from time-to-time
or sabotaging their efforts, which methods would be the ones you’re most likely to use?

Procrastination ____ Close-mindedness ____ Not asking for help ____

Lack of priorities ____ Indecisiveness ____ Tolerating ____

Denial ____ Making things seem worse than they really are ____

Not finishing what you’ve started ____ Not telling others “No” ____

Other: ____________________________________________________________

Please visit the rest of the business help articles at http://www.kathymarlor.com/articles

Please “Like” us on http://www.facebook.com/kathyconsults

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Powerful Ways to Energize Your Goals to Achieve Them- Part 1: Know Yourself

Posted on October 18, 2010 by admin

Energize goals you set and achieve goals that make a positive difference in your life first by understanding what you need most, and your values.

Set Goals and Achieve Them by Energizing Your Goal System

The first step in energizing your goals so that you can achieve them consistently is to get to know and understand yourself. This isn’t as touchy-feely as it sounds and once you take the time to do so, will make a lot of sense to you if it doesn’t already. You can start by examining a variety of goal areas in your life, and rate each of them on a scale of 1-to-10 to get an idea of which goal areas are out of balance or that you may want to work on first.

Rate areas such as: Career, Business, Family Time, Personal Growth, Money and Relationships for example. Try using the number 1 as needing serious improvement and the number 10 as meaning that it’s the best it could be.

Once you’ve rated the various areas in your life, select two or three of these areas and make a decision to improve them first.

Choose one big goal that could be achieved in six months-to-a year that would make a great difference in the quality of your life using the information that you’ve obtained by rating your life areas.

What areas of your life would you most like to improve? Why? What would that do for you? What are your current strengths and weaknesses? If you’ve achieved your goals in the past, what positive habits and qualities did you possess and put into play that helped you accomplish your goals?

By the same token, if you fell short of achieving your goals, then why did that take place? Do you have ways of holding yourself back that need to be addressed before you devise a success plan to help you achieve your goals?

Either way, be sure to set powerful goals that are meaningful to you, that you believe will make a positive difference in your life, and that you’re willing to push yourself to achieve them. If you’d like a bit more assistance in getting to know yourself better than simply the suggestions that I’ve made so far, consider asking a trusted friend and family member to help you realize your strengths and weaknesses or validate your perception of them.

Keep in mind I said a trusted friend or family member. You’ll want to avoid asking anyone you know that may be negative or anyone who will try to make you feel bad in the process.

You can also take online quizzes and personality tests as another way to get to know and understand yourself, your strengths, your personality and more or work with a coach or consultant.

As a coach and business consultant, I often ask clients and potential clients to complete a questionnaire to help them get a grip on what was truly most important to them so that they gain a better understanding of what is their biggest priority to improve and why.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, lose sight of where to start and of which goals are the most important to accomplish first. So, take some time to soul-search and by the same token, considering filling out, a questionnaire to help you look at where you are now and where you want to go with your goals.

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Business Owners: Use Your “Warrior Spirit” to Achieve Your Goals

Posted on October 5, 2010 by admin

Break through barriers to achieve your goals.

Sometimes even the most motivated business owners can use an inspirational reminder to hang-tough to achieve their goals or to serve as a minor kick-in-the-butt to focus on the prize to strive ahead regardless of what happened yesterday or last month. So with that in mind, read on:-)

Do you recall a time in your life where you literally tapped into your warrior spirit to achieve a goal? If you’ve been into competitive sports in your lifetime, then you probably did this on a regular basis. If you ever worked hard to get a college term paper done and “Aced” it or simply set a goal and didn’t quit along the way no matter how tough it got, no matter what obstacles were in your path, because you were so  driven to succeed-then you my friend have experienced using a “warrior-style” spirit.

Imagine how powerful it would be if you were able to tap into that same spirit and drive to complete your daily goals in life? Anytime you feel that you may be getting off track, revisit the steps below and recall how it felt to be fully committed to achieving a goal from your past and to not let anything stop you.

To accomplish a worthwhile goal you have to:
• Make a decision that you are going to achieve the goal, no matter what
• Create a success plan to follow that outlines what you need to accomplish along the way
• Stay encouraged and overcome personal obstacles, sometimes creatively
• Work towards making constant progress and to be ready to make changes as necessary
• Discover how to capitalize on your strengths and improve weaknesses
• Get a coach or mentor you could ask for help when needed

The warrior spirit you have developed on the journey to achieve your past goals may be one of quiet confidence and knowing that you can overcome any obstacle through patience, creative problem solving and persistence; or it may be one of assertive, fast moving, driving forward motion that knows no limits to possibilities and strives on fearlessly.

Whether you warrior spirit in one that fits into one of the descriptions above, or is somewhere in between, what’s important is that you have it and can use it to create success over and over again while maintaining your integrity and staying in touch with your values.

For me, my warrior spirit has to do with being just that – a warrior. I earned a 4th degree black belt in the school of hard knocks but won numerous State, National and even a World title through competitive martial arts.

Here are some further tips that I use for achieving goals that I thought may help you too

1. Set a goal with the same intent you would if you knew you couldn’t fail. What would you dare to achieve? Commit yourself 100% to go for it.

2. Create a written success plan to achieve your goal. Your success plan must list each step you will take to accomplish your goal. Think as if you have already achieved your goal and write down each element that had to happen to achieve a goal setting victory.

3. Hold fast and don’t give up. Expect obstacles to come and they will; Take action to stay motivated (know what motivates you) and encouraged with the same attitude you used striving to achieve a past success.

4. Strive to improve (at least 1%) and work towards your goal each day to make constant progress. Be ready to change when necessary and regroup. If you’re instincts tell you that you’re getting off in the wrong direction, listen and re-evaluate your course.

5. Look for ways to capitalize on your strengths and improve your weaknesses. Learn something new every day to help your cause and don’t allow your weaknesses to get in your way of progress. Delegate as needed.

6. Get support or help. A coach or mentor who has achieved what you want to achieve can help you model success!

Need a small business coach to help you set business goals, figure out where to start, or to help you get your social media sites set-up? Visit http://www.kathymarlor.com and see if you think that we’d work well together. I enjoy helping small business owners achieve their goals and offer a free consultation to anyone considering services.

Please visit and my Facebook Fan Page and feel free to “Like it” or enter a contest to win a free Facebook Fan Page for your small business.

Know someone who this article can help? Please feel free to share it.

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Restaurants: Get More Repeat Business with Text Marketing

Posted on September 28, 2010 by admin

Running a restaurant is a very competitive industry that requires being quick on the draw when it comes to making adjustments to your menus, level of service, and even where and when you choose to advertise.

One of the best things since “sliced bread” to get new and old customers in restaurants seems to be through coupon or gift certificate promotions conducted by companies like: Groupon, Social Living, Restaurants.com, etc.  I see offers and ads all the time via email or Facebook and I, myself purchase offers for my local restaurants. Heck, I’ve even referred friends to offers I think they’d like.  I find the special deals delicious, literally and this is great for pumping-up business.

But how can a restaurant stay in touch with their new found fans that venture into the restaurant grasping their coupons before they run off maybe not to be heard from again? What can they do that’s cost effective to get those new customers to return and to stay in touch?

One of the easiest, most cost-effective ways of doing this is simply to ask them to opt-in to your restaurants exclusive mobile coupons, VIP discounts, and special announcements.  That’s right, I said mobile and we’re talking text messaging.

Restaurants can use signs to promote their program.

The way it works is pretty simple.  You sign-up for service and select a word or phrase that has to do with your business.

In the example below, the restaurant’s name is “Pickles” so that is what they’ve chosen for their word.

The number you see- 90210 is the number that the customers send the text to. Once they do that, they’ve subscribed to receive the restaurant’s discounts, offers, and updates.

Restaurants can promote their opt-in offers by:

  • Verbally telling customers (esp. those with their mobile phones in their hands, lol)
  • Posting signage such as the example in this article
  • Displaying on cash register receipts, table tent cards
  • Online on their web site and social media profile and fan pages

People like to receive discounts and specials from their favorite restaurants and mobile marketing is a great way to get permission, while they are visiting the restaurant, to send them future offers.

Did you know that less than 20% of marketing emails get opened these days? I’ve noticed that I miss lots of updates from some of my favorite sites on Facebook because they might only post once a day and if my friends post at the same time, I may not see it at all because they get buried.

97% of text marketing messages get opened and 83% of those in the first hour.

Since people pay attention to their phones more than just about anything these days and have them with them on average 12 hours a day, it just makes sense to put your messages on their mobile phones so they get read. Because you are giving them something of value and they subscribed to it, you don’t have to worry about them not wanting your offers.

For $99.95 a month your restaurant could have text marketing services and send up to 2,000 messages to two different subscriber groups (unlimited subscribers at that).  Iconnect Package Sounds like a sweet deal.

You don’t need a computer, just internet access to log in, type the message you want to send and voila- push the button, or schedule it for later.

If you’d like to see your customers in your restaurant more often, and want to find out how to get text marketing services, please visit my site: http://www.izigg.com/futuremobilemedia You can watch videos and order services if you like.

For restaurants in the Tampa Bay area, if you’d like a demo of how easy the system is to use, or would like to discuss text management services for your restaurant, please Text : Kathym to 90210 or email me: kathymarlor.

Next time: Five Great Ways for Restaurants to Make More Money with Text Marketing

Kathy Marlor

http://www.kathymarlor.com

http://www.izigg.com/futuremobilemedia

http://www.twitter.com/kathymarlor

http://www.linkedin.com/IN/KathyMarlor

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Text Marketing for Real Estate Pros

Posted on September 17, 2010 by admin

SMS Mobile Marketing: The Perfect Tool for Real Estate Pros to Boost Sales and Capture Leads

One of the most cost-effective ways for a real estate professional to build their list of serious buyer prospects and to promote their listings is through SMS mobile marketing.

SMS text marketing gives real estate agents instant access to valuable customers because the mobile phone has become the preferred technology of choice. Traditional marketing methods response rates are dwindling down; email open rates on marketing messages is about 10% on average.

97% of text messages being opened and 83% within the first hour.

This gives real estate professionals a great opportunity to enhance their marketing efforts by adding SMS mobile marketing to their plans and get their information right in the hands of their prospects.

Imagine being able to send text messages to announce your new listings, property price reductions, open house reminders and more? Or being able to provide a potential buyer with the link to your online tour for the property or to your personal website via text as they opt-in to receive future text marketing messages from you at the same time?

As a potential buyer or home renter, you’d want information as soon as possible on the property you’re interested in. If you were able to send a quick text message and get back some immediate information such as a link to an online tour, how much would you like that?

The way it works is simple.

After you sign-up for mobile sms service, you select a keyword that has to do with your business name or type of business.

Next you promote your keyword at your properties, on your web pages, voice mail, business cards-however you like.

Then, your prospects and potential home buyers will text your keyword to the number 90210.

Now you can send them texts right from your smart phone or by logging into your account.

If you created a keyword called: myhomeinfo then you could ask your prospects to: “Text myhomeinfo to 90210 to get access to all my listings!” This is just one example, but think of all the ways you could use it to make more sales, capture leads and stay in touch with your captive audience.

Sign-up for service at http://www.izigg.com/futuremobilemedia or watch a series of short videos to give you more insight on how to use text marketing. You can get two keywords for your business and have an unlimited number of subscribers for as little as 99.95 a month! Or get a package that can serve your whole office with more keywords.

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The Art of Successful Delegation for the Small Business Owner

Posted on September 17, 2010 by admin

As a small business owner, you may be doing most of your company tasks all by yourself. Many times we do this because we fear that no one will do it better than us, are short on money, like to stay in full control or just don’t know exactly how to go about it.

Rather than spinning all the plates in your business, learn to delegate.

The challenge with this is that it can stump the growth of your business and you end-up trying to do too much and usually not doing too many things well. It’s sort of like being a plate juggler and getting one task started, running to spin the next one on its way, hoping none of them come crashing down.

The amount of time and money that small businesses lose by not having someone else take on simple tasks so that they get accomplished and so that the highest skilled player on the team (You)can stay focused on the most important results-driven tasks is amazing…not in a good way.

For example: If your time is worth $300.00 an hour  as a consultant and you’re doing tasks for your business that you could pay someone $30.00 an hour to accomplish- then didn’t you just lose a potential $270.00 in a sense?  Consider using the art of delegation to get tasks accomplished that need to be done to help you grow your business but at the same time, are tasks that someone else could do for you.

Delegation 101

One of the easiest ways to begin delegating effectively is to make a list of everything that you do. Put your initials next to all of the items that you do not want to delegate and that will be for you to continue to do.  These could be items that you do not want to share with anyone ( trade secrets, finances) or that are at such a high level that really, you are the only one who you want doing them for now.

Next, highlight the very simplest five-to-ten tasks on the list that just about anyone could easily be taught to do and that you would be willing to delegate.

These are the best tasks to farm-out or train someone else to do first. They should be the lower risk items on the list meaning that if they get screwed-up a little, nothing bad will happen to your business.

Write the person’s name who you’d like to delegate each task to or the type of business service you’ll need to employ to take care of each item to make it easy to get started.

Communicate How Each Task is to be Done

Each time you delegate a task, be sure to explain concisely how or what needs to be done. For an in-house employee, consider providing written step-by-step directions for them to follow.  If you are outsourcing the task, then be sure to give the other party enough information to do the work properly.

If the task is for a staff member, provide face-to-face training on how to do the task and when appropriate, walk them through it several times until you’re satisfied that it will be done properly.

Expect to coach them a bit especially in the beginning and remember the prize of doing this- your freedom!

Give Deadlines and Expectations

If you’ve asked a staff member to make a series of phone calls when they get a moment, don’t be surprised when two days goes by and the calls still haven’t been made. After all, you said when they get a moment!

Always let them know what to expect and when you would like something finished by. If you would like phone calls made, be sure they know who to call, what time of day you’d like the calls made, if they can leave a message and where to record the results of the call for example.

Unless you’ve hired a mind-reader, the more specifically you voice your expectations to the person helping you out, the happier you’ll be with the results in the end.

Inspect What You Expect

It’s been my experience that business owners who attempt to delegate don’t always take the time to properly train a person in the first place or to communicate deadlines and expectations.

To make matters worse, they don’t check to see if the task is getting done properly or audit the results just to make sure.

This can lead to frustration and a fear of future delegating.

Imagine having someone keep your daily statistics but not reviewing the information that is input each night that goes into them such as the amount of sales that were made, cash vs. credit, inventory used, etc; to make sure everything appears accurate.  All numbers should match and make sense. It’s no fun having to backtrack and try to figure out where the mistake is from three weeks ago-trust me.

I’m not trying to discourage you from delegating, but I am saying this: “ Invest the extra time it takes in the beginning to train and explain how and what needs to be done, and expect to need to provide extra coaching for a while before deciding you don’t have the right person for the job.”

Becoming a good delegator and building a team of bench-strength will help you grow your business.

About the Author

Kathy Marlor is a small business consultant and writer with over 12 years experience in helping owners overcome obstacles, improve customer service and achieve business growth. Http://www.kathymarlor.com launching soon will offer free business help articles, text marketing and basic social media services to small business owners. She can be reached at Kathy@kathymarlor.com

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