Small Business Marketing: A Secret To Growing Your Business

Your vision for your business is strong. You know what you want to do and you know how you want to do it. Not only that, it's working. You are successful in finding customers. nYou juggle many hats. You are the manager, administrator, appointment booker, accountant, filing clerk, marketer, not to mention, the skill you're good at, all wrapped up in one super entrepreneur!nnThe problem is, you didn't envision your small business increasing your working hours per week so dramatically. You love what you do but the extra hours required for the growth and expansion of your business is a bit of a drag. But wait, are all those extra hours really required? How can you grow your business yet not increase your working hours?nnRECOGNIZE THE 3 HATSnnIf you've been in business for any length of time, you will quickly begin to fill many hours of the week with diverse responsibilities as the business owner. You may have already realized that there are 3 distinct hats you are wearing:nn• Manager - overseeing the administrative details of the business n• Marketer - concerned with how to bring in clients and customers n• Technician - The skill/talent you use to create products & services nnThe marketer is perhaps the most important hat you wear in your business because it is focused on bringing customers into the business. When you recognize the importance of marketing, you also recognize that delegation (to make room for marketing and key projects) is a must-do.nnDELEGATION = BUSINESS GROWTHnnSmall business owners often cringe at the thought of hiring help. Mainly because of tight finances. But to grow your business, you must get help. Of all the 7-figure mentors I've had, none got to 7-figure status without help, and they had help long before they were at 7-figures. They delegated when they really didn't feel like they had the money to do so.nnSuccessful business owners recognize that delegation is "buying back your time." When you re-gain hours in your week, you can devote that time to the important task of marketing your business and this will in turn bring in more and more customers, give you time to add products and services to your business, and the end result is business growth.nnASSESS YOUR WEEKnnTake a look at your week. Where are you spending most of your time? If it's administrative tasks, then it's time to delegate. Here's a list to get you thinking about what you may need to get off your plate once and for all: scheduling appointments, responding to emails, filing, office organization, document editing, following up with clients, creating flyers and brochures, accounting, and the list can go on.nnIf most of your week is not on the task of bringing in clients and customers, then you may be out of balance.nnWHO TO DELEGATE TOnnYou do not have to hire a full time staff person. You may just need to discover the world of virtual assistants. I found my own assistant on www.elance.com. I posted the job, indicated that the job can anywhere from zero hours per week to 15+ hours per week and my assistant gets paid hourly based on the number of hours worked. nnThere are other sites too, like www.AssistU.com and www.guru.com where you can hire help for an hourly rate or per project. Depending on the task, I've paid as little as $3 per hour up to about $15 an hour. You request for help can indicate the max you are willing to pay.nnTAKE ACTION - TRY IT FOR JUST $50nnBusiness owners often put off the task of delegating because they fear that it will be enormously expensive. So try this. Designate $50 immediately to getting help. Go to www.elance.com, and hire someone to check your emails or book your appointments for just one or two weeks and see what that feels like. Cap it at 2-3 hours of work. nnThree hours may not seem like much but someone devoted to just one task in your business can get a lot done in 3 hours. Or just pick one task that's been sitting around waiting for you to get to it. Delegate it and feel the relief you get. nThe time you free up (both mentally and on the clock) will allow you, the business owner, to grow your business. Once you get a taste of delegation, and you see the impact on your business, I assure you that you'll never look back. :-) And your busine$$ will thank you.nnAllison RecommendsnnBook Resource: n nThe 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris - Among other things, this gives you a whole different perspective on the art of delegation using virtual assistants.nnThe eMyth Revisited - by Michael Gerber. Learn why so many small businesses failnn