Good Morning! Do you have one minute to read and one hour to do? If so, you can improve your small business’ marketing in a big way. Each week, we will provide new ideas. Grab your morning beverage and let’s get started.
This Week: Hold Yourself Accountable
One thing we often lack as a small business is someone to hold us accountable. We are the boss, after all! Find a peer who at least has some understanding of your business and it’s marketing, and arrange a weekly meeting where you give updates about what you actually did (or didn’t do) last week. This practice can be game-changing.
Hold yourself accountable in three easy steps:
STEP ONE
Find someone to report back to.
First things first, find someone suitable to check in with on a weekly basis. Is it a personal friend, an industry associate, or even another business person in a different industry? (If they are a fellow business owner, you might even mutually hold each other accountable!)
STEP TWO
Establish questions to get the ball rolling.
Decide on what you’ll check in on every week! Some talking points might include:
- Are you still operating based on your marketing plan?
- What kind of return are you getting on your marketing spend?
- Did you get that glitch in your website fixed?
- What is the biggest threat your business is facing right now?
- Did you hire that new person yet to free up some of your time?
- Did you start going on walks or doing some type of exercise?
Pick a time.
Choose a weekly, biweekly or monthly meeting time. Monday morning, Wednesday evening, or whenever works best for the two of you. Whether you meet in person or on the phone, at an early-bird breakfast or afternoon happy hour, make sure your meetings are regular. For progress, consistency is key.
PAYOFF
Get the insights you need.
A little extra attention can sometimes help move those projects we tend to put off or shed light on some areas where you may have a tendency to cut corners. It can also help alleviate the feeling that you are alone in the decision making for your business. With a regular check-in, you now have a trusted advisor — who will get even better over time as you continue to meet and develop a greater understanding of each other.
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