January. That time of year when EVERY business advice blog has articles on ‘playing a bigger game’ ‘running a better business’ ‘doing more, making more, selling more, promoting more, being more…’ in the new year.
I don’t know about you guys, but I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by all of this advice. I was wondering how I was going to ever do all the things all of the experts were saying I needed to do!
And then I stopped and remembered my own advice to the little biz builders I chat with: Be awesome. Do what you love. Kick ass. Keeping these 3 things in mind as I make plans for my biz in 2012 is helping me to stop feeling overwhelmed, choose the right strategies for my biz, and stick with my priorities.
Be awesome.
Your goal should be to absolutely wow your right people with what it is you have to offer. This does not have to mean making more products, adopting more strategies, trying to please everyone or being everywhere at once. Just be really, really awesome at what you do for the people who need it.
Do what you love.
There are hundreds of strategies, tools, and tactics that little businesses can use for marketing, selling and growing their biz. Just because you hear that one of them is the ‘way things will be done in 2012’ does not mean you have to adopt it. Do what you love, do what is right for your biz and your right people. If you don’t love it, and they don’t care about it, then it is not going to help your biz at all!
Kick ass.
Again, this does not mean you have to be some kind of super-biz builder who is everywhere doing everything. Instead pick the right strategies for your biz, then really kick ass at those. Focus on your thing and don’t get side tracked by all of the other bits of advice that will come your way.
As you make your plans and set your goals for 2012 keep these three things in mind:
- What do you need to do to be awesome for your right people?
- Which strategies are the right ones for you and your biz?
- How can you absolutely kick ass with those things?
For example:
If you need more traffic, how can you target the right people with your marketing? If you need more exposure, who are the influencers in your niche? If you need to add more products, which ones do your right people really need/want? If you need to turn fans into customers what do those fans need to know/see/hear from you to make them want to buy? If you need to become a leader in your field, what is it that will gain respect or recognition?
Just because some expert is telling you what you ‘should’ do for your business doesn’t mean you should run off and adopt that strategy right away. Keep focused on what you offer, who you offer it too, what is happening in your niche, and the message you are sending about your biz. Those are what should drive your plans & goals, not what someone says you should do, or what you see other businesses doing.
So the next time you feel a sense of panic creep over you as you read another article about how you can make your biz bigger and better in 2012, stop and remind yourself: “Be awesome. Do what you love. Kick ass.” If that article doesn’t help you reach those goals, your goals, trash it. That’s what I am going to do!
{Featured image via Lucius Art}
Great blog post Karen I find all the ‘you must do this to succeed in 2012’ type articles a little overwhelming too, like you said my goals for this year aren’t to be ‘bigger’ and ‘better’ in 2012 they are to keep doing what I love in a way that suits me, my biz and my customers and to be awesome at what I do 🙂
ebony – i think that is the key, stay focused on your goals/plans and achieve them with awesomeness. =)
I’ve subscribed to so many business newsletters and was feeling completely overwhelmed with advice.
Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to just keep going and stay positive.
Thanks Karen
nicola – i am glad i am not the only find finding all of the advice overwhelming! i think the key is to pick just a few things that fit in with what you do and what you love – then keep your blinders on and keep marching on. =)
Hi Karen, WOW this is just what i needed to hear. Thankyou so much for a really well written forward thinking information. I was starting to feel rather overwhelmed by all the ‘go for it, you need to do this, you should be doing’ this information out there. It was all was too much to take in and made me feel i was not doing any good with my new little at home business. But your information is has broken it all down into easy steps that i can work on one at a time. I a going to print some of it out and hang on my board in my craft room so i can read it regularly to keep me on track. So THANKYOU you are truly an amazing person and definitely gifted writer.
suzanne – thank you so much! i am glad this post resonated for you and i hope it can help you keep from being overwhelmed in the future. it is hard work to build a little home biz, and it can be even worse when you feel like you ‘should’ be doing so many things. pick just a few, the things that fit with you and your biz, and focus on those. ignore the rest! =)
This is an awesome post. I 100% agree. I’m a single stand alone WAHM, I can only service so many customers, so I focus on fantastic customer service, a wonderful product and loving what I do. Whilst I in some ways would love to get bigger, I know that I would loose what makes my product special.
I really enjoy your down to earth posts about small business.
Please continue to kick arse in 2012.
lesley – it is really tough when you are a one woman show – you can only grow so big before you run out of time! good for you for focusing on what you do, really really well, and wowing your customers. doing so, you will continue to attract the right people to your biz, and finding the right products for them. awesome =)