Sharing this free guide that I received from one of my favorite female entrepreneurs, Mrs. Jenna Kutcher:
Tips for Any Entrepreneur
SEEK COMMUNITY
Whenever seasons of unknown hit, it’s easy to feel alone, overwhelmed, and isolated. It’s important to find safe spaces to connect, vent, ask questions, and plan. Find an online community of other entrepreneurs to connect with, whether it’s forming a Slack group with people you already know, joining a Facebook group of like-minded people, or creating a weekly connection Zoom meeting with other entrepreneurs.
STAY VISIBLE
It’s natural to want to shrink away when things get hard, but it’s so important you stay visible and lead conversations in your community. Continue to share, post content, let people in behind-the-scenes. Your presence online matters and will help fuel your business when things pick up again. Don’t shy away, but instead share how you’re finding perspective, offering service and assistance to others, or working through the challenges inevitable to come during this time. That vulnerability is the thing that will connect us all right now when things are unpredictable.
UPDATE ALL THE THINGS
So many entrepreneurs are so busy doing “the thing,” that main service or product that your business revolves around, that they never get to update all the other, less “important” things in their business that can be detrimental to their success. Use this quieter period of time to update your website, your CRM, your contracts, your email templates, your copy… all the things. There are so many valuable places your time can go to prepare you for when things get busy again.
BUILD WORKFLOWS
A lot of times, we’re surviving on plans we’ve piecemealed together along the way. What if you created “SOPs” or standard operating procedures, aka simple workflows for you (or a team) to follow to execute and give each and every client and customer a great experience. They can be simple to start, so don’t feel like you have to set up a workflow for every process. Just start with one. THIS IS A GREAT WORKFLOW PLATFORM + ITS FREE!
Tips for What to Post Online During This Time:
It can feel weird showing up on social media in a time where people are going through extreme anxiety, devastation, illness, and massive change. But amid the chaos, small businesses like yours still need fuel to run, and that takes awareness and intention from you as much as your people. Which means it’s your responsibility to keep them in the loop regarding what you need in order to continue serving them well. How do we do that? By keeping your audience informed with real-time updates and asks on social media.
HERE ARE SOME IDEAS FOR WHAT TO POST:
• An honest update: how your business is doing, how your products/services are going to be available to clients and customers, what your plan is for the time being, how you commit to showing up for your audience in this season. Don’t be afraid to show behind-the-scenes and let people in. Humans are looking for connection in this isolation, so keeping it real will likely serve you well.
• Ask for support: how can your people who have the means to help offer a hand? Do you have gift cards available? Do you have specific products or services that would be especially helpful during this time? Don’t be afraid to ask for what you need. That’s what will keep the people who care about your business informed and aware of what to do. Give action items for those waiting and willing to help!
• Encouragement & free value: how are you handling this shake-up? What takeaways or perspective shifts are you experiencing? Are you realizing things that would be valuable to share, or do you have tips for others going through anxiety or fear? Giving away value will endear your people to you more strongly and continue building a strong foundation of realness and trust.
Service Based Businesses
I’ve been watching to see what will unfold for service-based businesses. While things are uncertain for the time being, they will likely pick up again, and when they do, you will likely get very busy. Many people will be needing your service in a short amount of time, so prepare for the flood gates to open by doing these things right now.
Update your website and offers. So many service based businesses get so caught up doing their service that their website is not up to date or reflecting their brand.
Review your legal contracts and ensure that they will protect you and your business in the future. Research, seek counsel, and get your contracts set.
Reach out to clients to provide information, education, and insight. They have a lot of questions, try to answer them and position yourself as an expert in your field.
Create the structure and systems necessary for you to be able to manage the workload for when it gets busy again. What can you prepare for the busy time?
Update or create workflows to help you deliver exceptional client experiences. What can you create a “standard operating procedure” around?
Work on client experience: pricing guides, email templates, delivery methods to create streamlined and epic experiences for each and every client.
Publish content that will be helpful for your ideal clients in this season. What questions do they have? What are they googling? Create that and publish.
Partner with other service providers in your local industry to create a referral network for when your service is back in demand so you can share the work!