Author: competenow

by competenow competenow No Comments

How We Worked Before. How We Work Now.

I have been in business long enough to remember when meeting with a client meant sitting across a desk from them with a notebook and a pen.

You took notes.

You went back to the office.

You typed them up.

You made your to-do list.

You followed up.

And hopefully, you remembered everything you had agreed to do.

It worked.

For that time.

But business doesn’t work that way anymore.

The Business Hasn’t Changed. How We Do Business Has.

Clients still want results.

We still need to understand their problems, earn their trust, deliver what we promise and stay accountable.

Those things haven’t changed.

What has changed are the tools we have to do them.

Today, I can meet with a client on Zoom without either of us leaving our offices.

The meeting can be recorded.

A tool like Fathom can capture the conversation and create notes.

Instead of spending the next hour trying to remember everything we discussed, we can turn that conversation into action items.

  • Who is doing what?
  • What needs to happen next?
  • What did we promise the client?
  • What did the client agree to do?
  • And what are we going to hold each other accountable for before the next meeting?

That’s a very different way of working.

And Meetings Are Only One Example

Think about how much else has changed.

We used to rely on networking events and introductions to meet prospective clients. Today, someone can discover you through LinkedIn, Google, an email, a video or something you wrote months ago.

We used to spend hours creating first drafts, organizing research or staring at a blank page.

Now AI can help us take a brain dump and turn it into something organized that we can actually work with.

We used to keep information in notebooks, folders and our heads.

Now we can build systems that capture it, organize it and remind us what needs to happen next.

That doesn’t mean the old way was wrong.

It means we have better tools now.

But Better Tools Don’t Automatically Make a Better Business

This is where I think business owners can get distracted.

AI isn’t going to run your entire business for you.

A Zoom notetaker isn’t going to make you accountable.

LinkedIn isn’t going to build relationships for you.

Technology can make us faster and more organized.

But we still have to think.

We still have to make decisions.

We still have to follow through.

And we still have to know what result we’re trying to create in the first place.

Experience Still Matters

I don’t want to throw away everything I learned over decades of running businesses just because a new tool came along.

Quite the opposite.

Experience tells me what questions to ask.

Technology helps me do something with the answers faster.

That’s the combination I find exciting.

The fundamentals I learned years ago still matter: relationships, trust, commitment, focus and accountability.

I’m just not interested in doing something the slow way simply because that’s how I’ve always done it.

So, How Are You Working Now?

That’s the question I think every experienced business owner should be asking.

Not, How do I use every new piece of technology?

But:

Where am I still working the way I did five, ten or twenty years ago when there is now a better way?

Maybe it’s how you run meetings.

Maybe it’s how you follow up.

Maybe it’s how you market.

Maybe it’s how you create content.

Maybe it’s how you manage your to-do list.

Maybe it’s how you hold yourself and your clients accountable.

The goal isn’t to chase every new tool.

It’s to keep what still works, change what doesn’t, and use what’s available today to run a better business.

Because business has changed.

The question is whether the way you’re working has changed with it.

If You’re Ready to Look at This in Your Own Business

If you’re interested in improving how efficient your meetings are and keeping your clients focused and accountable, this is exactly the kind of thing I help with.

I’ve combined five decades of business development experience with my experience using AI, and I can help you build a workflow that actually changes how your business runs. Better meetings. Fewer things falling through the cracks. More of your time going toward the work that actually grows revenue.

If that’s useful to you, reach out. I offer a complimentary call to talk through where things stand now and where a few better systems could take you.

Schedule a Call

Shelly Berman
Business Development and Communication Strategist

Business Development Strategist
by competenow competenow No Comments

You Can’t Fix What You Don’t See

Most business owners never look at their own business the way a stranger would.

They know it inside and out. Every service, every price, every reason a client should choose them over the next option. What they don’t know is what a first-time visitor sees in the ten seconds before deciding whether to keep reading or click away.

I’ve sat across from hundreds of business owners over the years, and this is the one blind spot nearly all of them share. Not a lack of skill. Not a lack of effort. Just too much proximity to see clearly.

Here’s what that actually looks like in practice.

A consultant tells a client exactly what she does in conversation, clearly, specifically, in a way that makes people lean in. Then her website says something vague enough to describe half her industry, and she has no idea, because she wrote it three years ago and hasn’t read it since.

A coach has a Google Business Profile from 2021. Wrong hours. Old photo. He forgot it existed the moment he set it up, but it’s often the first thing that comes up when someone searches his name.

A consultant’s LinkedIn hasn’t been touched in four months, but she’s certain her network still sees her as active, because in her head, she’s been busy the whole time. Busy and visible are not the same thing, and only one of them shows up in a search.

None of these are talent problems. None of them are effort problems. They’re distance problems. You cannot proofread a paragraph you wrote so long ago you’ve stopped seeing the words, and you cannot evaluate a business you’re standing inside of every single day.

The businesses that actually grow past a plateau are rarely the ones working harder at what they already know. They’re the ones who found a way to see themselves the way a stranger does, honestly, without the twenty years of context that make everything look fine from the inside.

You can’t fix what you don’t see.

That’s the entire premise behind something I’m running on September 17th, a live, lively discussion called the Business Health Check. Seven areas, the ones that actually decide whether someone finds you, trusts you, and picks you. Free, one hour, 12 PM EST on Zoom.

If you’ve been circling the same plateau for a while and can’t quite name why, it might not be a talent problem either.

Register for Coffee Talk

by competenow competenow No Comments

Who is doing sales? 

Seven days to September.  

Are you ready for the next four months? 

Who is doing sales? 

September starts in seven days. Four months left in the year. 

Every owner I talk to hits the same realization within about a week of each other. The summer is over, budgets are reopening, and the pipeline is thinner than it looked in June. 

So before you build one more thing, one question. 

Who is doing sales? 

Years ago, long before Small Business Results, I was a personal trainer. One of my clients was a man named Allan. He is brilliant in business and marketing and PR, and he built a lucrative business doing it. 

One day I said to him, Allan, I am really good at what I do. People really like me. I should have lines of people calling me. I am not too sure what I am doing wrong. 

He looked at me and said, “Let me ask you one question. Who is doing sales?” 

I have never ever forgot what he said to me. I have asked this question in every single client interaction since. I asked my AI mastermind colleague , and the room went quiet the same way I did. 

It is not really a question. It is a statement, right in your face, about focus and accountability. If no one is doing sales, there are no sales. 

Doing sales is about commitment. It is about accountability. It is about owning the direction of the revenue and the direction of the business. 

Which brings me to what I am watching right now. 

People are spending hours developing. Building, refining, rebuilding. AI made that easier and faster, so we do more of it. But if we do not control how much time goes into developing, and none of it goes into sales, then there are no clients, there is no pipeline, and there is no business. You look after all that work and the question is, now what. Why are the leads not coming in on their own. 

I talk to hundreds of business owners. Nobody’s phone is ringing. 

And nobody wants to pick up the phone either. Fear of selling. Fear of rejection. Fear of sounding salesy. Fear of the call itself. 

I understand it. I also know it does not hold up. If you are in business, someone has to be doing sales. That is not a preference. It is imperative. 

One thing to do this week 

Make a list of your last ten clients. Then call them. Not email. Call. 

Here is what you say. 

I was thinking about you and the work we did together. I wanted to check in, say hello, see how you are and how business is going. Do you have a minute? 

Let them talk. Be interested and curious.That is most of the call. 

Then, when it is the right moment, this. 

I also wanted to share a few new things I have created or learned and see whether any of them could take you further. 

That is it. Ten calls. People who already know you, already paid you, and already trust you. There is no cold outreach in this, no funnel to build, and nothing to develop first. 

Sales comes first, and the offer has to land 

Sales comes first. It has to. But sales alone will not carry you if what you are selling does not land. 

Ten calls 

Ten calls is commitment. What comes back is the accountability. 

So, make the calls. Then tell me what happened. 

If you make the ten and want to talk through what worked and what did not, I am opening thirty-minute sessions to the first ten people who book. No charge. 

Book a spot here

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Save your spot here

by competenow competenow No Comments

A Good Addiction to Have

I hope this finds you catching your breath somewhere in the middle of your week. I have been thinking lately about time, and about the feeling that there is never enough of it. I suspect you know that feeling too.

Here is what I notice. When we do find a spare moment, most of us spend it staring at a screen. I do it myself. But somewhere along the way, the scroll took over the quiet minutes that used to belong to something else, and I have been thinking about what we gave up.

For me, that something is reading.

Reading is the window to the world. It always has been. A book asks only for your attention, and in return it gives you quiet, learning, and tremendous comfort. When I sit down with a book, the noise stops and the thinking starts.

I will admit something. I am a book addict. I buy them faster than I can read them, and at one point I got genuinely worried about it. I told my mother I could not stop buying books. She looked at me and said, “Well, if you are addicted, at least it is a good addiction to have.”

Consider the source. My mother read one or two books a week, and she was brilliant. I do not think those two facts were a coincidence. When she gave my book habit her blessing, she knew exactly what she was blessing.

She was right. I still think she was right.

And about the time problem. We all have the same pockets of it. Here is how I handle mine.

Every morning, coffee and a book. At least a chapter before the day gets its hands on me. Some mornings it turns into two or three, and some mornings one is all I get, but the chapter happens. It is the first appointment of the day and I do not cancel it.

That is the whole system. I did not find more time. I decided what the time I already had was for.

So this week, I am sharing some of the books that have earned their place on my shelf. My reading goes everywhere, but today I am sharing the business books, because that is the window most of my readers are trying to open. One of these might be exactly the window you have been looking for.

My Shelf, Six Books Worth Your Coffee Time

The Road Less Stupid by Keith J. Cunningham

Cunningham’s argument is simple. Businesses do not fail from a lack of smart ideas. They fail from unexamined dumb ones. His fix is structured thinking time, sitting down with a question and a legal pad before making a move. Read it if decisions in your business get made on the run, because this book will slow you down in exactly the right way.

Staff Matters by Bonnie Low-Kramen

Low-Kramen spent twenty-five years as a personal assistant, including to Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis, and she wrote the book on what your people see, know, and wish they could tell you. It is unfiltered and it is practical. Read it if you have even one employee, because the gap between how you think it is going and how they experience it is costing you more than you realize. I believed in this book enough to endorse it. My words are printed with it.

Traction by Gino Wickman

This is the book behind the Entrepreneurial Operating System, a complete framework for running a business on structure instead of adrenaline. Meetings, priorities, accountability, numbers, all of it. Read it if your business depends on you remembering everything, because that works right up until the day it does not.

Words That Change Minds by Shelle Rose Charvet

Charvet breaks down the language patterns that reveal how a person is motivated, how they decide, and what moves them to act. Once you hear these patterns, you cannot unhear them. Read it if you sell, manage, negotiate, or parent, which is to say, read it.

Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff

Klaff raised billions in capital and his method comes down to this: the person across the table does not process your pitch with logic first. Their brain filters it long before the facts land. Read it if your presentations are strong on information and weak on results, because the problem is probably not your content.

Smart Brevity by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz

The founders of Axios and Politico explain how to say more with fewer words. Short, direct, built for how people actually read now, which is to say barely. Read it if your emails go unanswered and your updates go unread. The fault may be the length, not the message.

I will leave you with this.

My father had his own rule about reading. He said he did not care if we read the back of a cereal box, as long as we read. Between my mother’s blessing on my book habit and my father’s cereal box rule, I never stood a chance. I was raised to be a reader, and I have stayed one my entire life.

Maybe I have an advantage because of the home I grew up in. I will grant that. But here is the truth: even if nobody handed you that environment, the habit is yours to build. Nobody assigns you the reading after school ends. From that point on, it is self-discipline, and self-discipline is a choice you make every single morning.

Building a business and leading a life both demand the same commitment to learning, and that commitment never expires.

So make the choice. Coffee. A book. One chapter before the day starts. Read the business books, read the novels, read the back of the cereal box if that is what is in front of you.

Just read. The window is right there.

One more thing before I let you go.

If you are ready to make this a summer of learning, I have a place for you to start. On Wednesday, July 30, I am holding the Business Health Check Webinar for coaches and consultants 50 and over. In one session you will learn exactly what is holding your business back, and what to do about it.

Save your seat here

With warmth,
Shelly
Business & Communication Strategist

Business Development Strategist
greater business strategies - key behaviors to develop
by competenow competenow No Comments

You Want Greater Business Strategies? Here are the key behaviors needed today.

Here we are at one year at working from home; while the challenges are plentiful, so are the opportunities.

More than ever, the words commitment, focus, differentiate, market, relationships, managing emotion, and accountability are the key behaviors that we must act upon to be successful.

These behaviors are exactly what we find in the strategic framework that I created 18 years ago.

No matter what stage your business is in when you work within this framework, business owners grow, and revenues propel.  The choices we make to be effective happens when we create a full commitment to a direction or an activity. Commitment is the defining factor for action or strategic business decision-making. Here is an example of how commitment can make a difference.

MAKE A FULL COMMITMENT TO YOURSELF, YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE.

One common mistake business owner makes not to go narrow and deep in picking their target audience and offers. Instead, they go broad, trying to cast a bigger net. We cannot be someone to everyone, but we can be someone to somebody. When we commit to a target audience, it allows us to commit to a direction for sales and marketing and will definitely lead to other segments.

 Case Study:

An attorney was passionate about working with many markets, including families with children, gay couples, divorced couples, and elder law. Still, she couldn’t find her ideal market or generate enough business. She committed to focusing on one target client for 30 days. She chose families with children. Determining who they were, led her to understand where they were located and how to reach them.

The Outcome:

By committing to picking a target market, she landed several families as clients and landed numerous speaking engagements in front of the right fit audience.  Before the end of one of her first meetings with a client, this client turned to the attorney and said, “I love you! Can you work with my mother?” She was able to practice her elder law as well! This example shows that committing to one market does not mean saying “no” to others, but rather, focusing on one market may help lead you to other markets. Your focus must be finding the right niche, and the rest will follow.

In our world of so many options, priorities, and challenges, it is hard to know where our commitments lie.

I can help you!

Best,

Shelly Berman-Rubera

Schedule Your Complimentary Call Here

3 Must Read Books for Small Business Results
by competenow competenow No Comments

Season’s Greetings and 3 Must Read Books for Small Business Results

As we enter the last few weeks of the year, I want to send you blessings for peaceful holidays and wishes for a good year ahead. I thought it would help share my top inspirational and productivity resources to look at while you are kicking back and taking time to reassess your next steps. 

In this email, I will share my top three recent must-read business books with you. You should then check your inbox in the next week for my top five applications and other resources that I believe in because they work for my clients.

I once called my mother and said, ” I can’t stop buying books” She replied, “if you are going to be addicted to something, it’s a good addiction to have!” I love to read and believe it’s imperative to stay on top of industry trends and find peace and solitude in words.

These three books below are my current top choices:

EQ Applied: The Real-World Guide to Emotional Intelligence by Justin Barrel 

In the time of Covid-19, running a business virtually and meeting the demands of our personal and professional life, we need the skills to manage emotions. As an EQ Trainer, I found this book to provide practical strategies that will shape our emotional reactions and provide practical skills to practice and implement immediately. It’s a great read, and I highly recommend it.

The Road Less Stupid by Keith J. Cunningham

As small business owners, we all have many great ideas and too often run our businesses without taking enough time to examine our approach or make strategic decisions. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and the philosophy, and the questions this author asks. I feel it greatly aligns with my coaching style, thinking strategy, planning, and execution. I loved this book.

The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller

We feel more overwhelmed and distracted at work and in our personal lives now more than ever before. The author’s teaching is very aligned with the systems and frameworks I’ve developed at SBR. If you’re looking to get a jump start on business productivity for the new year. This is a great read (you could actually work with me to help you implement it).

Stay tuned this week for more on my top business resources! 

Gratitude + business strategy assessment for a virtual pivot
by competenow competenow No Comments

What is Essential for Thanksgiving and Moving Forward? Gratitude and Assessment

Thanksgiving is the time of year to reflect on what we are grateful for. Even though life as a small business owner has many challenges, the contribution your offerings make to your clients’ lives is enormous. I am thankful for you and for allowing me to be a part of your journey.

 It is indeed a crazy time, and there is a lot to navigate. I feel like the essential skills necessary are to live in gratitude, manage our emotions and behaviors, and take a real hard assessment of where we are, where we want to go, and what it will take to get there. 

In March, when we all got word, we knew the world was no longer the world it was. I was sitting in my office reassessing my own next steps when I received a call from a woman who was booked solid for delivering training and talks. In the past ten years, she has spoken in 14 countries and is committed to providing her audience with the knowledge they need, more now than ever. She was literally put out of business or, better said, stopped in her tracks. She went to a networking meeting and put out the word about who she was looking for, and guess what? Someone said you need to talk to Shelly Berman-Rubera. I am proud and grateful to say that Bonnie Low-Kramen chose to work with me to bring her company virtual. This began a fantastic business development journey of successfully pivoting.

Bonnie said she was looking for marketing and a sales funnel for her online executive assistant training course. I looked at the scope of the work and had to be honest with her about what I saw was the difference between what she WANTED and what saw she NEEDED.

On May 26th Bonnie hired me with a strong initiative.  She wanted to launch her online course on July 16th!  I said, “Bonnie, can we reassess the time frame? This is way too big a project for July 16th.” She said, “No way. The assistants need me, and I need to be there for them. We have to launch.”

I went to work, assessing where we were, where we were headed, and what we need to do to get there.  Most business owners are way too busy working on their business and delivering products or services. They don’t have the time, energy, and often the resources to take care of the business’s foundational and operational needs. It is essential to understand how the brand/persona shows up, what the website is doing and saying, and very importantly, what’s the buyers’ journey, and does it lead to sales? 

I pulled together a big picture strategy and called Bonnie. Bonnie, “What you have going on and what you are planning is way bigger than you, and this is way bigger than me. Do I have your permission to get the right people in the right place and build our team to make this happen? Are you ready to run down nine roads at the same time?”

What were the roads?

  1. Foundational signature and LinkedIn
  2. New branding and brand images
  3. Totally new website
  4. Course sales page, affiliate page, production, etc.
  5. Email strategy
  6. Two virtual 2-day event
  7. Pre-sales
  8. Sales and Marketing
  9. A lot of content writing

Bonnie said yes to the investment of work, the time, and the money. Off we went to strategically execute and give birth to a whole new way of doing business. It started with basic things like her email signature (Wisestamp). We were going to be doing a lot of outreach, so the email signature had to be contemporary and spiffy, say what it is, and offer a place for potential students and clients to schedule (Acuity). We must make it easy to engage. While this may seem foundational and elementary, we often do not think about the seemingly little things when we are so busy working.

Next, we looked at her LinkedIn profile. I gave her a customized formula, and we revamped the LinkedIn profile. Your LinkedIn profile will likely come before your website in a google search, so the power of LinkedIn is incredible, and the ability to network within LinkedIn is even better.

We revamped an email outreach campaign, launched the sales page and course, and yes, all on deadline.  Her website was then launched on schedule later that summer.

It was a small business miracle…

We sold 46 courses in pre-sale and SOLD OUT her two-day virtual event.

14 weeks. We did it. Send stretchers!

This virtual pivot success story can happen to all business owners, speakers, and thought leaders. 

If you can resonate with Bonnie’s problem, you might find this assessment helpful. This is the assessment I took Bonnie through, and now it’s your turn.

We’ll go through some questions like, “What do I want vs. What do I need?” “What does my client need right now?” “What’s my 30 day strategy?”. We’ll find you help and trusted resources. I can help you find the team you need to get the job done on time and efficiently.

Do not be frightened by the amount of work involved to make your dreams come true. That’s why we need a team. The value of working with a strategist is to be able to get beyond the wanting and move to how we can get there. It is hard work, but the effort we put into business strategy and tactically building our offerings is what makes running a business effectively the exact vehicle for delivering you!

I wish you a safe, healthy, and peaceful Thanksgiving.

With Warm Regards,

Shelly

Get Started
midsummer sbr news
by competenow competenow No Comments

Zoomed Out – Zoomed In: Midsummer SBR news

I hope this newsletter finds you and your loved ones safe and adjusting to what I refuse to call the new normal. Wow, what six months this has been for us, both personally and professionally. I am pleased that I am busy at work and certainly grateful for being a Certified Emotional Intelligence Trainer during these unprecedented times.

Emotions are running high as we operate our business and live with the new demands.  As if running a business isn’t hard enough, this is certainly pushing us to find new coping mechanisms. In-person meetings are moved virtual, and to Zoom at home. We find ourselves in a fixed position, in a chair, and on a screen for hours at a time, and we need to deal with that to prevent being Zoomed out.

Many people are not comfortable being on Zoom, but I believe we have to learn how to accept this is a very new meaningful way of communication. I made this short video with my colleague videographer Anne Bost to help you with your own Zoom set up and make you feel better on the camera.

Some of us are feeling Zoomed in and fine WFH and seem to be more productive and focused on learning how to work in new ways and pivot the business. We need strategies for both handlings being Zoomed Out and Zoomed In. I hope the following will help.

ZOOMED OUT

When making your schedule, try to have at least 30 minutes between zoom calls. Get up stretch, move your body, do 50 jumping jacks. Get the circulation and the blood going, group zoom calls, pick mornings to do zoom and afternoons no zoom, pick particular days on and off, and try to get a good chair. ( if you find one let me know)

 ZOOMED IN

Never before has picking a target audience had more significant meaning for your prospects. They must look at your LinkedIn profile and website and any marketing assets and know immediately who you work with and what outcome they can expect from you. Once you have that concretely, you can set about making a specific marketing strategy and copywriting that will attract new prospects and maintain clients.

I am inviting you to a complimentary call to answer your challenges. Please schedule here, and let’s get you some answers. 

Shelly Berman-Rubera

617-201-7224

SBR Business Strategic Marketing Checklist
by competenow competenow No Comments

What You Need To Do Right Now – Stand Up and Stand Out

Now and in the coming weeks, so many more of us will be online trying to create new strategies to build our business and to work virtually. We as a nation, community, and business culture must learn how to adapt quickly, problem solve, and find ways to remain Vital, and Visible, to ensure that we continue to build revenue. We need to be smart and action-oriented.

Two weeks ago, I was working with my client Dr. David Helfand, a Relationship and Stress Management Expert; we were strategizing about what to do because he was booked two to three months in advance: what would we do with new clients that were coming in that needed the service now?

Within 48 hours, we had to come up with an entirely new strategy to bring the company virtual because he no longer could see clients in person. I immediately came up with a checklist of what we needed to do. Luckily, he is technically savvy enough to have taken these suggestions and made all these changes within 4 hours to set the course for the new direction.

As a result, within 24 hours, Dr. Helfand was booked with 19 virtual clients for the following week as well as a two-day virtual Couples retreat.

Here are the seven things I suggest businesses do right now; 

If you uncheck all the boxes in this infographic, you will be able to strategically work on the list one by one and track your progress.

SBR – Must Do Now Checklist

Notification Bar

A notification bar is a plugin for your website that allows you to make announcements and generate lead captures. (See here)

Google My Business

This is a business essential, and many businesses have not claimed their listing. Now is the time to get this done, and if you have one, then update it now. Let your audience know what you are up to.

Google My Business is a tool for website owners to manage online presence across Google, including search and Map. It allows you to create, verify, and edit listing information to help potential customers find your business. It also directly improves the SEO of your website and helps it rank better. Now is an excellent time to ask clients to post testimonials on that page.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the number one place for B to B marketing. Its search engine power will help you to show up higher in the SEO. I have made numerous great connections there. It is time to update your profile and add documents, videos, and pictures.

Email Marketing

I strongly feel that email marketing is more critical today than ever because you really have no other way to reach your audience directly. If you’re ready to do email marketing, you can sign up through me. The promotion right now is 30% off for three months. And by the way, this a great time to get your database in order, which most people tell me is a mess, and they have no time to pay attention to it. I suggest that you create an Excel spreadsheet with segmented lists that includes past and present client’s, prospects, family, friends, and affiliates.

Concept to Customer

People will now be buying for very different reasons, pivoting your business model and a new strategy includes new positioning and language for how you introduce yourself and how you talk about your business. It is critical to align your offering with what the prospects and clients need now. I can help you with this in my package “Concept to Customer”.

Website

I am not a website designer or developer, nor do I sell websites, but I do know that the compelling, articulate, simple language and copy-writing combined with a great design for your website is critical. All marketing leads to the website. I can’t impress upon you enough what it means to have your concept, copy, and website up to date. Now is the time to do this!

Video

The activity on social media is greater than it has ever been. The use of video now is more important than ever to give your brand a face and a voice. I know it is hard to do. I am forcing myself to do it.

  • 81% of businesses use video as a marketing tool – up from 63% over the last year.
  • Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it in text.
  • Videos attach 300% more traffic and help to nurture leads.

I have created a new offering entitled “Interview Video Marketing” and am able to help you get a video of you and some client testimonials done for your site and marketing. Check it out here!

Don’t forget your interactive checklist for these seven items to strategically work on the list one by one and track your progress.

Get Your Checklist Here!

I know there’s a curve of learning for each one of us, and you may be able to implement these steps, but if not, I can help you. You can book time with me, and we will get it done quickly.

I feel strongly that there will be two ways of which business owners will deal with this period of time, one is to sit and let this time pass and just think that we will go back to work as usual. The second is to laser focus on the areas in our business that we never have the opportunity to do when we are so busy working.

Going back to work after this pandemic is really not the same as going back to work after a vacation; the marketplace is different, the needs for each of us will be different, and how you show up needs to be different.

I am here to help you succeed.

Shelly
Personal/Business Strategist & Coach
Shelly@smallbusresults.com

Schedule a call!

Productivity infographic - optimism - resilency - discipline
by competenow competenow No Comments

Productivity in A Shutdown World

Optimism – Resiliency and Discipline

I have run my business out of my home over thirty-five years, which makes this pandemic a bit less of an adjustment for me. It is certainly not business, as usual. I thought I would share with you the strategies that I have used the sustain me to be the president of my company, take care of myself, my clients, and effectively run my business.

Here is a schedule that I pretty much stick to. I hope it helps you!

  • Take the first hour of the day to not rush, eat breakfast, read, meditate, or do absolutely nothing.
  • Exercise before work. You don’t need a full gym of equipment to move your body, stretch, mobilize, or strengthen. If this is not something you’ve been used to doing, now is a fantastic time to get started.
  • Shower and get dressed as if you were going out. (if you wear makeup put it on) just like getting ready for work, because you are! This creates a feeling of self-respect, self-worth, and a sense of being prepared for the day ahead.
  • Start to work on your three to five high-level activities, no more than that, and focus on them until noon. If you are not a sole proprietor and running a business with things to do,  pick a few things that you would love to get done in your home, or get started learning something that you don’t usually don’t have the time to do.
  • Before wrapping up for lunch around noon, answer emails and calls from the morning, eat a healthy lunch, and move your body, stretch and or go for a walk.
  • Go back to work to either finish the high-level activities from the morning or proceed to your next three to five high-level activities.
  • 3:30 to 4:30, end the day, make calls. I have found this a great time to reach people as they are winding down their day and are freer to connect and have a conversation, finish any emails that you haven’t been able to get to all day.
  • Before closing your day, organize your task list for tomorrow. Identify the three to five high-level activities that you want to get done.
  • After work, have a great dinner, rest, relax, relate, and try to laugh.

I also strongly believe in meal prep. I’ll share with you two recipes that I like to keep in the house.

Zucchini /Spinach Lasagna is delicious and great reheated. It can last for lunch and dinner for a couple of days. I also like having something sweet, but I want something healthy, so here’s a delicious almond flour, coconut flour cookie recipe that has no gluten, sugar, or egg, and all I need is one. Yum!

This is an incredible time for practicing self-discipline and committing to personal and business development.

When else would you find the time to take a step back and really look at your approach to your business, technology,  marketing strategy, website, your effectiveness and improve so that when we are back to full operation,  and we will be, you are rested, prepared and like a fast speed locomotion ready to run down the track to success.

Yes, this is a terrifying time, but with optimism, resiliency, and discipline, we can turn something challenging into something very positive!

I am here to work with you. I know how to work strategically and quickly to help you ramp up. I have the most trusted resources and experts for websites, SEO and technology who work with me to provide you the most honest and affordable help to my clients.

As always, feel free to schedule a call to tell me what you need.

Shelly
Personal/Business Development Strategist
shelly@smallbusresults.com

X