![\"brand](\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/wastedtime.jpg\")
<\/div>Answer 5 short questions and we will send a custom report with actionable insights and specific actions you can take to build a stronger brand.<\/div>
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<\/a>1. Evaluate What’s Working And What Isn’t<\/strong>. Wasted time could be a small business owner’s worst enemy. Your time is limited, but you have much to accomplish daily. It’s OK to have occasional unproductive days, but most successful small businesses figure out what works and doesn’t – and focus on the things that work for them.<\/p>\nFor example, it’s entirely possible that a huge amount of your effort is spent on daily activities that aren’t contributing to building your brand, your sales\/profits or accomplishing the other meaningful goals you’ve set for your business.<\/p>\n
Some small business owners are so protective of their accounting, for example, that they’ll resist the need to bring in a part-time accountant to help them to maintain their financial records. While this appears prudent – after all, you’re saving the cost of paying a part-time accountant – such decisions are very short-sighted for many businesses. If you’re running a solo business, you could be focused on sales during the hours you devote to accounting. Or you can work to improve your product or service.<\/p>\n
How You Can Start Today:<\/strong> Start by listing on a sheet of paper – or in an electronic document – all the tasks you do regularly (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly).\u00a0 Do your best to break these tasks into logical areas, such as sales, accounting<\/a>, marketing, inventory, etc. Second, assign times to each task. How long does it take you to pay your bills every week\/month? If you have to maintain inventory, how long does it take to review your inventory and order replacement? Do this for each task to begin understanding the time you spend on each activity. Third, assess whether each activity is important. You’d be surprised how many things we all do during a normal day that add little value to our business. Once you understand the importance of each activity, rank the activities (or logical areas) to understand better where YOU should be focusing. If you’re like me, you’ll find plenty of activities that are only modestly important – but those activities sometimes take the most amount of time to accomplish. Determine whether those activities are sufficiently important to continue – or whether you need someone else (part-time or full-time) to help you. We all have areas in which we excel. And we all have areas in which we don’t. Focus on the areas where you bring the most value to your business and find the right people to fill the gaps in areas you don’t. If you focus on the things that work, you’ll be more efficient and productive and see a meaningful impact on your bottom line.<\/p>\n image credit: wpwend42<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>2. Experiment With Hyper-Local Advertising on Facebook.<\/strong> Most small business owners don’t know that Facebook made some very powerful upgrades to its social network in March of this year. Those upgrades are especially important to small business owners because it’s now possible to target customers based on the language they speak and where they live\/work<\/a>. This means that a bakery can now advertise specifically to people within a certain-mile radius of the bakery. A language tutor can advertise to families who speak Russian or Chinese – within a 10-mile radius – to target families that may want to hire a tutor for their kids.<\/p>\nWant a free brand review?<\/div><\/div>