Is your business pretty shaky right now? You would not be the only one struggling with a shaky business during the last few months. Business owners all over the planet right now are suffering at an unprecedented rate. Revenue is down, and everybody is on a huge learning curve trying to do things differently than they have ever done things before.  So who can you go to when times are tough to get a different perspective on where to start?

The Business coach

Keep your eyes open for a good business coach. How do you know that they are a good business coach for your shaky business? You want to look for somebody who has some level of success. He want to would deal with somebody who has clients already who are prospering. He should not have a shaky business. This person should be able to supply you with fresh ideas, but also time tested strategies that will work in the current economic crisis. They will help you with things like changing your mindset, rethinking your marketing, building systems that work, and restructuring your life and business for success.  Business owners who use a business coach are 10 times more likely to succeed than the 80% of business owners who go out of business in their first 5 years. One of the things that most of the failures have in common is that they do not seek advice from professionals who could assist them. 

The Accountants and/or Bookkeeper

Do you know how much money is coming in? Do you know how much is going out? Do you know what you're spending it on? Do you know the things that you're spending money on that are giving you a return? Are there things billing out on your credit card that you haven't even checked on? What area of your business is the most profitable? What does it cost you to acquire one customer? Do you know the answers to these questions? If there is anybody who may be able to help you decipher them it is your accountant, or your bookkeeper. Not only will they be able to narrow down what is profitable in your business by looking at the numbers, they will also have other clients who are being profitable right now in this economy. They will know some of the things that those clients are currently spending their money on that is making a difference for them so they do not have a shaky business. You need to make an appointment with your accountant, or bookkeeper today and find out what they think you need to do in order to become more profitable.

The Networker Or The Connector

Do you know somebody who did does a lot of networking? Do you know somebody who is a natural born connector or who is connected to a lot of people? This person is someone who goes to a lot of networking meetings, and they are widely known in your city, not just in one industry but in many industries. A real connector is not somebody who is famous within just one niche market.  A connector is known in multiple markets by many people from several industries. They know who does a good job in marketing, who can help you get the best investments, where to find that amazing accountant, and what is working right now on social media. They know this because they are connected to many professionals and they glean that information from their network. 

A connector will save you money by introducing you to fairly priced professionals who get the job done right the first time. A connector will make you money by introducing you to clients who are interested in your products and they have the budget to start spending today when a well earned referral is given.

If your shaky business is struggling right now you need some professionals to get back on track. You may have to cut costs by stopping payment on services that are costing you money. Yet these jobs that they are doing still need to be done. Who will do a good job and give you a better price? Who knows they answer to that question in your city? The connector does. Maybe you need some updates to your website or you need a new website so that you can move more product online right now. Where you gonna find this person? You must know already that it is unprofitable to hire your nephew who suddenly finished marketing. Yes, he can make something pretty but he can't make something profitable because he's never had to earn a dollar in his life. You must know by now that if you risk hiring somebody from the internet that you have never met then you risk forfeiting your deposit. The person who knows the people you need to know is the connector. He has met a website designer that he has seen do regular business with an accountable group of people over a long period of time. If you make a deposit with the person that he refers to you, you are way more likely to have a finished website that produces profitability in a timely manner.

The networker who has been doing it for years knows places that you can cut corners and save money. He knows about government programs that you could qualify for because he has heard other people in his network talk about them. He knows a business coach that won't bleed you dry and actually produces results. He probably knows people you should talk to about cutting your household expenses and the cost of your mortgage as well.

Where do you meet this person? You meet him in a weekly networking meeting where business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals get together to give each other warmed up leads. Find out who is in the room who's been doing networking for years. Get to know that person first. The Connector will be a great asset to you and your shaky business.

Join CIBN Connect and we will be happy to introduce you to all three of these people immediately.

There are many excellent coaches in our network. Here are a couple members you might consider using: Shawna Quigley (https://www.quigleycoaching.com/) and Nicki Chang (https://nickichangpowless.com/)

As the CEO at CIBN Connect, Kerry George inspires business owners with vision and passion and allows them to thrive in every circumstance.

Kerry is a professional networker who has attended over 6000 networking meetings and has been a keynote speaker for hundreds of online and live events.

As you can imagine, a few things have gone wrong in running that many events. Kerry always keeps a sense of humor during the chaos, which has allowed her to continuously be in good spirits to help other entrepreneurs work through their stuff. (linkedin.com/in/kerrygeorge)

If you are like most business owners you have one or two big problems that keep raising their ugly heads like a two-headed monster that is trying to eat you and destroy your business.

The First Monster That Will Destroy Your Business

The first Medusa is cash flow. Like a prehistoric beast trying to eat you with multiple mouths demanding payment from several directions this brute needs to be managed, fed and then snuffed out of your life or it will overwhelm you. Cash flow typically goes up and it goes down, or it plateaus just under the place where you need it to be in order to have a reasonably comfortable lifestyle. You do some marketing and it starts to bring in some business and then you get busy looking after the customers that your marketing provided for you and you forget to do marketing and suddenly you are finished the one project and there is nothing more coming, up. You run out of money before you get the next marketing project done, and it takes time for the marketing to kick in to bring in new business. There is never enough for the many snake-heads of incoming bills. This ongoing cycle will destroy your business.

The Second Monster That Will Destroy Your Business

The second monster is the Cyclops of time. Like an eye in the middle of the head of this giant, is a clock that is ticking and ticking. There's only 24 hours in the day and you never have enough time to get all the things done that you need to get done. It's like you're a hamster on a wheel but you just keep running and running and you never get to get off. You get to work in the morning, and in your nightmare you race around putting out fires, answering customer issues, making phone calls, talking with clients, fixing problems, and dealing with staff who should have known what to do, and yet got it all wrong. You're halfway through the day before you can even think about new business. You're wearing so many hats and you have run out of heads. The time demon is eating you alive!

Don't Want to Destroy Your Business?

Use Systems... 

The amazing discovery that will change your business and your life is systems. This is how to destroy your monsters.

To keep money coming in regularly and smoothly you need systems. To beat that time monster back into the clock you need systems. Systems are the answer that you have been looking for and you need to apply them liberally to all aspects of your business immediately.

Many business owners know that they need to create systems yet they never get around to creating them. They look at it like it is some kind of a jigsaw puzzle and they just can't figure out where the corner pieces are, or who is hiding the masterplan of the big picture to look at as they build. They don't know where to start, and they think that the project is way too big, so the time monster and the cash flow monster continue to have their way with you.

I'm here to tell you today that systems don't have to be so complicated. Start with the simple things. Any time you find yourself answering a question from one of your customers, right that question down. It's likely that that is not the only customer that has been asking you that question. Once you have a list of questions that customers have been asking you then you can figure out a system to answer those questions faster. You could put them all into a brochure that you get hand to the customer that starts asking you those questions and show it in the conversations. You could put commonly asked questions on your website and you could refer all new customers there to have a look at it when they become your customer. You could create an automated email sequence using Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, or any other email response program, that all new customers will receive when they make their initial purchase from you. You would be able to set this up in a few hours and it would continue to serve you for decades.

Is invoicing sucking up your time in your life? Then set up an automated invoicing system.

Every week, book an appointment with yourself at the same time once a week. Perhaps it's Friday afternoon, or Sunday afternoon when the business is closed. At this time sit and think about the repetitive tasks that you have been doing over and over again that are keeping you from making more money, and taking up all of your time. What system do you need to create next?

Make a list and then one by one work on them until they are in place and fully functional.

Give yourself a time limit like 30 days to get the first one in place. Then 30 more days to get the next one functional. If that is not happening in a timely manner, then you must get a business coach to give you a hand. You will never get it done without the help and accountability. Get someone else’s perspective on this. We have many excellent coaches in our network. Give us a call and we will refer someone to you.  

You can do it. Start small. Start today. But get started before you become fodder for your pet monsters.

As the CEO at CIBN Connect, Kerry George inspires business owners with vision and passion and allows them to thrive in every circumstance.

Kerry is a professional networker who has attended over 6000 networking meetings and has been a keynote speaker for hundreds of online and live events.

As you can imagine, a few things have gone wrong in running that many events. Kerry always keeps a sense of humor during the chaos, which has allowed her to continuously be in good spirits to help other entrepreneurs work through their stuff. (linkedin.com/in/kerrygeorge)