Are You Working IN Your Business or ON Your Business?
MARKETING IS SCARY
I am a marketing coach and that word “marketing” is a scary word to most business owners. Why?
1. It is something they know they need to do, but they don’t have the time.
2. It is something they need to do but they do not know where to begin.
3. It is something they need to do, but they are not sure how to do it.
4. It is hard to get started on “marketing” because it's a huge task, and so it is
intimidating.
5. It usually costs money and the ROI is uncertain or appears in some cases to be
unmeasurable.
The truth is that, just like anything else that you do not feel you are an expert in, marketing your business will get easier as you do it. So bottom line, you just need to stop procrastinating and do it.
As a coach, I spend a lot of time working with small and medium business owners, coaching them on how to grow their businesses. I also give a lot of live workshops on various aspects of growing one’s business – particularly increasing business visibility. These might be individual sessions on social media, or content marketing and blogging, as examples. Always, people tell me the workshop or webinar or individual counseling session was extremely valuable and they learned a lot. So, this should make me happy, right? Wrong!
What Is The True Value
The value I give is really only truly valuable if people actually use it. If they listen, and learn, but then do not use the information, it is actually just a waste of time, for them and me.
It would be like if you came to me asking for help on how to tie your shoes. I can explain the different techniques, show you the the different ways to tie them, and discuss the pros and cons of each, and you will feel like you have learned a lot. But, if you do not use the information, if you still only buy slip-ons, or walk around with untied laces, then the entire learning experience was just a waste of time, mine and yours. You might have good intentions, but you know what they say about good intentions, right?
So now, before every workshop I give, before every coaching session, the one topic I start with is making it a priority to WORK ON YOUR BUSINESS. I said ON your business. NOT IN your business; not filling orders, nor taking inventory, nor ordering things from vendors, nor paying bills, nor performing services; these things are all working IN your business. They are doing the day-to-day things that keep your business in operation. An example of working IN my business; if I had a bakery it might be ordering flour, baking bread, and stocking shelves. If I am doctor, it would be examining people, writing prescriptions, and updating charts.
Working ON Your Business
WORKING ON YOUR BUSINESS is doing the things that will cause your business to grow. It is doing things to bring in more leads and customers, and more money (whether you are a for-profit or a non-profit). And I know right now, many of you are saying, but I don’t have time. I am already working 24X7 just keeping my business in operation. You will be surprised however, once you start making it a priority to work ON your business, that all of the 24X7 things you were doing before to keep it running somehow still get done.
If you are uncertain how to break out of the rut on working 24X7 In your business and get started on Working ON your business, read the next article in this series 5 Tips To Working On Your Business.
Tags: Time Management, Grow Your Business
Filed Under: Setting Priorities, Business Coaching