I have some really smart friends and acquaintances and sometimes when we chat about business, I learn things that I want you to learn too! So, let me introduce you to my acquaintance, Nancy Becher. Nancy is a business coach and disability advocate. She provides business hacks and strategies to help entrepreneurs with chronic illnesses and life challenges SOAR HIGHER in business. Learn more about Nancy!
Without further ado… Here are Nancy’s 10 Quick Tips to Grow Your Business!
Running a business is hard work. Running one while dealing with all the ups and downs, pains and frustrations of having a chronic/autoimmune disorder can make it overwhelming. For someone who has had Fibromyalgia, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome and a host of other challenges for over 8 years, I truly get it. There have been times when I just wanted to quit; today being no exception. We’ve just started using a new calendar program and nothing seems to be going right with it. My brain is foggy. My pain levels are “hit by a mack truck – not a feather”. And I am frustrated to no end. But I have chosen to not let it get to me, but to move forward slowly and steadily doing what I can until I can’t do any more. That’s tip one. Do what you can. Don’t let things get the best of you. You are stronger than the environment around you.
All of the tips I’m going to share with you are important for anyone but can make it especially significant for those of us with added issues like disabilities and hidden chronic illnesses. Let’s sit back and think about these – how can they work for each of us?
- Create a roadmap of where you want to be in 5 years. This gives you a direction to focus on and helps steer your course. If you think, I can’t decide what to do later today. How am I going to think about 5 years from now? All this really means is that you need to create a plan that you can work towards. Without goals and directions, you are going to flounder and perhaps wind up giving up. We don’t want that to happen. So find a purpose.
- Create both long-term goals and the short steps it takes to move yourself along the road towards those goals. This is a follow on to the first one. If you create one large goal, you will probably become overwhelmed and will give up. But if you create a series of steps that get you moving ahead that will be better. And always remember, these are not written in stone. If you find out that you don’t really want to do what you had created a goal for, then you can change it or eliminate it altogether.
- Put no more than 3 things on your daily to-do list. Don’t make them so complicated that you’ll never complete them, but at the same time, make them important enough that they will truly lead you towards that ultimate goal.
- Take time to be with mentors who can advise you on right ways and wrong ways of doing the work to get you where you want to be. Don’t just hook up with someone who will give you permission to do (or not do) what you want, but find someone who is willing to spend time and energy really working with you to support your business success.
- Have face-to-face meetings with other like-minded colleagues rather than just always communicating via social media. When you actually sit down with someone and get to know them, their businesses and what they want to happen for themselves, you will see similarities, you are better able to understand and share the good, bad and ugly of business and in the end you find that you have stronger relationships built than you ever get with just online connections.
- WRITE IT DOWN. When you write something down, you don’t forget. It sticks in your mind and you can look back at it and say “Oh yeah. I promised to do that”, etc. There is a form of accountability to yourself in that as well. When you put it down you can’t ignore something as easily as if you just had it in your mind at some point or another. Those of us with chronic illnesses generally have a lack of short-term memory so it makes sense to write it down. Share it in a daily journal, or create a reminder on Alexa to complete a task. Always good to have someone else on your side to support you – even if it is an AI friend.
- Writing is good for to-dos, for thoughts, for any number of things, but when you journal that’s a bit different. Journaling is a great way to open your mind to internal thoughts and feelings that you might not even know you were having. So, journal.
- At least once a week, look back over the past 7 days and see what successes – big and small – have occurred. You can also look at things that didn’t occur but do not do so with negativity. Ask yourself how you felt about what happened or didn’t happen. Did you feel happy, frustrated, joyful, etc. This is also something to be written down.
- Although it is often said to not spend a lot of time on social media, spend at least an hour a day visiting groups that are important to your business. Don’t do any selling, but read the comments and posts of others. Comment and ask questions. This is a great way for people to start to get to know you and to build relationships online. While 5 above says to have in person meetings, you also need to share online and to grow your network that way as well. Especially for us again who struggle with traveling, getting out of the house and doing things away from (perhaps) bed and bath…, being able to hold meetings with others online gives you freedom to engage and know that you’re not alone as well as sharing with others in a way you can’t otherwise.
- Finally, spend time working ON your business. Find networking events, mastermind programs, accountability partners — whatever it takes to actually do the thought provoking work that needs to be done in order to GROW.
Until next time, don’t wait til pigs fly because when you work your business, your business Soars HIGHER!