Production Tip #1: Moving Your Business Forward

Are you ready to expand your business? You may have been wondering when it will be time to take your company to the next level. Growing a business is always a risk. There are several things to consider before making the decision to move your business forward, and there are some practical steps that you can take to get the ball rolling.

How to Know When Business Expansion is the Right Move 

Here are some tell tale signs that it is time to take your business to the next level:

• The industry is changing.
• You have a strong, faithful client base.
• You can afford to grow, or have potential investors.
• There is a new product or service that you can offer.
• Your competitors are making strides forward.

If things are getting busy, growth is already taking place, and you have to make changes in order to accommodate that growth, otherwise, your company can suffer like a plant that has outgrown its pot. You have to be willing to allow others to come in and help you nurture the changes and keep current clients satisfied while your company branches out.

3 Steps to Growing a Business

1. Reassess your goals. Your original business goals need to be reevaluated if you are going to move forward with your company. This does not mean that you will completely change or abandon the long-term goals you started out with, but you might want to refresh/update your mission to encompass your new ideas. Brainstorm a plan that will take you step by step to your ultimate goal, and set a timeline for completion.

2. Do some recon. Market research and industry changes play a significant role in growing a business. Without market research, it will be difficult to predict how your current clients, and potential ones, will respond to the new and improved version of your products and services. Start by surveying your client base about what changes they would like to see, and approach your target market about what’s missing or can be improved in your industry. Make sure that partners and employees have a voice as well.

3. Get assistance. Getting other people involved is almost inevitable. The bigger your company becomes, the less time you will have to personally handle all of your operations. Get an online assistant (virtual professional) if you don’t already have one. A virtual professional can help complete routine tasks and manage expansion projects, saving you time and keeping everything running smoothly while changes are being implemented. Relinquishing some control is a part of growth, so get comfortable with delegation!

Things to Avoid

Don’t try to make too many drastic changes too quickly. You want your current clients to follow you as you head to the other side of your goal, and you don’t want to make your company so different that it is unrecognizable. Make sure that the changes that you make are true to your brand.

If you need to make personnel changes, do so. This means not only adding people, such as an online assistant, but it might also mean cutting someone loose. You need people behind you that are honest, efficient and supportive of your new vision. That doesn’t mean that you should fire anyone who has some criticisms, but don’t stick with a team that is holding you back.

Time Management Techniques for Virtual Professionals

Virtual professionals have no choice but to learn about managing time well if they want to get ahead. With the long list of clients, projects, and business operations tasks, it can be difficult to keep things straight without organization and the use of effective time management techniques. Take a look at these techniques that will help you to make the most out of every business day.

Set goals and create a plan. Creating both short term and long term goals can keep you focused, and encourage you to use your time wisely. Think about where you want your business to go in the future and create a plan of action. As you approach each day, set smaller goals and steps to those goals. This will help you gain perspective on each task you do and how it fits with the big picture. If you are wasting time on things that won’t bring you closer to your goals, you can set those things aside and spend more time getting ahead.

Make a detailed schedule. It is not enough to set aside general business hours or to have a to do list. You need a daily calendar to track meetings, project deadlines, follow up emails or calls, and host of other little things that a virtual professional needs to do throughout the day. There are too many distractions that can arise, and if you set aside separate times to handle things independently, you will get more done.

Learn how to prioritize. Your task list should be organized according to what needs to be completed first. Anything that is time sensitive, such as a project due in two days, should be addressed before other less urgent things, such as filing documents. If you do things right, you will have very few things on your list that have extreme urgency, and you can simply focus on taking care of things in order of importance without the time crunch.

Do, or don’t, multitask. Sometimes doing more than one thing at a time can help you get more done, but other times it just takes away from efficiency. Some people work best when they have a busy schedule, and they work more productively with a variety of things to do throughout the day. In other cases, focusing on a single task until it is completed can actually get it completed faster, thereby reducing the number of things on your to do list more frequently.

Be flexible. You may have a family emergency or come down with a stomach bug on the due date for a project. If you plan ahead and factor in a grace period, you can get your work done ahead of schedule and take the time you need to handle urgent personal matters. Plan on getting things done before the truly need to be done to allow for new clients, computer glitches, sick days and other setbacks. Breathing room allows you to rearrange your schedule without jeopardizing your productivity and punctuality with deadlines.

Get help if you need it. Delegation in management is a major key to success. Who says that you have to do everything by yourself? This technique utilizes the time that other people have to get things done. Consider subcontracting some work or hiring an Online Business Manager. If you don’t have the time to properly manage your agenda and business, you truly need an Online Business Manager to support you.