It’s often the small things you do that lead to the most success. They don’t have to be some genius new idea to make a big impact in your life. Often times it’s often something very simple. With only 2 months left in the year, I spent some time looking back to see what’s really made my life better, and my businesses more successful. These aren’t groudbreaking new concepts; you’ve likely heard some of them before.
Finding What Really Drives Results
Figuring out the 2 or 3 things that really matter to your business being successful can have profound effects. If you’re working for someone else, you’ve likely already been told what these are, but if you’re working for yourself or have a lot of flexibility in what you do for your job, it’s up to you to figure this out. What drives revenue, what results in customers being happy, what makes the business grow? Once you figure out what those things are, make sure you do them regularly – even every day.
Create a Schedule
Once you know what drives results, you now want to make sure you do them. Setting a weekly schedule where you do the same things each week at the same time, makes sure they get done. Often the things that lead to the most success are boring repetitive tasks that are easy to skip in favor of more exciting work.
For my friends business, where a big part of his revenue comes from brand sponsorships, he’s found that setting aside 30 minutes a day to email brands he’d like to work with is a great way to get sustainable revenue. Even though the brands may be exciting, there’s nothing thrilling about writing those emails. Before creating a schedule, there would be weeks where barely any emails would go out, but now it’s become an everyday thing, and he’s seen great results.
Figuring Out What You Shouldn’t Do
Sometimes you find that one of the tasks that drive results for your business are things you don’t know how to do well or that you don’t have the time to do them as much as necessary.
As an entrepreneur, it’s necessary to learn new skills on the fly. It’s absolutely essential for success. But if I hired someone every time you I came across something I didn’t know how to do, I’d be bankrupt in no time.
That’s why, for the most part, I try to hire people only when the task they’re performing is essential to the business’ success, and is something that will need to be done often.
Helping Others
This may sound counter-intuitive. Why would helping others make your businesses better? By helping others, you end up working with a lot more people and growing a network of people who have skills different than your own. The next time you need help, guess who’s going to be happy to lend a hand?
Now I’m not saying you should go out helping people with the expectation that they now owe you. That’s not how it works. If that’s your intention, it’s going to show, and people aren’t going to want to accept your help again. It only works if you do it with absolutely no strings attached.
There is a caveat to this. If you spend too much time helping others, it’s going to hurt your business. Instead, set an amount of time you’re able to help others each week and try to stick to it. This keeps from you falling into the trap of someone abusing your good will and asking too much of you and it will keep you from falling behind in your own work.
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Have any tips that have worked especially well for you? Let me know in the comments below.
