The weather in Texas can never make up its mind with one day being sunny and 90 and the next 60 and pouring buckets of rain. Use the storms that occur in your personal life and your business to motivate you to get more things done. It’s time to get inspired and turn the S.T.O.R.M. into success.
Business Success With The S.T.O.R.M. Method
Social Media can be a lifeline. Not just to stay informed with the news of what is going on around you and to keep you safe or in touch with family and friends but also it is an opportunity to stay in touch with others in your network.
The odds are you are not the only once experiencing the storm. This gives you something to bond over by engaging in non-business conversations and solidify the relationships you are utilizing social media to build.
Team-building, while critical to business growth, is usually not at the top of most entrepreneurs’ “to-do” list. Whether you are at a point in your business where you are getting ready to build a team, looking to expand your existing team or just need to work on relationship building within the team.
During the storms, take the opportunity to spend some time cultivating a strong workplace environment. Whether your team is on site or virtual, this is a great time to update them with your vision for the business and encourage everyone to share any ideas they may have to start the conversation.
Organizational tasks are one of the things every entrepreneur either loves to do or has at the bottom of that “to-do” list we talked about earlier. However, whether we are organizing our e-mail, home office, tax records, business cards, products we sell or the books we have written or purchased, avoiding these tasks can and will cost us time and money.
Consider outsourcing the tasks you don’t enjoy and can choose to work in your brilliance and hire someone to work in theirs. Even hiring a VA (virtual assistant) for just a few hours a week can make a big difference in your bottom line.
Reading the book on your nightstand or the blogs in a folder on your desktop will help you to productively pass the time during slow times and can also inspire new ideas and strategies that will equal success. Whether reading for pleasure or catching up on those e-books, utilizing down time and snuggling with your pet and a good cup of coffee is definitely a plus in my book (pun intended).
Money is usually high on our list when we are thinking about making it. However, using this time to catch up on invoicing, tracking money going in and out of your business account, upcoming business expenses, cost analysis of possible business opportunities, tracking ROI on recent purchases, website traffic, Facebook ads, etc. is a good way to spend some time.
Focus on where your money is working for you and make any changes where it is not and find ways to put money away for a rainy day (yes, that was another pun). Freeing up dollars to invest in yourself is one of the best and most profitable ways to grow your business.
We have all had to weather a S.T.O.R.M. at some point. Share in the comments below your strategies for weathering a storm.
