No lie, this is mapped out in our standard operating procedures. I absolutely hate meetings to have meetings, you can feel the productivity just sucked out of your day.

Meetings are a necessary evil of agency life; however there are ways to run a successful, methodical and short meeting that are beneficial to all parties.

Prior to meeting:

• 2 or 3 days prior to the scheduled meeting, send an email that confirms the date, time, agenda, call-in number or location and meeting attendees.

Day of meeting:

• Send a reminder email, reiterate the agenda and any items needed from meeting attendees.

During the meeting:

• State the purpose of the meeting. Be very clear what the expectations are, indicate the time allotted for the meeting, state the agenda again and then move into the first item.
• Stay on topic. After each agenda item, recap action items and move on.
• Take copious notes throughout the meeting. If there are 2 people in the meeting, have one person take notes while the other person leads the meeting.
• End early. Start wrapping up 15 minutes early by asking if there needs to be additional clarification on any items.
• Excuse yourself. If all else fails, stand up and indicate you have another meeting and need to be on your way.

Follow-up:

• Send meeting notes the same day as the meeting and map out action items. Sending notes the same day, keeps the information fresh in everyone’s mind and ensures nothing is missed.

Meetings are a necessary evil, however there are ways to ensure they stay on time and on topic. Share your tips in the comment section.

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein

As a business owner you need to constantly adapt, innovate and be willing to change to remain relevant. Some of the most well-known companies such as Yahoo!, Radio Shack, Sears, etc. are in danger of extinction or are already gone due to their inability to embrace change or their top-heavy leadership.

As a small business, you have the ability to moveHere are some easy ways to take your business to the next level.

Utilize video
Video is by no means new, however the way companies are using it has changed considerably. Video can be a great tool to educate, entertain and engage. Post Monday productivity tips via Facebook Live or interview a thought leader in your community. Be relevant, timely and brief.

Develop processes
As you grow your business, whether in revenue, size or both, it is incredibly important to have your processes mapped out. 834 has standard operating procedures that map out how to run a meeting, writing a blog, developing a marketing strategy and more. Having everyone in your company on the same page will simplify your life, increase productivity, eliminate confusion and more. Trust me, it was worth spending hours and hours and hours creating it.

Create great content
If you want to remain top-of-mind, you must write and share engaging content, often. Sit down with your team and map out ideas for the coming year based on customer pain points, industry trends and company highlights. Shoot for once a week and then move up to twice a week.

Understand and integrate technology into your business
There are a lot of tools out there that can help your business run smoothly. Whether it is project management, sales tracking, social media tools or whatever – be aware of what is out there that can assist you in streamlining a process, then explore and integrate it into your business.

Read
This is a big one. Never stop learning. I am constantly carrying around a business book with me, for that brief moment I have time to read a chapter or two. I’m currently reading a book on creating winning organizational cultures.

Sometimes just setting time aside to think or strategize will keep you sharp, becoming comfortable can be dangerous to a business.

Mondays seem to hang over our heads mocking and taunting us as we enjoy football and relaxing on Sunday before heading back to work. As a business owner, prepping for the work week is incredibly important as we are often pulled in a hundred directions first thing in the a.m.

I created the following routine for myself to feel better prepared when Monday morning hits.

1. Break out tasks per day. What do I need to do each day of the week. This will change as the week progresses, but at least you have an idea of what your schedule holds and can plan accordingly.
2. Schedule emails. To avoid overwhelming and annoying my staff or clients on a Sunday night, I utilize Hubspot’s Sidekick to schedule out emails. I can send updates, confirm meetings and follow-up on outstanding items.
3. Map out my calendar. Depending on my workload for the coming week, I will reserve time in my calendar to get shit done. If I need to follow-up on a press release, put together a proposal, etc. I know I have the time set aside.
4. Read. Sundays are my day to read one of several business books I have started. During the week I am fully focused on meetings, strategy, management, etc. and I don’t have the time to read. Sunday, while watching football, I try to catch up and apply what I am learning to the company.
5. Write. My favorite time to write is Sunday. Whether I am writing for 834, Small Biz Musings or Huffington Post, my head is clearer and I have less distractions on the weekend.
6. Meal prep. Each Sunday I whip together a few meals that I can then take for lunches throughout the week. If you don’t have a crockpot, get one. It is so easy, throw some chicken and ingredients together to cook throughout the day, place in tupperware containers and you are set.

By prepping on Sundays, I am able to increase my productivity throughout the week and feel less overwhelmed. What is your routine?

Repeat after me: 2017 is going to be a great year for you, a phenomenal year, the best year ever.

As a business owner, you set lofty goals for your business whether it relates to customer retention, sales or talent. Where does marketing fall in all of this?

Everywhere.

Communications is meant to walk hand-in-hand to support every goal you set for your business. If you are focused on customer retention in the coming year then work with your marketing team to develop a campaign that outlines client touch points, messaging, communication tools, frequency, timeline, metrics for success and more.

If growing sales is a goal, then develop a plan that targets specific industries or new markets. Bring marketing in at the beginning and involve them in setting goals. The sooner you involve communications in your planning the more successful your efforts will be.

We are experiencing a talent shortage in this country, whether it is skilled labor or other. Companies are all competing for the same talent, how are you standing out? Marketing understands the role messaging, creative, social media and more play in attracting and retaining talent.

You wouldn’t wait until the last minute to set a budget or financial plan for the coming year. Remember that marketing is just as important as it ties into every single business goal you set.

Make marketing a priority in 2017 and reap the benefits.

The first day back after the holidays can be overwhelming. If you are like me, I tried to avoid even thinking about work while I was off, which proved to be fruitless.

How do you retool and refocus after a break? Do you sit down at your desk and then freeze? How are you supposed to get everything done? How do you even get excited about it? Do you immediately get frustrated and want to cry?

Here are my tips for getting back in the swing of things and not dreading all that is on your plate.

1. Office supplies. Purchase a new notebook or planner. I don’t know what it is about office supplies but I get really excited to use which then gets me excited about the tasks I am outlining.
2. Team meeting. On your first day back, ease into it. Convene with the team and chat about priorities, deadlines and life in general. By making sure you are all on the same page, you will feel ready to tackle that to-do list. Ease into the day with some socializing and then get shit done.
3. Make a list. Break out that new notebook and map out what you absolutely have to get done that day. A colleague of mine once said, your top priorities should fit on a post-it note. If your list is any longer, you will get overwhelmed and productivity goes out the window.
4. Out-of-office. Keep your out-of-office on. It won’t hurt for clients to think you are out of the office one more day. This will give you the chance to catch up on tasks and catch-up on emails.
5. Cut yourself a break. You are not going to get everything done in one day and no one expects you to. Be realistic with yourself and give yourself a break.

Take a deep breath. You got this.

Why is it that guilt is an accepted and normal part of a small business owner’s life? I was taking time this past week to reflect on what I would like to improve on in the coming year and the first thing that popped into my head was guilt.

If I take a day off…guilt.

If I go on vacation…guilt.

If I don’t answer a client email immediately…guilt.

Reading a book…guilt.

It seems that every time I don’t do something for the business or I do something specifically for myself, I am overwhelmed by guilt. Why is that?

I associate guilt with failure. If I am not working, I am failing. I am curious if this is a normal feeling for other business owners.

This is something I plan to delve deeper into in 2017. I am going to make it a priority to overcome guilt and embrace me time.

What do you plan to focus on in the coming year?

Don’t worry this isn’t another blog about resolutions that we all know you will never keep. Save yourself the trip to the gym and instead let’s focus on business diversification.

As a small business owner it is hard to find time to strategize and think big-picture, most of our time is filled with putting out fires or actually running the business. It is very easy to get into a rut and just go through the motions, which is why creating business resolutions for the coming year is so important.

This coming year, I challenge you to step out of your comfort zone and diversify.

1. Adapt. Can you tweak your current offerings to appeal to another audience? For example roll out packages that are specific to small businesses or another industry, such as manufacturing.
2. Can we do more? If you build trusted relationships with your clients, they want to rely on you to provide a full range of services. What customer feedback have your received? Have they asked for more? 834 launched a web division in 2015 due to customer demand, since then we have done a wide range of projects and our reputation has only grown in the digital realm.
3. Are you ahead of the curve? We manage social media, digital and more for our clients which means we need to be on top of technology and any new solutions out there. Dedicate time to researching tools and emerging tech and be sure you are incorporating into your business practices.
4. Sell online. Are you able to offer more online? Ecommerce is booming, is there a way for your business to take advantage of this?
5. Expand. Is there a geographic region where you see potential? Can you roll out services overseas or in another part of the country? If you have one location, should you look at two?

Inc. sums up the need for diversification perfectly:

Smart business owners, like the smart investors, place a high value on diversification. Take time to draw up a good game plan for your company.

Source: Inc., 8 Strategies to Diversify Your Business

Guest post by: Sue Tellier, JetCo Solutions

Sue Tellier, President of JetCo Solutions

Seriously. We fail all the time, and our job is to learn from the failures and find smart people to guide us along the way. Also, we have to get over our own “I-can-do-anything-myself” egos and pick up the pieces when expectations exceed reality.

This is about finding smart people and learning from them.

Most small business owners I know associate with other small business owners. Quite frankly, many of my closest friends are like-minded small business owners. It’s like a unique club of risk-taking, innovative, clever badasses who face similar challenges. A glass (or more) of wine with them is a cathartic, therapeutic, mutual-learning experience.

We also tend to surround ourselves with informal mentors – larger companies, more experienced CEOs, business leaders who provide guidance based on experience, not just scrappiness.

Recently, the Small Business Administration (SBA) expanded the mentor-protégé program to include all small businesses. (Formerly, it was only available to certified 8(a) companies.) According to the SBA website:  “The purpose of the new program is to develop strong protégé firms through mentor-provided business development assistance, and to help protégés successfully compete for government contracts.”

So what does this mean?

The federal government realizes small firms bring mad skills, which are highly useful to federal agencies. In order to speed their path to becoming federal contractors, they have created this program to help the smalls learn from the bigs.

Make sense? Learn more, or maybe just get more confused, at the SBA web page.

There is no such thing as traditional PR anymore, I mean sure I can write up a press release and send to the masses and wait for my phone to ring. Or…I can be proactive, creative and smart about it.

Reporters are inundated with requests hourly, if you can’t be creative with how you reach them, then you will be lost in the shuffle.

Also, as a side note, be realistic with your expectations of your agency. You are not going to be on Good Morning America and would that even drive sales for you? You need to invest time and energy into the sources that will drive readers back to your website to interact with your brand. So, don’t be a dumbass and listen to the PR professional you hired.

Here are my recommendations:

1. Create a list. What publications do you want to be in? Have they covered your industry before? Do they have an online presence? If not, it isn’t worth pursuing. The readership will be very limited and it will be much more difficult to determine ROI. Once your list is created, follow the pubs on all social networks and monitor.
2. Interact on social media. By retweeting and engaging with the publication, you are getting your brand in front of them. Find the reporter that is the best fit for your industry and develop a digital relationship with them. A lot of bloggers will put out requests for stories or product reviews, if you are paying attention, you can capitalize on it.
3. Create a story. In other words, don’t pitch boring. Customize the story you are going to tell to the reporter you are telling it to and only to them. If you pitch the same story over and over, you better be tweaking it for each publication’s writing and coverage style.

I have lots more thoughts on this subject, but these 3 items will start you on the right track in your quest for media coverage. Public relations is an incredibly time intense process, results do not happen overnight, don’t expect it to. Also, Oprah does not give a shit about you.

As a small business I am a big supporter of shopping local, that being said I also hate shopping so if I can’t buy it online, I won’t buy it. I do make some exceptions, like if it involves booze.

This season, no matter where you are, you can support small by shopping small, all from the comfort of your home. Here are my top picks for Small Business Saturday, Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

1. NODDA Shirt. This is pretty much the best invention ever if you are sick of your husband, boyfriend,
   

   NODDA Shirt – www.noddashirt.com

   dad, brother, male in your life looking like a slob. If they refuse to wear a button down because it is too bulky or they just hate nice shirts, then order them a NODDA Shirt and they will look dapper for all your upcoming holiday parties. All shirts on sale for $18 from Black Friday through Christmas.

2. Shefit. Don’t worry guys, if you don’t have any idea what size to buy, returns are super easy. This local West Michigan company is running a special that offers any in-stock sports bra for$30. This will run Wednesday 6:00 a.m. EST (23rd) to Midnight EST Cyber Monday (28th).
3. Fido & Stitch. If you are obsessed with all things dogs, then give this local business your support. Whether you make a grooming appointment or order that much-needed Christmas sweater for your dog, they have a huge variety of items. Their inventory is somewhat limited online, however their store is awesome and parking is easy.
4. Bird and Feather. We all have that one friend that has everything and is impossible to buy for. If you are looking for something truly unique, why not give the gift of greenery. Bird and Feather specializes in high quality, easy to assemble air plant kits inspired by the intersection of nature and modern design. Each kit is designed to inspire a sense of wonder and bring soul healing beauty to even the of smallest places.
5. Gray Skies Distillery. Just recently this awesome West Michigan distillery released two new spirits, Single Malt Whiskey and Apple Brandy. As part of Grand Rapids’ Cocktail Week they put together a package that customers can purchase online that consists of a bottle of hooch, tasting glasses and slate coasters. You can purchase through their Eventbrite page, but will have to pick up at their tasting room.
6. Michigan Pantry. If you are looking to support Michigan businesses, then Michigan Pantry has you covered. This little shop assembles gift baskets that feature Michigan-made products offered throughout the state. They have gift baskets, boxes, candy, cookies, nuts, beer, wine and more. Their prices are incredibly reasonable and would make great hostess gifts.

I hope you will take the time to support local businesses this holiday season, there are lots of great deals out there and if you enjoy shopping stop by area shops and purchase some unique items you won’t find online.

Are there other local shops that sell online? Share in the comments.