Make it Flexible Enough to Stay Relevant

In this episode, I chat with social media strategist Amanda Mundo about how to develop a strategy for social media posting.  Her advice is to break it down into bite-sized chunks and keep it as flexible as possible so you can be on top of trends and newsworthy events. 

Amanda shares, "Now, it's great, you could build out a whole year strategy. But the thing is, you have to actually come back to it. And I like to come back to it monthly, quarterly, really making sure that you're staying on the pulse of your audience. And so, again, I would say, you know, looking at analytics and data will tell you, first off, what is your audience like? What are they really engaging with, so that you can create more content, so you can create better content, and then really being relevant to what's happening today. Because sometimes what happens is we could create the strategy, but then something like a worldwide pandemic happens, and offset the whole thing. So you have to be prepared to guess create a roadmap, but then always come back to it to make sure your content is relevant."

Get organized in your strategy but don't forget that your audience loves when you stay current too. 

Need help developing your social media strategy? Tap here and connect with Amanda today!

Cancellations are frustrating, but do they have to be?  

Alison Proffit, our sales expert, chats with us about her thoughts around a very important business question...  ...What do you do when you have a sales call or follow-up call cancel at the last minute?   Giving her sage-like advice as always, Alison's first suggestion is...Don't Panic!  Panicking is the fastest way to have a downward spiral in your head which leads to all kinds of interesting, and not so desired, results.   It's so easy for your inner mean-person committee to start making up wild accusations about why the call canceled.   To change that voice in your head her final parting words for us about silencing your inner critic,   Alison provides this gentle reminder " if you do see a cancellation come across your inbox is. Take a breath. Just take a breath, and don't make up stories about what it might mean."

Want to get more from your sales calls? Connect with Alison

Not all To-Do's on the list are created equal.  

Mary Gaul, our productivity expert, once again has great advice about tackling the ever-growing to-do list.    "Sometimes there are projects on there we put on [the list], just because we think we have to. And so taking a hard look and asking, you know, why is this on my list? why do I really need to do this? And can I delegate it? Can I procrastinate on it?"  Business owners never lack for things so take a small piece of advice from Mary and look at the list with new eyes.    Anything on the list that can be pushed back or pondered over?  Remember being productive doesn't mean having to be busy at all times. In fact, many highly successful business owners work only 4 days a week. Find your productivity and let go of the to-dos that are not giving life energy.

Connect with Mary 

LeAndra Foster shares her thoughts about how to successfully establish a steady paycheck.

 As a business owner, it can be challenging to transition from a steady paycheck to an uncertain paycheck.   Using a common analogy of boiling a frog, LeAndra states  "If you put a frog into a pot of cold water and heat it slowly, you will a frog to death because it won't notice the gradual changes, we're going to use this in a positive manner, to increase our pay, we're just going to do it slowly so that we don't jump back out of the pot when things get hot."  Taking things slowly and only increasing pay the business can afford to is a GREAT practice.  It creates a small amount of incentive and still allows the business to retain enough cash to keep afloat for unforeseen times.    

So, pay yourself just maybe not all at once!

Need help setting up your own budget and income?  Tap here to connect with LeAndra.

Recently Mike, the writing expert here at FLOW, shared his thoughts about writer's block and how to get around it.  

 He joked playfully that a friend recently said of writer's block "It's just an excuse not to write."  In all honesty, Mike writes for a living so he knows a thing or two about how to get around the dreaded blank page.  

His advice,  "[You] need to change your state. In my case, if I've been sitting in front of a screen for a while. I just get up and walk around and go out, maybe go outside of it's a nice day. And you can do this for like five minutes and just take your eyes off the screen, and you come back, and it's like looking at everything new."  Wow, simple yet effective. Get up and away from the writing for a few minutes or even longer and when you come back the words are all new.  From this fresh perspective, you can easily add, edit, or finalize any piece of writing.

3 Magical Questions

 Asking ourselves questions is one of the best ways to unstick our minds. Mary Gaul, our productivity expert, shares a bit on a recent blog she wrote titled The Three Magical Questions.   

Using the book The Magic Question by Bart Baggett as her source and inspiration, Mary poses that the first magical question is; what's good and what's new?   "[This question is] Presupposing that something is good and something new is always happening for us, right?. As entrepreneurs sometimes we get stuck in a rut and we think the same thing over and over and over again, and I'm not getting anywhere, you know I'm not feeling productive, or just feel stuck."  In her musings, Mary chats on an experiment that Bart Baggett did for his book where participants had to answer this magical question each day for two weeks.  Mary observed that the participants   "had to really start looking and observing things that they wouldn't necessarily have looked at in their business so it really does help you just shift if you're feeling a little stuck what's good and what's new."  Try it out, ask yourself "What's good and what's new? and see the possibilities come to light.

Want help with your planning? Click to Connect To Mary

Social media is not devoid of people, but did you ever think that social media was devoid of SOCIAL interactions?

Amand Mundo, our fantastic social media expert, expressed her thoughts on the subject during a recent Q & A session.    

Explaining that social media started as social but drifted once businesses began to see they could sell via posting rather than paid ads.    Her advice to small business owners is to be mindful that you are keeping social as Amanda points out,   "And I think the misconception that we have is that if you build it they will come. And that's not necessarily right...   ...No one's interacting and there's a reason behind that we have to remember that it's not always all about the media, it's about the social, right, that social part of social media"  The great wide world of social media is not a proverbial Field of Dreams.  Once you build it, add content to it, AND engage socially...THEN your audience will come.

Want help developing your 'social' strategies? Tap here to connect with Amanda

When it comes to success in business, nothing is more important than being able to close a sale.  

But what if you feel uncomfortable, or just don't like selling?    Alison Proffit, the resident soulful sales expert, chatted about one of her favorite tools when it comes to selling; breathing!  Yep, that's right good old and out deep breathing.  While musing on this topic Alison had this to say,   "One of the most powerful tools in your sales, your sales toolbox is breathing. Because if you're slowing down and breathing, you are actually giving that person time to speak, be giving yourself time to calm your nervous system down.  [when] You are present in the moment,  and when you are present in that moment, you're creating space for that prospect to also be present at the moment and not feel like you're rushing them to make a decision."  Since no business can exist without sales, calming down to make a sale makes a whole lot of sense.  Alison provides a great reminder that breathing is essential to being present and when you are present with your client you can be present to close the sale!

Get more out of your sales, Connect with Alison

What's the difference between budgeting and bookkeeping?  

 This question is the topic of LeAndra Foster's, our cash flow guru, most recent session. When chatting on the subject, she shared a story of a recent client.  "I had a client who recently told me, no, I don't think I need help with budgeting anymore, I'm just gonna hire a bookkeeper.  My question to her was, is your goal with budgeting to figure out a way to consciously spend, or is it to help you figure out how you've already spent? She said, No, I want to learn how to consciously spend.   Well, a bookkeeper is only going to categorize what you've already spent. So you'll see how you spent but if you're looking at how you want to spend in the future, that's when you need to sit down and look at your cash flow plan."  Having a plan, as we all know, is the best way to ensure you reach your desired outcome. 

As LeAndra points out, if you just want to track what you've spent get a bookkeeper, but if you want to really take the reigns and spend consciously then create a budget.

Want help creating your budget? Tap Here and Connect with LeAndra

From the mundane like, will I have revenue this month to the more irrational fears of no one likes me, Stephen Krausse knows a thing or two about facing fear. However, with more than 30 years of business ownership under his belt, Steve has a unique perspective on fear as he shares in this recent expert session.   Steve shares, "fear isn't something we need to overcome. So that's a misnomer if people have that in their heads.  You don't get to overcome fear. You get to work through it, and you get to find the power that you have to work through it."  For entrepreneurs facing fear is essential to overcoming the daily unknown and push yourself toward the business you hold in your dreams.    Each person has a unique way to deal with these daily stressors. Hopefully, this bit of advice from Steve to use your fear as a powerful catalyst for change will push you and your business to new heights.

Need help pushing through your fears? Connect with Stephen