Mid-Year Business Check Up

Mid-Year Business Check Up

by Meredith Liepelt

With 2008 half over, it is time to evaluate your plan for the year and make sure you are on track to make lots of money!  Odds are you have had some shifts in your business since January and that’s fine, but making sure you are true to your core intention is critical to running a successful business.   It is not too late to make some changes that can have an incredibly positive impact to your bottom line for 2008.  Here are some tips that will help you with goal setting and forecasting so that you make 2008 your biggest year yet!

Lead Generation
Have you created enough leads to enjoy as steady cash flow?   If not, take some time to develop your lead generation plan for the remainder of the year.  Where are you going to find leads?  What new technologies exist that can help you find fresh leads?  What worked best and worst for you previously?  There are easily over 40 great ways to generate leads online so if you’re not focusing a least an hour a week on online marketing, find some training in that area!  There are so many fast and inexpensive things you can do online to easily attract your ideal clients immediately!

Your Virtual Team
As a solo-practitioner or small business owner, you wear many hats.   If you have not started to develop your virtual team, I urge you to figure out those time-consuming tasks that are not your strong-suit and you don’t enjoy.   For me, an obvious one is basic accounting.  I outsource this task so I don’t have to worry about it other than from a management perspective.    Make it your mission to get rid of the administrative tasks that can be handled by someone else, leaving you with more time to focus on  lead generation and other activities that bring in the money! 

Target Market Assessment
This is such an exciting topic to consider.  Even if you have a long list of wonderful clients, consider expanding your customer base by tapping into a specialty market or finding a larger market or new geographic market.  

Your Profit Assessment
Is it time to increase your rates?  If you are you running a full practice with a waiting list, you should consider a rate increase now.   I advise my clients let their prospects know in advance of their pending fee change and give them the opportunity to lock in current pricing by a certain date before prices go up.   Your clients and customers will appreciate the advanced warning and your increase is more likely to be positively viewed when you treat your clients and prospects with kind of respect. 

Your Products and Services
What do your clients and prospects ask you for time and time again?  Is there something that many of your one-on-one clients ask you about?  If you can figure this out, you have uncovered a new need that you can address this fall by creating a new product or service!  Consider creating an e-course, teleseminar, workshop, manual, audio download or a combination of these as your means of getting this information into your client’s hands.

Personal Assessment

I am a big believer in continuous learning and spend a good deal of time and money every year to further my understanding of various subjects and stretch myself new ways.  One way to do this is attend a live workshop.  If you simply can’t travel to attend a workshop, consider purchasing the work books and CDs from the workshop so you can learn at home or in the car.   Other ways advance your knowledge include attending teleseminars or committing to reading a new book once a month.  Also, if you have been considering joining a roundtable or peer mentoring program, this may be the time to act on this strategy!  A peer mentoring group will help you become more accountable for reaching your goals.

Whatever your strategy for working on your business for the remainder of 2008, I hope that you will schedule in at least one day a week to work on your business instead of merely in it so you take on a strategic big picture thinking approach.  Big and bold ideas and thoughts beget big and bold results.   Think big and bold and enjoy the results for years to come.

© 2008 Meredith Liepelt, Rich Life Marketing

Meredith Liepelt, President of Rich Life Marketing, publishes ‘Smart Marketing,’  a free bi-weekly ezine featuring marketing tips, insider secrets and thought provoking articles designed to help  the busy female entrepreneur become known as an expert in her field, build trust with clients and prospects and generate more income than ever before.  Claim your free subscription and ecourse today at www.richlifemarketing.com.