Today is Labor Day, which is traditionally the end of summer and the beginning of fall, even though it's not really fall. But, it's kind of a big deal, at least from a business standpoint. So, let me ask you a question: Are you making strides to finish strong in the final stretch?
So, what do I mean by this? What I mean is that we've gone through two thirds of the year. We're now heading into September. So, we have September, October, November, December. And, I'm assuming at some point during the year, you've made some business plans and you've kind of laid out what it is that you wanted to achieve, had some goals, that kind of thing.
Review Your Goals
So, part one is, did you take time to review your goals and see where you're at? You can also compare to where you were last year. I can tell you that my business is up over 15 percent and I want to finish this year strong. So, I know that I've really got to make a push. So, the question now is, what are you going to do? Are you reviewing things and how can you make a push to get to where you want to be by the end of the year?
Analyze Where You Are At
Part two is analyzing where you're at. Okay, so you will analyze based on your goals… If you didn't set any goals, you should at least be able to measure financially, project status wise, whatever it is. Are you achieving the things that you intended to achieve? Whether it's writing a book, growing your business, etc. Like me, when I analyze my goals, I realize that my website is so far behind in being updated, and I still need to do that. I just have not done it. I've been lazy lately, okay? It's summertime. I want to chillax. Now's the time to really kick into high gear and make that stuff happen.
Up Your Communications Game
So, the third piece of this puzzle is you have to up your communications game. Now is the time. September is when people are finally getting back from vacations and their kids are in school. And, now they're starting to get down to business again. So, that's the question. Have you been kind of hanging back, waiting for people to get ready? Have you been one of those people whose not been ready because you've been on vacation, you've been getting your kids into school? Have all these things that you're doing outside taken you away from running your business?
Now's the time to really focus. When I talk about upping your communications game, that involves making a plan to get your message out there. I don't care whether it's through email, through social media, or face-to-face. Somehow, some way you've got to set up a plan: You've got these messages. You've got these things that you need your audience to see. What are they?
So, my suggestion to you is sit down and start planning; what communications do you want to get to whom? And, then set up a plan and execute it. If you read the last post about a Wishing List or a Wishing Statement verses a Mission Statement, I talked about how a lot of times we get held back by analysis paralysis. So this is the time to really sit down, hunker down and put together exactly what your communications game is going to be. What are you going to say? Who you going to say it to? And, when are you going to get it out there?
Make Plans
So, the next piece is to make plans. And that means set new goals. Sit down and say, “Within these last four months, these are the things that I want to achieve.” So, create an end of the year business plan. September usually is a very busy business month because everybody is coming off that summer lull. Now is the time where you're going to reach more people. Now is the time that you're going to be able to execute a lot more. Within the next few weeks, I have a bunch of different things setup. I'm doing a social media boot camp. I'm doing Linkedin training for a large corporation and their sales team. I have other presentations that I have to give on Instagram and also about organizing your business in a way that's going to help you make more money. And, these are all presentations that I have to work on.
So, I've got to sit down and say, “Okay. Make plans to get all of these completed and have them ready to go.” So, within the next month, I'm giving four or five presentations, which is awesome. I also am going to plan to get out to as many networking events as I can, and meet as many people as I can. I need to do followup calls, and say, “How you been? We haven't talked since this spring, because we've all been busy. What's happening in your world?” So, make plans to get in contact with people and start setting up those goals.
What are the goals that I want to achieve? You can look at where you are right now and say, “Okay. This is two-thirds of the way through the year.” Maybe you've made $10,000. Maybe you've made $100,000. All right. If you've made, let's say $90,000, chances are you're going to end up making another third of that, So, that's $45,000. That means means you could probably end up with $135,000.
If you've made $5,000, you're only going to make another $2,500. How can you up that game? How can you get up to a point where you're going to make maybe another five, six, seven thousand dollars by the end of the year? Maybe doubling your income. You have to sit down and think. Ask yourself: What it is I want to achieve? How can I propel this business forward?
Get Busy
The final piece of this is to get busy. That means, start taking action. I talk a lot about the way that I organize my life. My Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Cleaning up my email list. Putting together to do lists. All of those things incredibly important, but none of it means a thing if I don't take action. So, you have to get busy. And, one of the things that you want to do is you want to measure: Did I achieve what it is that I wanted to achieve this day, this week, this month?
If you send out emails, are your open rates any better? How can you make them better? How can you create more engagement? What about your social media? Are you being consistent about it? Are you being thoughtful about it? Are you being intentional about it? Are you actually getting more engagement from people because you're providing them with great content?
And, from the content standpoint: Are you writing blogs? Are you doing articles? Are you doing podcasts? If you want to start a podcast, maybe now's the time to start one. Or, maybe you just want to get interviewed so that you can get your message out to a larger audience. So, really think about what activities you're doing, get them started, get them done and measure the results.
Final Thoughts
So, let me go over it one more time. First and foremost, review your goals. Review what you put in place at the beginning of the year. Where are you with your goals? Next, you have to analyze exactly how you've achieved that. Have you met your marks? And, if you haven't, why not? Then, you can start to figure out how you can do better at it the last third of the year.
The next thing you have to do is up your communications game. That means you have to really get out there and start communicating more. Not only online, but also face-to-face. You have to find ways to get yourself and your messages in front of the right audience for them to take action between now and the end of the year.
Next, you have to start making plans. Plan it out. Have the goal set and then finally get busy. Start taking action to achieve your final destination.
I would love to hear your thoughts and comments on this subject. Comment below and share your thoughts and ideas you use to manage tasks, priorities, and making time to grow your business and finish strong. Do you have any ideas or advice you could share?
To learn more about this and other topics on Internet Marketing, visit our podcast website at http://www.baconpodcast.com/podcasts/
