Start the year with clarity and structure using this simple business planning process.

If you’re a business owner or aspiring entrepreneur who feels overwhelmed by all the ideas, tasks, and goals swirling around your mind, you’re not alone. The beginning of the year brings a renewed sense of purpose and ambition—but without the right systems in place, that energy can quickly turn into chaos.

You may have a list of ideas for content you want to create, products you want to launch, or strategies you want to try. But when you sit down to plan or take action, you get stuck. The ideas are there, but they feel jumbled, disconnected, and disorganized.

This post is for you if:

• You feel like your brain is constantly “on,” but you’re not making progress.
• You have tons of notes, digital files, or half-started plans that don’t connect.
• You’re excited about building your business this year but aren’t sure where to start.

Let me introduce you to one of the most foundational productivity and business planning tools I use: the CEO Braindump.

What Is a Business Braindump (and Why You Need One)?

A business braindump is exactly what it sounds like: it’s a process of taking everything in your head related to your business—ideas, tasks, goals, reminders, to-dos—and getting them out onto paper.

This practice gives your thoughts a home outside your mind so you can finally:

• See what you’re working with
• Organize your ideas
• Prioritize what matters
• Create plans that make sense

It’s the first step I take each year when planning for my business, and it’s something I return to monthly, weekly, or anytime I feel mentally cluttered.

Without this process, it’s easy to fall into the trap of idea overwhelm where everything feels urgent and nothing gets done.

Signs You Need to Braindump:

• You procrastinate because you don’t know what to work on first
• You start projects but abandon them midway
• You can’t clearly explain your business plan or goals
• You’re always “working” but not moving forward

Sound familiar?

It’s time to clear the clutter and get your business ideas organized.

Step 1: Capture Everything

Set aside 30-60 minutes of quiet time and grab a notebook or planner. This is your CEO meeting with yourself.

Start by writing down everything that comes to mind related to your business:

• Project ideas
• Content you want to create
• Marketing strategies
• Products or offers you want to launch
• Admin or tech tasks you’ve been putting off
• Education or resources you want to explore

This isn’t about filtering or judging what comes up—just let it flow. Think of this like a full brain sweep.

If you’re not sure where to begin, I created the CEO Braindump Triggers List, a free download with 50+ prompts to help jog your memory and make sure you capture everything. You can grab it [here].

Step 2: Categorize Your Thoughts

Once you have your big list of ideas, start grouping them into categories. This helps you make sense of the chaos.

Here are some simple categories to use:

• Content (blog, YouTube, podcast, social posts)
• Products/Offers (what you’re selling or want to sell)
• Marketing (email, launches, funnels, collaborations)
• Operations (admin, systems, customer service)
• Education (courses, books, coaching, mindset work)

Using colored pens, highlighters, or symbols can help you visually sort your thoughts. The goal here is to turn the raw data into a more organized view of your business.

Step 3: Prioritize Based on Your Goals

Once you’ve organized your list into categories, it’s time to identify what really matters.

Ask yourself:

• What is essential to move my business forward right now?
• What can wait?
• What ideas are exciting but don’t align with my current direction?

Not every idea needs to be pursued immediately—or even at all. This step helps you discern what belongs in your business strategy and what’s just noise.

Tip: Choose 1-3 focus areas for the quarter and let the rest go (for now). This prevents burnout and builds momentum.

Step 4: Create an Actionable Plan

Now that you’ve filtered your list, you can start mapping out your next steps.

For each priority area, ask:

• What is the goal?
• What needs to happen to achieve it?
• What specific tasks will move this forward?

Break larger goals down into manageable tasks. From here, you can assign them to specific weeks or days using a tool like the CEO Strategy Planner, which is what I personally use to manage my business goals and keep myself accountable.

Why This Works

This process may seem simple, but it’s incredibly effective. Here’s why:

1. It gives your ideas structure. Most people stay stuck because their thoughts are a swirl of inspiration, fear, and to-dos. This process helps you separate and structure them.
2. It calms your mind. Getting everything out on paper releases mental pressure. You don’t have to carry it all in your head.
3. It reveals priorities. Once everything is visible, it becomes easier to see what actually matters.
4. It sets you up for action. Clarity leads to confidence. And confidence leads to consistent action.

Tools I Recommend

If you’re ready to go deeper with your business planning, here are the tools and systems I recommend:

• CEO Braindump Triggers List (Free Download): Use this every time you feel mentally cluttered. [Grab it here.]
• CEO Strategy Planner: This is my ultimate tool for organizing goals, projects, and tasks in a streamlined system. Perfect for quarterly and monthly planning.
• CEO Retreat Workshop: A guided experience where I walk you through the exact business planning process I use each year. Available on demand!
• IN BUSINESS Program: If you’ve struggled to take consistent action on your business goals, this course will help you build the mindset and habits to follow through.

You Don’t Need to Do It All. You Just Need to Start.

If you’re still reading this, I know your heart is in the right place. You care about your business, your goals, and your potential. You’re just overwhelmed.

That doesn’t mean you’re unqualified or incapable. It just means you need a better system.

Start with a braindump. Get clear. Organize your thoughts. Choose your focus. Then build a plan.

You don’t have to get it perfect—you just have to get it out of your head.

And I promise, when you do, you’ll feel the shift.

You’ll go from chaos to clarity.

And that’s how you finally move in business.

Ready to clear your mind and organize your business ideas? Download my free CEO Business Braindump Triggers List and get started today.

xoxo,

Mother’s Day Gift Guide: For the Mom with a Business or Sidehustle!

Mother’s Day is just around the corner, and it’s time to start thinking about the perfect gift for the special mom in your life. But if that mom is also a boss lady who runs a business or is building her side hustle, finding the right gift can be a little more challenging. So, I asked my master mind sister’s for help! Many of them are mom’s who either run their own business full or part time, so they know exactly what to get mom to make her and her dreams feel loved and supported. With their suggestions in hand I’ve created a gift guide inspired by the real Boss Mom’s of the Charmed Life Master Mind, to help you find the perfect present to help mom grow her business and take her side hustle to the next level. From practical tools to inspirational needs, these gifts will not only show her how much you care but will also support her entrepreneurial spirit. So, without further ado, let’s dive into our top picks for the perfect Mother’s Day gifts for the boss mom in your life.

Gift Mom the Ultimate Planning and Productivity Tool for Her Business: The iPad

When I asked the Boss Mom’s inside the Charmed Life Master Mind what they wanted to be gifted for Mother’s Day, many of them were in agreement- they wanted digital planning tools! It’s definitely a bit of an investment, but mom absolutely deserves a tool that will support her business on multiple levels and she will put the iPad to good use. If you aren’t sure which model to purchase, I think a good overall business option would be the iPad Air with an Apple Pencil so she can get the most from the device. And don’t forget a case so she can tuck her iPad into her bag to work and plan on the go!

1. iPad Air: https://amzn.to/3AIRNYN

2. Apple Pencil: https://amzn.to/3Lnwfpx

3. iPad Folio Case: https://amzn.to/40T95x4

Gift the Mom Boss in Your Life some Peace and Quiet 

Another gift idea that came up a few times from the mom’s inside the Charmed Life Master Mind were noise cancelling headphones. Especially if mom works at home, she could really use a pair of headphones to help her disconnect from the chaos around her so she can get focused on her work and creative ideas. The ladies also love the idea of a set of soft sided headphones for sleep, so mom can turn on her favorite guided meditation or sleep ambience at bed time and get a full night’s rest.

4. Noise cancelling headphones: https://amzn.to/3oX6vsy

5. Sleep Headphones: https://amzn.to/44ggtFJ

Gift your Boss Mom the Office of Her Dreams

The final category of gift ideas that came from the mom’s inside the Charmed Life Master Mind were gifts related to helping mom create a comfortable and functional office to work in. So, if the mom in your life doesn’t have her own dedicated space to work, consider how you can support her passion and carve out that space for her.

6. Corner Desk: https://amzn.to/42hgMhN

7. Office Chair: https://amzn.to/3nk8Ugt

8. Area Rug: https://amzn.to/3AKb8Ji

9. Marble Stationery Set: https://amzn.to/3nlLYNS

10. Power Pod Magsafe Phone Charger: https://amzn.to/3VlSyAu

I hope you found this Mother’s Day gift guide helpful in finding the perfect present for the boss mom in your life. Whether she’s running her own business or building her side hustle, these gifts will surely help her stay productive and inspired. From the versatile iPad to the ergonomic office chair, these items are not only practical but also stylish, making her workspace a place where she can feel comfortable and confident. So go ahead, surprise her with one of these thoughtful gifts, and show her how much you appreciate all the hard work she puts into her endeavors. Happy Mother’s Day to all the boss moms out there!

xoxo,

P.S. Want to give mom the gift of a supportive accountability community? We’d love to have your Boss Mom with us inside the Charmed Life Master Mind. Enroll your mom in an Annual Membership today and give her a gift that keeps on giving in terms of support, strategy and sisterhood with other likeminded women!

Hey there small business boss lady!

Does this sound like you?

→ Are you struggling to find paying customers for your products or services?

Do you have a hard time selling and promoting your work because the idea of sales makes you feel uncomfortable and you wish you could focus on simply doing your work and not having to actively sell your work?

→ Are you struggling to create content and grow a following of potential customers through your platforms?

Do you believe it’s too late to gain a following online, like platforms are oversaturated and you struggle to attract your ideal customer so you don’t even bother posting or engaging much on your accounts?

→ Have you been questioning the best way to promote your products or services?

Do you believe digital marketing and online business just isn’t profitable for you and wish you had a simple, turn key strategy you could use to market your business on auto-pilot without having to spend thousands of dollars a month on ads or paid promotion?

7 Reasons Your Business Is Not Making Sales

From my 8 years of experience working full time on my business, I know there are 7 very common reasons your business isn’t making money. Let’s discuss them to identify what issues may be causing trouble for your business revenue generation.

#1: You don’t have much of an audience yet

When we are first getting started, even if you are doing everything right, there is going to be a period of time where you just don’t have enough of an audience yet to expect to see sales, or to even really learn what you are doing wrong so that you can correct it. If you are still in those beginning stages with less than a thousand followers, you may be in this grey area. It doesn’t mean you should give up, it just means that you need to let enough people see your offer before you will make sales. Think about it this way- even if you have 1,000 followers, and are creating great content marketing to sell your offer, you can’t guarantee that all 1,000 of those people have seen it, and taken the time to learn about it. I believe that is actually takes someone 3 interactions with any offer before they really truly consider it. The first time they see it, it may not register in their mind much. The second time, they may recognize they have seen it before. The third time, they may actually stop and consider the offer and make a purchase. So, if you have a smaller audience, you need to simply keep at it and let your audience grow while you continue to make the same offer over and over over time.

#2: Your audience isn’t the ideal customer for your offer

Now, let’s say you do have an audience online built up, and then you begin making offers for things they can purchase. If that audience isn’t the ideal customer for the offer, it doesn’t matter how many people are following you or seeing the offer, the wrong person is just never going to buy. I see this situation happen often with influencer type businesses who have been creating content for fun and building an audience on their specific interests, and then suddenly decide they want to start a business since they have a following. You need to be very careful of what you decide to offer because you can’t just sell your audience anything. If your platform was filled with food inspiration and shopping trips to Target, and then you turn around and start a business reselling designer handbags, there might not be much interest from your audience. There could be some overlap for sure, but it’s more likely that the audience you have built follows you because they want to see what you’re cooking and what you bought. So, you might have better luck with selling them a recipe eBook or becoming a member of an affiliate network that works with Target so you can earn a commission from the things you buy and show off to your customers.

#3: You haven’t proven yourself to your audience yet

It’s been well established through business research that customers prefer to buy from businesses they know, like and trust, so if your business hasn’t done enough of the legwork to spread the word about who you are, what you are doing and why, it’s very likely few people will want to take you up on any offer you make. This is especially true if your presence online has been inconsistent. If you are someone who doesn’t post high value content or posts infrequently, you are sending the message to your audience that you aren’t reliable or knowledgeable. No one wants to buy from a business they aren’t sure knows what it is doing or can follow through with any claims their offer makes.

#4: You aren’t selling consistently

Sales is without a doubt one of the biggest issues women face in their businesses because we have so many weird, untrue and negative stories whirling around in our minds about what it means to be salesy and self-promoting. But none of those stories are true. You are not a scammy or pushy person for sharing about your offer and your business online, and if you keep choosing to believe that and continue to feel bad about selling, it is going to stop you from talking about your offers and making sales. I know selling and marketing seems hard and time consuming, and it absolutely can be if you aren’t following a strategy. For example, did you know that using the marketing strategy of a sales funnel can bring you three to four figures of sales for your offers in a single month. And they can be put on auto-pilot so you don’t have to spend as much time actively selling. However you choose to do it, you need to sell consistently in order to make sales.

#5: Your offer is unclear, confusing or incomplete 

Your business could sell a variety of different offers. Those offers could be for specific products, either digital or physical. They could be for services you perform for others. They could even be affiliate offers where you receive a commission from products you refer customers to. In order for people to really understand your offer, however, and determine if they need what it is that you are selling, the offer needs to be clear. If it’s not clear, or if people are confused about what it is, how to use it, what problem it solves and why they need it, they will not buy. Talking to your followers and ensuring they understand the offer is a great way to troubleshoot this situation. This is why you want to be consistently selling and creating content that shares your message with your audience so you have ample opportunity for feedback.

#6: Your sales page sucks

There is nothing worse than going to make a purchase from a sales page that sucks. Your sales page is the page on your e-commerce platform that shows and explains the offer. Sales pages require clear images of your products, explainations of what people can expect to receive and answer frequently asked questions. You’d be surprised at how often I visit the websites for small businesses and they have little to no information about their offer on a sales page. So, ultimately I and I’m sure others who visit that page, walk away without making a purchase. If the sales page is lacking or looks terrible, why would anyone buy that offer? It’s just an omen of the quality they can expect from the product itself and a major turn off to buyers.

#7: Your expectations are too high

The digital market place is a wonderful place to build a business, but too many new business owners approach the task from a “If you build it, they will come” mentality. Unfortunately, that isn’t exactly how it works. You can set up a business online with a beautiful website showcasing your products and/or services, but that is not enough to convert sales. You need the following and the business assets working together to convert, and you need to set reasonable expectations for conversions. So many business owners get confused because they may have a few hundred followers online but not a few hundred sales. But, it’s not logical or realistic to expect that everyone who follows you is going to make a purchase. Even if you knew each of those followers have seen your offer, not everyone is ready to buy. In fact, this might come as a shock to you, but a good conversion rate online is 3%. Meaning if you make your offer to a group of 100 people, if that offer is made well and you are talking to a group of ideal customers, you can still only expect 3 people to purchase and that would be good. This is why we need to make offers continually, to share high value content consistently and ensure we are always focused on our ideal customer.

I KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO PUT A LOT OF TIME AND EFFORT INTO YOUR MARKETING, AND IT NOT PAY OFF WITH THE SALES YOU WERE EXPECTING!

I’ve been in that situation before and it does not feel good to invest your time and energy into work that isn’t paying off.

It really sucks and is majorly discouraging.

But it doesn’t mean that you should close your business or that your offer isn’t right, in fact, most of the time, the problem is that you either aren’t marketing enough or you are marketing your offer in the wrong way.

I know for female entrepreneurs, selling is something of a sore spot. We don’t want to feel like we are being too pushy or annoying when we do our marketing, and so many of us start adopting inconsistent, low-impact sales strategies that fail to properly market our work.

You’re probably thinking that sales and marketing looks so easy and effortless for everyone else, but why doesn’t it work that way for your business?

Well, it can!

You can develop an easy, streamlined marketing funnel that attracts your perfect ideal customer right to your sales pages and puts instant income into your pocket!

You can do it without a ton of expensive, complicated technology, software, or even ads. And you can do it on any platform you prefer to use.

Consumers today are so much more savvy and they choose to buy through authentic, value-rich content and social media funnels as opposed to blatantly salesy ads, endless click funnels and hard line marketing pitches. Value rich content is the key to selling without guilt or shame. Your followers and customers will love you for it and keep coming back for more!

Let me help you build your first profitable social sales funnel that will put your marketing and income on auto-pilot!

I’m not talking about old school digital marketing click funnels, the ones that require you to use a ton of technology and spend tons of money on ads.

I am talking about sales funnels 2.0!

Funnels that rely on great high value content, not gimmicks and false promises.

Funnels that authentically grow your community and build you a following of loyal fans who can’t wait to buy your offers and keep coming back for more.

I know I do sales and my funnels a little differently than others do- it’s something that many people have commented on.

People tell me all the time that they love my sales style that is very relaxed, honest, and never pushy, and I truly appreciate that feedback because it has taken me a lot of mindset work to get myself to a place where my vibe around sales is relaxed and confident and never pushy.

And, so, I think it’s time I share my secrets with the rest of the awesome female entrepreneurs in my community.

Because this strategy and mindset that I use around sales is so aligned with the needs of the modern small business owner.

I know you need a strategy that is simple and turn-key, that you can use over and over again with success.

I know you need a strategy that integrates seamlessly with the content and platforms you are already using (or want to be using) to spread your message with the world.

I know you need a strategy that supports an elevated mindset around sales. One where we don’t need to feel ashamed about promoting our businesses because we feel good about the work we are doing and the integrity of the business we are creating.

It’s about magnetizing the right customers to us, rather than pushing, convincing or guilting our followers into buying.

I think you know what I mean!

If this is something you’d like to learn, I welcome you to join me for a new business course and group coaching experience I have recently opened for enrollment.

Join me for #INSTAINCOME Sales Funnels

It’s called #INSTAINCOME and it’s the path to easy income building online.

Build a profitable online sales funnel, start to finish, using content marketing, social media and email in just six weeks. Zero ad spend required!

INSTAINCOME is a 6-Week Live Course including six video modules, six live co-working sessions, and six weeks of group coaching support to build your first content marketing sales funnel starting June 1st!

If you are curious, or perhaps you know you really need a sales strategy that works for your business…

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE AND ENROLL NOW!

See you inside and can’t wait to help you build your first content and social sales funnel!

xoxo,

Why you need a sales funnel that gets you leads, followers and daily sales on autopilot!

Hey there small business babe!

I have an important question to ask you about your business.

Do you have a sales funnel created to market your business, yet?

If you are not familiar with what a sales funnel is, it is a marketing strategy that helps you automate your sales process by building an audience of potential customers, helping them get to know you and your business and then serving them offers for your products and/or services without you needing to get directly involved with one to one selling.

When we think of a traditional sales model, we have one business owner making a sales pitch directly to one client- helping them understand the offer, why the customer needs it and helping to overcome the objections that may hold the customer back from wanting to say yes to an offer they definitely need.

But talking directly to one potential buyer at a time is a time consuming task for a business owner.

So, marketers eventually shifted this model so that one business owner could make their pitch to a group of potential buyers at one time. Think of live product demonstrations or seminars where a marketer can pitch their offer to a room full of people. From a time, energy and effort perspective, this situation is definitely more effective, but it still requires the business owner to make the time to find and invite the potential customers to their presentation, and then even more time and effort to present their offer to the group live. Not to mention the time spent on processing transactions. If the sales pitch is effective, a business owner could have a long checkout line of customers to process orders for that adds more time and effort to the system.

What if you could take this model and automate it so that the business owner simply sets up the system once to communicate with their customers and then the system runs itself on auto-pilot, educating the customer and making offers so that the business owner doesn’t have to be present for the interaction at all?

That’s what a sales funnel does!

And if you are already busy enough with running your business, creating your products or performing your services, a sales funnel is the best marketing strategy to use to automate your sales and minimize the amount of time you actually need to spend engaged with directly selling to potential customers.

Now, perhaps you already had a sense of what sales funnels were, but you didn’t want to have anything to do with them in the past because you heard how complicated they can be to set up.

And you’re right! The traditional way that digital marketers structure and build sales funnels is nothing short of a confusing mess of parts, technology and webpages that need to be intricately woven together like a 1,000 piece puzzle!

That’s precisely what ended up turning me off from wanting to create my first funnel, because from all the research I had done on the topic and from what all the world biggest and best digital marketers were teaching- these things were complicated, loaded with confusing tech and very finicky!

So, I too wanted nothing to do with them.

That was, until I decided there had to be a simpler way.

After all, I had a background in sales and marketing working for a Fortune 50 company- I knew what the direct sales process was like, how to engage a customer, how to make an offer and ultimately how to secure a sale.

So, I took my traditional marketing knowledge and paired it with my knowledge of content marketing, social media and influencer marketing to create my own simply system for what I call content and social sales funnels!

Unlike the traditional digital marketing sales funnel with it’s many upsells and down sells, squeeze pages, webinar forms, tripwires, sales letters and more- my system involves just a few key pieces that keep things really simple for you and even simpler for your customer.

And if I know anything about sales, it is this- the simpler you make it for your customer to purchase your offer, the more sales you are going to get, period.

After using my content and social sales funnel concept for myself over the past 6 years to earn literally hundreds of thousands of dollars, I have finally decided to take my process and teach it to the business owners in my community!

I call this course #InstaIncome!

Because this strategy is going to help you quickly and easily market your offers online, and it’s going to start to feel like income is just instantly generating for your business once your first funnel is put in place.

InstaIncome is a 6 week live course including 6 video modules, 6 live co-working sessions and 6 weeks of group coaching with me to help you build your first content and social sales funnel, start to finish, starting on June 1st!

This is one of the rare times I host a new course live and offer group coaching, so you do not want to miss out on this opportunity to have me help you master this key marketing strategy!

I sincerely hope to see you inside our private group container soon, and I can’t wait to teach you all I know about this awesome sales strategy.

CLICK HERE to learn more about #InstaIncome and enroll today!

Let me know if you have any questions about this course and I’d be glad to help answer them for you to make sure this is the right program for you!

Talk soon!

xoxo,

10 Small Business Productivity Time Savers

Hello My Charmed Ones!

As someone who has been running their business online for almost 8 years full time as a solopreneur- I know a thing or two about setting up systems in your business to help save your time and energy. It’s what I’ve relied on for nearly a decade to keep my business consistent, growing and converting sales.

Implementing any one of these hacks is going to make running your business so much easier, but if you can get to a place where you have all ten of these tips in place in your business, you’re going to start realizing how easy business can be when things are well organized into systems.

So, review this list, decide what you may need to put in place first, and then work your way through this to bring your business to the next level!

#1: Save Links to Your Products, Sales Pages & Opt-ins

This will help you keep your links organized so you can easily access them, even from a mobile device, making selling and sharing about your work easier!

Save links into folders in your web browser, a Google Doc and/or a notes app that syncs across your devices.

The syncing aspect is key because you want to be able to access this information quickly from any device, instead of having to search for links or log-into the back end of websites or applications to find this information.

#2: Create an FAQ Page

An FAQ, or frequently asked questions, page will help cut down on inquiries and drive potential followers and customers to the information they are looking for!

Set up a page on your website, blog, shop, or if you don’t have a website, you could collect this information in a Google Doc to share with followers.

Collect the questions you are repeatedly asked about and lay them out with their answers on the page. 

When you are first getting started and don’t have many questions yet, I recommend researching similar business’ and seeing the the types of information they have on their FAQ pages to help you craft your first page.

Your FAQ Page is a living document that you will want to keep updated often and the better the answers on the page are, the more engagement and sales you will have, while minimizing unnecessary emails, DMs and comments.

#3: Set Up an Email Autoresponder

An email Auto-Responder is an automatic message that is sent to anyone who emails your business email, and can be a great customer service tool that sets expectations with your customers while also helping them at the same time.

All major email platforms allow for auto-responders (think out of office email reply) so you can likely find a set of directions for setting yours up quickly by doing a google search.

The email auto-responder should be a welcoming message that helps your customer understand when they can reasonably expect to hear back from you, and provides them some insight to help direct them in the meantime.

Example: Thank you so much for your email! Please know that your email has been received and your inquiry is important to us! Due to the volume of messages we receive, you can expect a response within 48 hours outside of weekends. We do monitor for and prioritize more urgent customer service requests, but your patience and understanding is greatly appreciated. In the meantime, the answer to your inquiry may be one of our frequently asked questions, so we encourage you to click here to review our FAQ page for a more immediate resolution.

#4: Use Canned Responses

Canned responses are pre-written emails or message templates that can be used to quickly compose a reply to a customer email or message. They are usually based on frequently asked questions, but are great for making sales when a customer needs a recommendation, guiding an assistant who may be helping with emails and messages, and can help prevent PR nightmares when you are asked triggering questions or dealing with a particularly unhappy customer.

Populating answers onto your FAQ page is a great way to help minimize customer emails and messages, however, when you do receive a message from a customer, it is not always appropriate to send them a link to the FAQ page and send them on their way (not if you want to do good customer service) and it dismisses a key point of contact where you could be making a sale or driving engagement to a platform/content/opt-in.

As you reply to customers messages, get into the habit of saving your good responses to their questions and organizing them in a Google Doc, or a notes app- again, something that syncs across devices is preferable.

Adjust your original message into a template by removing customer specific information and giving the message a more general but clearly actionable response. That way you can easily copy and paste the message for a future customer message.

#5: Use an Editorial Calendar

An editorial calendar is plan for what content is to be published on specific days by platform. It helps take the guess work out of what to post when, and helps you easily bulk create content.

To create your editorial calendar, first choose the duration of time you want to plan for. One month to one quarter at a time is pretty standard, but you could plan as far in advance as a year if that works for you.

Next, define the schedule you will be working on per platform: so what days/times will you be posting content across a week.

Then brainstorm your content ideas and assign them to the schedule so you have a clear publishing plan created.
Finally, schedule specific time to bulk create content on a regular basis. This could be one day a week where you create all your content and set it to publish on schedule for the next week.

#6: Use Social Media Scheduling Software

Social media scheduling software like Meet Edgar, Hootsuite, and Planoly help you to schedule and promote your content across platforms.

One of the biggest mistakes business owners make with their content marketing is that they don’t continue to promote content once it’s been published to a platform- and then they wonder why the content isn’t getting much engagement and continue to create more and more content in an attempt to drive traffic.

It’s much easier to create one piece of content and push it out to other platforms to increase the reach and impact of the content.

Social Media Scheduling Software helps you to automate this process by uploading the content once and then setting the content to publish across various platforms, and can even continue to promote the content on a recurring basis so it’s not getting lost in a stagnant feed.

#7: Use a Marketing Calendar

If an editorial calendar is the plan for what content will be published at what time, your marketing calendar is the plan for what promotions, launches and sales you will be marketing across your year.

A business that isn’t continually marketing itself in some form or another is one that isn’t generating much revenue!
At the start of the year (or right now!) it’s a good idea to map out the different promotions and marketing you will do across the year so you always know what you are selling at any given time and can better organize your efforts to get the maximum results.

This doesn’t have to be complicated, simply choose how often you feel comfortable running marketing campaigns, and start filling in your calendar with marketing ideas that make sense. Make sure you give yourself enough time between campaigns to prepare for the next one.

#8: Theme Your Work Days

Theming your work days means that you will set aside specific days or blocks of time on certain days to do specific work for your business.

Themed work days help you to work more efficiently by remaining focused on specific tasks, and helps you to fit all your tasks and obligations into your schedule across the week so you know you have time to get everything done.

In order to effectively theme your work days, I recommend keeping track of all the different activities you do for your business on a recurring basis over the period of a few weeks to a month, and then grouping like items together and creating daily themes or work blocks on a specific schedule to ensure you have the time set aside to complete those tasks.

#9: Systematize Everything!

A system is a codified process for how you reach an end result so that you have an easy to follow list of tasks to help you achieve a similar result every time you go to complete that objective. For example, a recipe is a great example of a system. It’s a specific process for how you get a specific result, a meal you are trying to prepare and the steps to follow to make it.

All of the recurring work you do for your business should be turned into a system to help you take the guess work out of planning how you will complete a specific action in the future and creating the system gives you the opportunity to perfect exactly what your process is so you spend less time and effort but get a greater result each time.

So, every time you do a task in your business, start tracking the steps on a project page. When the task is complete, review your steps and what you learned from that recent experience to create the ideal step by step plan for completing that activity in the future. Write the final draft of the plan on a project or system planning page and refer to it every time you need to do that task so you don’t have to waste mental time and energy thinking about how to do it.

#10: Get Help

Getting help so that you can more effectively run your business can take many forms, some of which don’t require you to spend money, hire an employee or to delegate business related to tasks to others.

The first level at which you can get help is within your own family. If you have a partner or children old enough to delegate home life tasks to, reach out to them first to ease your daily work burden so that you have more time to focus on your business tasks.

The second level at which you can get help is to hire out home related tasks in the form of a cleaning service, baby sitter, meal prep service, dog walker, task rabbit etc- again to take home burdens off your plate so that you have more time available for business work.

Next, consider how you may be able to use your network of other small business professionals to do a service swap where you take on work that you are skilled at for another business owner, and that business owner takes care of some work for you that they are more skilled at.

The final level at which you can get help is to hire virtual assistants, contractors or employees to complete specific work for your business.

Start Your Money Making Business!

Hey Small Business Owner!

Everyday hundreds of great, creative, and innovative new online businesses are formed around the world, and then close their doors after a matter of weeks or months due to a lack of clear purpose or profit.

That does NOT have to be your business story!

After 8 years running an online business myself and working with hundreds of women in my community to get their business visions off the ground, I know first hand what it takes to lay the right foundation for a business that reflects your passions and fills your bank account.

Let me guide you through some simple activities that will help clarify your business vision and work you through early stage market research so you can move forward with confidence knowing that you have laid the foundation for a Money Making Business!

Watch the Video on YouTube

I hope these 10 tips help save you time and energy in starting, building and growing your own online business!

xoxo,