Office Organization Success

Would you like to learn the easiest way to build your list and put a system in place that will add hoards of new subscribers on an ongoing basis?

Give me an hour or two each week for 30 days and I will teach you, step-by-step, how to put a list building system in place that gets results!

The gold in your business starts with the list. Having a list of interested potential clients who want to know more about you and your services will provide you with a long-term, successful, business.

And guess what?

When you have a list in place of potential clients who are interested in you, your services and your products they come to you! You don’t have to go out and find clients – they’re right there!

And to achieve this you need to create a List Building System, so that you can continually add people to your list, and have a ready pool of clients who want to buy your products and services.

So if you…

• Want to build an online community of potential clients and customers
• Want to build a long-term successful online solo service business
• Want to understand how all the different list building strategies fit together for continued business growth

Then I invite you to join the…

30 Days to List Building Success Program

The Program starts on Monday July 6, 2009
 
Go here for all the details:  http://www.officeorganizationsuccess.com/30DaysListBuilding.htm

If you’re struggling in your business; it isn’t growing as fast or in the way you want it to, you’re feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, or just plain disillusioned with the whole solopreneur lifestyle, then I can guarantee you that the problem isn’t:

• a lack of clients
• a lack of subscribers to your list
• or a lack of business know-how

the problem is simply a LACK OF SYSTEMS.

Without systems in place you will very quickly become overwhelmed and frustrated, and be left wondering if your business is ever going to succeed!  No matter how hard you try you can never seem to get organized and clients/projects/work (you name it) are slipping through the cracks.

You need systems!

Having systems in place saves you time, money and energy! You will find that your business will flourish and grow, and running your business become effortless and fun.

>> Systems save you time, money, and energy! <<

It’s true! When you have systems in place your mind is also clear because you’re not feeling overwhelmed; instead you feel organized and calm, knowing that everything is taken care of and the systems are running smoothly. This allows you to focus on your clients and your other income generating activities. Your creative juices flow and you can begin developing additional streams of income.

What is a system?

A system simply describes HOW you do something i.e.:

• How do you create a new client file?
• How do you handle client enquiries?
• How do you monitor receipts/expenses?
• How do you track contact data?
• How do you stay in touch with your clients/prospects?

Change your thinking around running your business – think in systems/steps/processes.

I’m a huge fan of repurposing your articles – after all you’ve spent a lot of time creating your article and sharing your expertise with your newsletter readers.  But don’t let your article be viewed by just your subscribers, repurpose the content and use it to drive traffic to your website and encourage new subscribers to your list.

In two previous posts I shared how you can repurpose your articles by posting them to your blog and sharing with your social networks.  Today I’m going to share with you how you can repurpose your articles by creating a podcast out of them!

Reach those people who prefer to listen rather than to read, and create a podcast episode out of your article.  A podcast is simply a digital recording that is made available on the Internet so that people can listen and download the files to their iPod or Mp3 player.

And if you’re using the services of a streaming media company such as BYOAudio creating your podcast becomes a cinch!

In a previous post I shared how you can repurpose your current articles by posting them to your blog – this will generate more traffic to your website and encourage new subscribers to your list.

Don’t just leave it there though, ensure that your social networks know about your article too!

If you’re active on Facebook and Twitter and other social networking sites, create a link to your newly posted blog article and let your social networks read your article too.  Encourage them to also post comments so that you can engage with them on your blog.

If you’re using Facebook, you can set up your profile so that it automatically pulls all blogs posts into your Facebook account each time.  This is done via the Notes feature.

And, because you are also driving traffic to your blog via your social networks, this is going to help improve your search engine rankings.

Once you’ve written your article and published it in your ezine, don’t let your article just sit there – let it generate even more traffic and new subscribers to your list by repurposing.  There are many ways to repurpose your existing content, and today I’m going to share with you just one of them – posting your articles to your blog.

After you’ve published your article in your ezine (hint: let your subscribers be the first to read your brand-new articles – one of the perks of signing up to your list!) take your article and post it to your blog.  This is a great way to reach a whole new audience to let them know about your ezine, and to reach those people who are subscribed to your RSS feed.

If you also include your Author’s Resource Bio at the end of your blog post you will provide an additional way for your blog readers to sign up to your online community (a.k.a. your list).

Tip: If you use a blogging platform such as WordPress, this is hosted on your website.  Each time you post to your blog you are creating fresh content for your website, which the search engines love!

Would You Like To Learn The Quickest And Easiest Way To Follow-up With Your Clients And Customers?

Give Me An Hour or Two And I Will Teach You, Step-by-Step, How To Put Your Follow-up System on Autopilot!

As a solopreneur being able to follow-up with your clients and potential clients is crucial in growing and sustaining your business, and keeping a steady flow of new clients coming on board. However the downside is the time it takes to follow-up with each and every one of your contacts – after all spending all day following up with clients isn’t a good use of your time; you also need to spend your time on income generating activities and generating cash flow for your business.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could put a system in place that follows up with every single one of your clients and customers on a regular basis, and on autopilot too?

The answer? Autoresponders!

Autoresponders are a solopreneur’s secret weapon, but as with any technology there is a learning curve involved … let me shorten that learning curve for you!

If you…

• Want to put your follow-up system on autopilot
• Want to learn how to use autoresponders for maximum efficiency and success
• Are baffled by the technology and terminology around autoresponders and would like some solid, practical, information and advice

Then I invite you to join the…

Automate With Autoresponders Telegroup

The Telegroup takes place on Wednesday June 10, 2009 @ 11:00 am EST
 
Go here for all the details!

So, you’ve written your ezine article and published it in your ezine – now what?  Do you just let it sit there, never to see the light of day again, or do you repurpose it and let it really work for you to grow your list?

I say the latter – repurpose your article and let it build your list!

You know I’m a huge fan of repurposing your material and really leveraging your time, and using your articles in this way is one of the most effective strategies you can implement to build your business and grow your online community, a.k.a. your list.

Today I’d like to share with you 3 easy steps as to how you can take your ONE newsletter article and use it in a variety of different formats to reach more of your ideal clients and customers.

Step 1 – Post it to your blog

After you’ve published your article in your ezine (hint: let your subscribers be the first to read your brand-new articles – one of the perks of signing up to your list!) take your article and post it to your blog.  This is a great way to reach a whole new audience to let them know about your ezine, and to reach those people who are subscribed to your RSS feed.

If you also include your Author’s Resource Bio at the end of your blog post you will provide an additional way for your blog readers to sign up to your ezine.

Tip: If you use a blogging platform such as WordPress, this is hosted on your website.  Each time you post to your blog you are creating fresh content for your website, which the search engines love!

Step 2 – Link your article to your Social Networking Profile(s)

If you’re active on Facebook and Twitter and other social networking sites, create a link to your newly posted blog article and let your social networks read your article too.  Encourage them to also post comments so that you can engage with them on your blog.

If you’re using Facebook, you can set up your profile so that it automatically pulls all blogs posts into your Facebook account each time.  This is done via the Notes feature.

And, because you are also driving traffic to your blog via your social networks, this is going to help improve your search engine rankings.

Step 3 – Create a Podcast

Reach those people who prefer to listen rather than to read, and create a podcast episode out of your article.  A podcast is simply a digital recording that is made available on the Internet so that people can listen and download the files to their iPod or Mp3 player.

And if you’re using the services of a streaming media company such as BYOAudio creating your podcast becomes a cinch!

The three simple steps that I’ve outlined for you above all work very well on their own to help you repurpose your articles, but if you put them all together into a system then you have the foundations for your online marketing system and these strategies, if implemented regularly, will drive traffic to your website and build your list.

(c) 2009 Tracey Lawton

About the author:  Office organization expert, Tracey Lawton, teaches professional speakers, coaches, and authors how to create the essential online marketing and office organization systems needed to operate an efficient, organized, and profitable business.  Learn how YOU can create an efficient and organized office in 7 EASY steps, and receive free how-to articles at http://www.OfficeOrganizationSuccess.com

If you find yourself missing out on potential clients, contacts falling through the cracks, or not following up in a timely manner then your problem is simply a lack of an efficient contact management system!

So let me ask you:

1. Do you have a record of each of your clients/colleagues contact data, i.e. name, address, email, website, phone number etc.?

2. Are you following up efficiently and effectively when a potential client enquires about your services/programs?

3. Do you have a specific process in place for handling new client enquiries?

If you’ve answered NO to one or more of these questions, then you don’t have a suitable contact management system in place.

The good news…

This can easily be rectified!  With a proper contact management system in place you will be able to:

• Keep a note of clients, potential clients, and colleagues contact information.
• Easily and effectively follow-up with a prospect.
• Locate critical client contact information quickly and easily.
• Build your business.

Sometimes the simplest contact management can be all you need so that you’re not letting potential clients slip through the cracks and you’re following up in a timely manner.  When deciding on the most suitable contact management system for your business, there are three basic choices:

1. If you’re currently using Outlook it comes with its own contact address book, and Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 and above comes with Business Contact Manager.  Outlook actually makes a good ‘command central’ for your business as not only does it store all your crucial contact management data, but you can also manage your emails, To Do list, tasks, and schedule follow-ups so you won’t lose an important contact again due to lack of follow-up!

2. You can purchase stand-alone contact management software such as ACT!  This is a very robust contact management system; the only downside – you can’t use it to manage your emails!

3. You can use an online contact management system – some of which are free.  This is a good choice, particularly if you want to be able to access your contact data from any PC, anywhere.  And if you are working with a Virtual Assistant it’s very easy for them to maintain and update your contact data too – they simply log in!

Which one to use depends on your level of expertise and which one will work best for YOU and YOUR BUSINESS. 

Don’t let your business suffer due to an inefficient contact management system.  Follow my tips above to choose a system that is right for YOUR business.
(c) 2008 Tracey Lawton

About the author:  Office organization expert, Tracey Lawton, teaches professional speakers, coaches, and authors how to create the essential online marketing and office organization systems needed to operate an efficient, organized, and profitable business.  Learn how YOU can create an efficient and organized office in 7 EASY steps, and receive free how-to articles at http://www.OfficeOrganizationSuccess.com

For many solopreneurs they think that once they’ve set themselves up in business it’s all about marketing, marketing, marketing.  But there’s one very important piece of the puzzle you need to have in place before you start your marketing … and that’s your managing.

Building a successful long-term profitable business isn’t about “marketing” your business, it’s about “managing” your business – the marketing comes once you have your management systems in place… this is a really important concept, and once you’ve got to grips with this, marketing becomes a whole lot easier!

You cannot begin to market your business if you can’t find the information you need, don’t know who you are marketing to, and don’t know where you are in your business.

So what I’d like to share with you today are my top 5 steps to setting up your core office organization systems.

1. CREATE your paper-based filing system.  Having an efficient filing system in place will enable you to find the information you need, when you need it!  First of all invest in your filing storage, whether that’s a dedicated filing cabinet or plastic filing crates.  Keep in mind you will need TWICE as much storage space as you think you’ll need. When setting up your filing system it’s important that you design a system that fits YOUR style. 

2. TACKLE the Paper Pile using my super-simple Two-Step System.  This is a really quick and simple way of tackling your piles of paper.  The goal is to get all the papers off your desk and floor and either have them filed away for when you need them again; in a special ‘action’ folder that you work on during your allotted ‘action focus’ time; or quite simply tossed!  You would be surprised at how many papers you are holding on to that when you look back at them you find are either out-of-date or simply not relevant to your business needs anymore.

3. CREATE your PC filing system.  Once you’ve got the first two steps completed, this third step actually becomes quite easy.  Your PC is also a large filing cabinet, so it makes sense to replicate your paper-based system for the PC.  If you have created main category files, then create a main category folder in your ‘My Documents’ folder on your PC, and create sub-files in this main folder as necessary.  Repeat this process for all your main filing categories.

4. ORGANIZE your Inbox.  Emails! Another huge time drain if not organized properly.  Use the same system again to store and manage all your emails.  Instead of them all going into one huge Inbox that’s totally unorganized, break your Inbox down into different folders and move the relevant email into that folder.  Follow the same system as for your paper and PC-based filing systems.  In Outlook you can create Email Rules so that emails are automatically moved into the appropriate folder as they come into your Inbox.  Consistency is the key to an efficient filing system.  Keeping to the same system will make it much easier for you to manage.

5. CREATE a PC and file back up system.  Now that you’ve spent time creating all these systems it’s vital that you also have a PC back-up system in place.  You simply cannot afford to lose any of your vital documents when you run a solo service business.  In fact I highly advise having two back up systems in place – one onsite and one offsite.  The onsite back up can be through an external hard drive, and the offsite back up service can be through an automatic backup service.

Make a plan today to get these core systems in place and your business will start to become effortless and fun – isn’t that an exciting thought!

(c) 2009 Tracey Lawton

About the author:  Office organization expert, Tracey Lawton, teaches professional speakers, coaches, and authors how to create the essential online marketing and office organization systems needed to operate an efficient, organized, and profitable business.  Learn how YOU can create an efficient and organized office in 7 EASY steps, and receive free how-to articles at http://www.OfficeOrganizationSuccess.com

If so, join me for my upcoming FREE Teleclass:

“3 Steps to Creating a Successful Online Marketing System”

In this FREE audio teleclass I will share with you key information about creating an online marketing system for your business…

… and I’ll give you the same information that I share with my one-on-one clients during their own personal consultations.

In this call you’ll learn:

• Why it’s important to stay in touch with your audience (a.k.a. your target market) on a regular basis.
• 3 simple list building strategies that will leverage your time so that you can build your list quickly and easily.
• How to stay on track with your online marketing system.
• How spending just 20 minutes per week can result in hundreds of new subscribers.
• … and leave the call with your own Take Action Steps!

Date:  Thursday April 30, 2009
Time:  11:00 am EST (that’s 8:00 am PST / 4:00 pm GMT)

Click Here to sign up NOW!