-N

Secret #1: They Focus on One Strategy at a Time

The problem with many Internet marketers is that they try to do too many things at once. They’ll spend some time trying to build a social media campaign, move on to search engine optimization, and then go back to promoting their blog. Successful entrepreneurs succeed because they focus on mastering one strategy at a time. They’ll invest the time and money necessary to succeed in one area such as SEO or blogging. They’ll continue at it until they can get it to work rather than switching to another strategy when they come across failure.

Secret #2: They Test and Track Everything

Another thing that sets successful entrepreneurs from the masses is that they test and track everything. They’ll track every aspect of their online marketing in order to cut expenses on failing campaigns and put more money into what’s working. They’ll also constantly test new things to try in an effort to make improvements. They’ll test everything from website design, web copy, different texts, different offers, to pricing. The reason for this is because small changes can lead to dramatic differences in conversions and profits.

Secret #3: They Manage Their Cash Flow Properly

This isn’t something that people talk about but managing cash flow is a big part of succeeding online. Many aspiring entrepreneurs take their profits and spend it on their personal needs rather than investing it back into their marketing campaign. Some misuse the profits by reinvesting it in the wrong areas. Successful entrepreneurs take a step back and make sure they have enough money to continue their successful campaign, assess what’s working, and look for areas of opportunity. This allows them to build on their campaign and scale it to an even bigger one.

Secret #4: They Take Constant Action Regardless of the Results

It can be tough to find out that one of your marketing campaigns didn’t produce any results after you invested so much time and money into it. At the end of the day, you can’t take failure too personally or seriously. In fact, many successful entrepreneurs have the “fail fast” or “failure is only data” mindset. They look at failure as only data and use it to determine what mistakes they’ve made, what can be improved, and what the next step is. They don’t dawdle on their failures.

Secret #5: They Focus on Generating Leads

Most beginners that start out focus on making the sale, but that can prove to be a shortsighted strategy. While there are situations where making the sale is appropriate, it is often better to get the lead. As a matter of fact, many successful entrepreneurs focus solely on generating leads. They will generate leads and focus on delivering value in order to cultivate relationships with prospects. There are many ways to do this from running teleseminars, using low cost booklet printing to send out special reports, to sharing helpful online content.

To improve your productivity, it’s important to remember one thing: work smarter, not harder.

When it comes to productivity, we’re all in the same boat, constantly trying to find ways to get things done faster without sacrificing on quality. It’s for this reason that business savvy developers and entrepreneurs have come up with fantastic productivity apps such as Evernote and Dropbox. Use them dang it! Take advantage of these time savers, and heed the following tips…

1. Plan Your Time

To stay productive, planning is essential, and to plan properly, you need lists. Too many lists will drive you crazy, as will writing them on the nearest napkin, so streamline your planning with an app like Remember the Milk.

Three Lists to Keep:

• A ‘to do’ list – This is where you put tasks you must do—tasks like commitments and obligations, basically things that have to be done now. It’s possible to subcategorize this list into timeframes (today, this week, this month etc.) but no further than that.
• A ‘watch’ list – This is like a reminder list; for example, track items you’re waiting for a reply on, or need to follow up on.
• A ‘later’ list – More like a wish list, this is where everything else goes, such as things you would do if you had the time.

Everything will go onto one of these lists, and looking at your workload like this should help you prioritize.

Keep your lists in one place. Apps such as Evernote (that sync across all your devices) are great places for keeping to do lists, as well as whatever other inspiration you stumble across throughout the day. Which leads nicely onto the next tip…

2.  Stay far away from Procrastination

We’re only human. Procrastination is inevitable, but it is  often a result of poor planning or in some peoples case, no planning at all. By putting measures in place to combat procrastination, your productivity will increase:

• Avoid distraction. Have a designated working area where you know you can work well. Even when working from home, treat your day like a day at the office. Have set working hours, plan breaks and let friends and family know you’re working and unable to take calls or visits. There are even apps (like SelfControl) available to block websites that may distract you from getting things done.
• Don’t let email ruin your focus. Check your email twice during your working day, once in the morning, and once at the end. Allocate as long as it takes to deal with your correspondence, and then close your email and turn notifications off. Sounds scary, and maybe even impossible but trust me it works.
• Try a little things called structured procrastination. It is difficult to fight distraction, so just plan your procrastination. If, in avoiding doing something that has to be done right now, you do something that should be done a little later, you are still managing to constructively use your time.

3. Use The Cloud (As Well As Any Apps That Will Save You Time)

Saving your files to the cloud will in turn save you time. No matter where you are, or what device you’re using, by utilizing the cloud you will always be working on the most up-to-date version of whatever you’re doing. You can even use it to work collaboratively with whomever you choose.

• Again go get Dropbox, learn to use it, and enjoy it, it will be your best friend. There’s far more to it than just syncing your files, and making the most of it can help you boost your efficiency.
• Use apps to do the things you hate, so that you can do the things you love. No one likes keeping track of finances and invoicing, so why make life harder? Cloud tools like Xero are invaluable for streamlining the little fiddly little things (like invoicing) that seem to waste hours of your valuable time and energy.

4. Look After Yourself

This is a productivity tip that we’re all guilty of forgetting. You cannot work productively if you’re running on empty. Business greats like Sir Richard Branson advocate working out, getting enough sleep, eating properly and taking time for yourself to help keep you at the top of your game. Do not take on more work than you can do, and don’t waste time trying to be perfect or pleasing everyone around you. Remember you are the most important you.

Simple answer is YES, OF COURSE!

We here at Rinse Studios are currently our on are third batch of cards, not because we thought of a cool new card design or found a different company to go with, but because we use them and go through them and give them away. I have heard it said that the first impression is the most important one and I completely agree with this as it is definitely a make or break deal. Its not only what you can offer someone as far as work goes but also how you look and carry yourself. I will break down the “cool/classic” look and how you can still have the hipster vibe but be professional while doing it later in another post, but today we are focusing on leaving an impact and good impression through the business card.

After you make the initial connection with someone and hopefully wow them, all they have left to remember you by is your business card. I am not one to “overdue” it on the cards but it definitely needs to be eye catching and should obviously make the person interested in what you do. Remember, this is again your lasting impression that you leave with your potential clients so it needs to be epic. Since designing is something we do daily we never really are short on idea, but if you are lacking the design bone, or suffer from lack of creativity here is a WEBSITE with 100 awesome business cards to help you. And if you have no one to do the designing for you, just remember us here at Rinse Studios, we would love to help make your brand and imagine look great! Once the design is over we have recommended Vista Print or Moo Cards before and they do a good job and are affordable, but the company we are using for all of our card printing is Morning Print. We love them and they do a stellar job. Check them out and hope this posts help you out a bit. If we can help further drop us a line!

-N

[lather // RINSE  // repeat]

1. If you work as much as we do that means you’re in your office a lot. Make it feel like home. If you have the space get some nice furniture in there, add in some nice art work to decorate the walls, and even get a unique carafe to hold whatever liquid suits your needs.

2. Office Organizers for the desk top. Now before you laugh, the new look is a sleek simple desk minus the drawers. And lets face it, if you have drawers they are stuffed and just as messy as the top. We bought a mini filer for ours and love it for the actual files and bigger supplies, but the organizer sits right on the top of the desk holding your keys, bills, meeting note pad, iPad, and other paperwork.

3. Light is crucial. Fortunately for us we have a big window, but I understand some people aren’t as lucky so FAKE IT. There are tons of urban/cool/modern lamps to put in your office. We found a lamp that is pretty pricey but actually allows your to change the LED tint of the bulb from a blue hue to like the day light to a soft yellow glow that is easy on the eyes and brain.

4. Part of clearing the clutter is getting rid of all the ugly cables and cords all over the place. Look for bluetooth first and foremost. Keyboard, mouse, and even headphones, but for the wires that you can’t hide, they have desk magnetic holders that your cords will all be held in one place.

5. Rounding out our top 5 is personally my favorite and all about style points. Get yourself a slick small spinal notepad and a classy pen. I’m talking about a Postalco Notebook (Medium sized) found HERE  and a Solid Titanium Pen found HERE. With these utensils not only will you take killer notes, but you will look like a boss while doing it.

-Nick

The Awakening and Reformation Tour Promo Video from The Awakening and Reformation To on Vimeo.

Check out the website we built her at www.juliemichaelsontraining.com

 Rinse Studios    |     Graphic Design    |     Web Design     |     Denver, Colorado      |      Woodinville, WA