For many small business owners, serving clients is the top priority — serving prospective clients, on-boarding new clients, and providing a seamless and personal experience for existing clients. By focusing on our clients, we can bring value to our clients, and live out the purpose we started our business for.
But what about all the other areas of small business ownership? As much as all business owners wish they could focus solely on their clients, business housekeeping — like bookkeeping, accounting, social media marketing, blogging, newsletter writing, and so much more — have to happen in order for us to maintain and grow our businesses.
In other words, without working ON our businesses, we may not be able to work IN our businesses in the long-term. There are tasks we need to complete to keep our businesses running and moving forward so that we can continue serving our clients to the best of our ability.
So, how do you do it? How do you work ON and IN your business? How can you provide an elevated, seamless client experience and manage your business simultaneously? Today, we’re going to share 3 ways to work ON and IN your business so you can build a foundation for short-term and long-term business success.
3 Ways to Work On and In Your Business
First, I want to share: I am so excited about this week’s topic, because business housekeeping — like social media marketing, newsletter writing, and blogging all fall under my umbrella of responsibilities at With Grace and Gold.
Over the past 6 years, I’ve used LOTS trial and error to efficiently and professionally manage the areas of With Grace and Gold that keep it moving forward. I’m really passionate about you saving time and money, energy and effort — so I hope you feel encouraged by what we explore today.
Secondly, I want to ask you to stay tuned in until the very end of this week’s episode. I’ve got an exciting announcement on behalf of With Grace and Gold, and it’s related to today’s topic — so be sure to listen until the very end!
For so many small business owners, it’s the working IN our businesses that inspired us to start a business in the first place. If you’re a photographer, chances are, photography is what inspired you to start a business. If you’re a designer, chances are, you couldn’t wait to create a design for your first client.
It’s the working ON our businesses that can be challenging. Maybe you don’t find working ON your business to be very exciting. Maybe you feel overwhelmed by what it means to work ON your business, like, do you really need to write newsletters? Maybe your background isn’t in business, or maybe you don’t want to manage the types of tasks we’re talking about today.
Wherever you are at in your business journey, I want to encourage you that when you create a system and bring structure to working ON your business, it not only becomes more manageable, but it also becomes more fun. It also comes with more peace of mind, knowing that you’re managing all of the key areas of your business with care — with less guilt about your last blog post being from 2015.
Today, I’m excited to share 3 ways to work ON and IN your business — 3 ways to bring some structure and purpose to the ways we, as business owners, need to keep our businesses moving forward.
- Determine which tasks are absolutely necessary, which you’ll manage yourself, and which you’ll outsource. Like any area of small business ownership, when you’re staring up at a huge mountain of work, you feel as though you don’t know where to begin — like there’s so much work, you’re too overwhelmed to even begin. Start by writing down all of the business housekeeping to-dos you need to manage to keep your business moving forward and growing. At With Grace and Gold, for example, we manage our bookkeeping, but we do not manage our own accounting. We manage our social media marketing, blogging, and newsletter writing — and we’ve created a schedule we feel comfortable managing: daily social media posts, weekly blog posts, and weekly newsletters. When listing your housekeeping to-dos, be honest about what you can do and what you should do. Chances are, for example, your Ideal Clients aren’t present across all social media platforms. Maybe there’s a platform or two you can focus your energy on. Maybe a weekly newsletter sounds like too much right now, so a more well-designed monthly newsletter will serve your business better. The best part of being a small business owner is: you decide. With your expertise, your creativity, and your approach, you can create a business rooted in connection with your Ideal Client — a business you feel good about! So again, determine which tasks are absolutely necessary, which you’ll manage yourself, and which you’ll outsource. Create a plan of action you feel good about.
- Schedule a business housekeeping day every week, every month, or every quarter — or all of the above. For the first few years of With Grace and Gold, we used Monday – Thursday to focus wholeheartedly on our client work, and we used Fridays to focus wholeheartedly on business housekeeping. I would schedule social media posts, blog posts, and newsletters for the week ahead. Nowadays, I use 1-2 days at the start of every month to schedule social media posts, blog posts, and newsletters for the month ahead. This schedule can grow, change, and evolve over time — but it’s most important that you create one. When you build in and schedule your plan for working ON your business, you’re much more likely to follow through. So, what works best for you? When can you schedule in a business housekeeping day? Batch your business housekeeping, and see what happens!
- Create systems and automations wherever you can. There are so many awesome resources and tools available for automating your business housekeeping. As an example, 17Hats, our payment processor has a built-in bookkeeping tool. We use Planoly to schedule our Instagram posts, we use Buffer to schedule other social media posts, and we use Tailwind to schedule our Pinterest posts. We use ConvertKit to schedule our newsletters. Having systems and automations for business housekeeping means you can truly “set it and forget it.” You can plan out all of your marketing for the week, month, quarter, or year ahead and rest assured all of your posts will be shared along the way. So, what resources and tools can you look into? Is it worth investing in a monthly subscription or two in order to give yourself more freedom, flexibility, and time?
I am so hopeful these 3 tips guide you in working ON and IN your business.
Since 2014, With Grace and Gold has provided brand and web design for creative small business owners. Hire With Grace and Gold or shop With Grace and Gold’s pre-made designs and Showit website templates – and come away with an elevated brand and web design for your small business!
About Brand It, Build It Podcast, Hosted by Kelly Zugay
Hosted by Kelly Zugay, co-founder of With Grace and Gold, The Brand It, Build It Podcast is a leading small business marketing podcast for small business owners, creatives, founders and entrepreneurs. Enjoy weekly, actionable episodes to build a successful, sustainable small business from the inside out.
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