This is Week 29 of a 52-week project/experiment in DIY marketing. Armed with nothing but a copy of the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and my bare wits, I’m applying the skills you need to grow a business in real time, day by day, and reporting on them week by week here and at the Marketing Mix blog.
Ilise and Peleg describe the process of creating and maintaining a steady flow of customers to your business as building and running a marketing “machine.” The machine has many working parts, or smaller machines within it: networking, cold calling, Internet marketing, etc.
Another way of looking at it is that your business is a system made up of other, smaller sub-systems: your billing, your distribution, creating whatever products or services and of course, your marketing, all of which in turn are made up of even smaller sub-systems. (I came across this “systems” framework via a wonderful book called, appropriately enough, Work the System, which I reviewed last week on my main blog.)
I love these mechanical ways of looking at business because I tend to very romantic, airy-fairy notions about work and one’s “calling”—all well and good, but at some point, stuff has to get done and in such a way that customers are happy while you are still able to keep body and soul together. And maybe just a smidge of sanity.
Being here in Chicago this week (and part of last) has also given me a keen appreciation for the magic of mechanical systems worked and tweaked systematically. Not just because a system allowed me to get enough work done in advance of my trip that I was able to give my full focus on the workshop I was co-presenting with Pam Slim last week (and it was a riot, lemme tell you!): having systematically worked my systems also meant that there were people who showed up at the workshop who already knew and liked what I have to say, and that people who were just meeting me had a long, long rabbit hole of my stuff to fall down once they met me (provided they, too, liked what I had to say).
I am starting to see tangible results of the systems I’ve put in place from a financial perspective, too. Without having done any specific push or sale, the inquiries and consultation bookings are noticeably ramping up—this despite the rather crappy state of our current economy. Of course, it may be a fluke; time will tell. But 29 weeks in, it feels like I’m standing on much more solid ground than I was at the beginning of the year.
If you’re just getting started with the newly-released, Start Anytime calendar, that should be of some encouragement, I hope. And if you’re working the regular calendar and have hit a dip (as I did a month or two ago), that should be of some encouragement as well. There are ups and downs with every aspect of my life, but getting out and networking regularly, publishing my blog(s) and newsletter consistently, tweaking my websites for better functionality, taking classes and reading books/blogs/magazines, communicating with fellow travelers (both the client and colleague varieties) via social media have made a significant difference not just in my confidence level but in my business itself.
In other words, the work actually works!
And if things continue in this direction, whho knows—maybe I’ll get re-inspired to take up cold calling with renewed enthusiasm…
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
The thing I’m struggling with is the steady flow. And it’s precisely because of the systems going down when I’m slammed. They *can’t ever* go down. Not ever. And I’m learning this…again. (How many times do I have to learn this?)
Just want you to know how much I enjoy reading your blog. As a fellow Virgo, I can relate to pretty much everything you write. In fact, I sometimes wonder if you’ve crawled inside my head. 10 months ago, I made the leap from corporate america to starting my own biz. I am much happier now that I’m following my passion, but I do need to keep reminding myself that the systems are as important as going with the flow. The Universe isn’t going to drop a successful business in my lap just because I’m finally aligning with my purpose. This post is a great reminder that systems and flow can be great partners. Thank you!
Sarah – Well, even the best systems will go down occasionally, so cut yourself some slack, sister! Sam describes how the power went out in the area once, and that was it: no power for anyone, and nothing to be done; the emergency services they did telecon stayed up, but everything else was shut down. So he saw it as an opportunity to create a better generator backup system. Expensive, but it gave them peace of mind, knowing if the same thing happened again, they’d be covered.
And then? Well, something else will go haywire! Just learn and refine, learn and refine. And minimize the self-flagellation.
Tina – Thanks, and congrats on your leap. It can be overwhelming at first, and yeah, you’ll make mistakes (unless you don’t, in which case I wanna know your secret), but it’s amazing how much you can learn over time, with experience.