Given that growing a business requires customers and clients willing to pay you money, you may assume that saying “yes” regularly is essential for success. “Yes” can mean more customers, more sales, and more business opportunities.

The Downsides of “Yes”

As women, many of us have been taught that saying “yes” is the right thing to do. It is generally expected. Saying “no” may be seen as rude or impolite, or could suggest that we are difficult to get along with. In many circumstances, saying “no” brings up fears of being judged for declining an invitation or opportunity. So, sometimes woman err on the side of saying “yes,” even when they really want to say “no.” 

While this can certainly reduce the potential for negative backlash down the road, such as by agreeing to sit in on a meeting or to donate a product to a charity auction, those yeses require resources you might have preferred to devote to something else.

Yet saying “yes” can also create problems that interfere with business growth and profitability. Say “yes” too often to opportunities and you could overwhelm your team and create a poor customer experience. If you accept every opportunity that comes along, you could end up selling products or services that are not in your company’s best interests, or that are not as profitable as they could be for you. You could end up serving anyone and everyone, rather than targeting a specific buyer that you know can most benefit from your offerings. Not to mention how saying “yes” to everything in your business leaves little time for anything beyond business, like time with friends and family.

Which is why saying “no” can sometimes help your business more than saying “yes.”

When to Say “No”

But when does “no” make more sense than “yes” for your business? In general, saying “no” is often a better choice if you’re not certain that saying “yes” will make the business better. 

There’s an expression you’ve probably heard, that I originally heard from coach Suzanne Evans, that “If it’s not a ‘Hell Yes,’ it’s a ‘Hell no!’” 

For example, it may make sense to say “no” to:

• Invitations to meetings. Do you really need to be there? Is your attendance the best use of your time? If you’re not a decision-maker, could someone else just as easily participate on your behalf? Or is this a sales call that you’re being pressured to take?
• Customers who are unprofitable. Sure, doing business with a major corporation or celebrity could raise your business’s visibility, but if all you’ll earn is exposure, you may want to allow a competitor to lose money on that deal. So say no to work that you’ll lose money on, as well as putting an end to scope creep—when the client wants to increase the work you’re doing at no additional cost. 
• Requests for price cuts or discounts. There is rarely a legitimate reason to reduce your profits for someone else’s benefit. Even when customers dangle the carrot that “If you give us a good deal on this first order, there will be more business down the line,” know that they have not committed to giving you more business and it’s more likely that you’ll take a loss on this deal and then never hear from them again.
• Opportunities that would overwhelm your schedule. If you’re already double booked and having trouble fulfilling your current obligations, seriously consider declining—for now, at least—new opportunities that come in. These could be requests for your time, your talents, or your finances.
• Unreasonable requests. Whether a potential client has asked you to work for free, “to see if there’s a fit,” or you’ve been asked to map out a strategy for the prospect to evaluate, recognize that they are asking you to work for free. Why would you give your expertise away, unless it’s to a cause you want to support?

“No” is useful for setting boundaries that protect your time and energy, both of which you need to run a successful business.

How to Say “No”

People who are uncomfortable with confrontation or negotiation have the most difficulty with saying “no.” They don’t want to make anyone upset or cause a scene, so they say “yes” to keep the peace, at the expense of their best interests or sanity, in some cases.

If you know that declining an opportunity is what’s best for you and your business, here are some ways you might phrase your response to reduce the sting of rejection:

“Thank you so much for considering my company for this amazing opportunity, but now that I know more about what you need, I know you’d be better off hiring a company that specializes in XYZ.”

“Thank you for thinking of us for this, but, unfortunately, we can’t take this on at this time.”

“I’m so flattered that you thought of my company for this opportunity to donate to your special event. Unfortunately, we have already allocated all of our charitable donations for the year.”

“Thank you so much for the invitation, unfortunately I’m not available.”

“I’m so honored that you would be interested in having me as your business mentor, but the time and energy required to grow my business doesn’t allow me time to mentor others right now.”

The key components of these “no” responses is that: 1) you thanked the person for the opportunity, 2) you politely decline their request, and 3) give a reason if you feel like it will prevent the conversation from continuing.

Otherwise, “no” is a complete sentence.

Ask a group of small business owners whether we’re in a recession and you’re likely to get a variety of answers. Although we’ve been hearing about an impending recession for months, it’s unclear if it’s on the horizon, already here, or if the chances of it occurring have receded.

If you’re nervous that a business downturn is headed your way, recession or not, there are a few things you can do to soften the blow if sales do decline. 

So, what can or should you cut back on? To figure that out, you need to take a look at your spending history.

Audit Your Spending

To know where your money is going in your business, the best place to look is at your business bank account(s). What kind of sales have you been making, are they on an upswing or downturn, and what do your expenses look like? Go back through the last three to six months of checking account statements to see what you’ve been paying for.

What are the biggest categories of expenses? Depending on your business model, that might include your rent, utilities, labor, equipment leases, raw materials, inventory, marketing, or many other possibilities.

Make a list of your biggest types of expenses and then consider what your business could do without. That is, where could you cut back, even temporarily, to build up some cash reserves? You don’t want to cut essentials—must-haves that keep your business in operation— but are there other types of expenses that aren’t absolutely necessary?

I’m thinking of things like:

• Subscriptions (magazines, newspapers, office supplies, water, software)
• Meals and entertainment (for clients, employees, managers)
• Fees you could avoid with some planning (overdraft, late charges)

What could you eliminate even for just a few months?

Use Up Your Stockpile

Many businesses have built up a stash, or a stockpile, of products they use regularly, to avoid having to interrupt production or sales when the product runs out. Some have as much as six months of some products on-hand, just in case. But do you really need so much?

To benefit your bank account, consider: 1) using up your stockpile before reordering and 2) consider not stockpiling as large a quantity. For example, if you have six months on hand, could you get by with three or four months instead? That would allow you not to buy any of those items for a couple of months, which would reduce your cash outflow.

Another tactic to try is to negotiate with suppliers to lock in rates on recurring purchases, such as office supplies, packaging materials, or food ingredients, for examples. That way you can reduce the impact of a potential price increase.

Ask to Extend Payment Due Dates

If you’ve been paying bills immediately, or even Net 30 (within 30 days), it’s worth asking your suppliers if you can get Net 45 terms instead (meaning you’d have 45 days to pay your bill). Of course, you still have to pay the bill, but pushing out when you have to write some checks gives you more flexibility regarding how to use the money that’s in your bank account.

On the flipside, you could also ask your customers who are paying Net 45 or Net 60 to pay sooner. You may have to offer a small discount for this, but getting what you’re owed faster can sometimes be worth it.

Review Your Hiring Plans

Your workers are essential to the continued operation of your business, so it’s unlikely you’ll want to let anyone go if you don’t have to. However, if you had planned to add new employees this year, there may be some alternatives to adding headcount.

Some of these options include:

• Offering existing employees overtime hours
• Exploring hiring college or high school interns for course credit
• Temporary workers
• Seasonal workers
• Independent contractors 

Other ways to tighten your proverbial belt could be to shift spending online.

Move Activities Online

Even brick-and-mortar businesses that serve customers in person, such as restaurants, auto repair shops, daycares, beauty salons, and retailers, can take steps to move some in-person tasks online and save money. That doesn’t mean you have to stop offering in-person selling, only that you could replace some face-to-face work with an online equivalent to save some cash.

This could include:

• Adding an online store for products, parts, gift cards, courses, and information products in order to reduce on-site staffing needs
• Offering training online, rather than on-site meetings and classes (which can also expand your target market globally), and encouraging employees to consume their education online, too, to reduce travel expenses
• Shifting some traditional marketing dollars online, such as to a website, social media accounts, and digital ads, to reduce reliance on paper-based purchases.

Whether a recession hits or not, fortifying your financials by reducing unnecessary spending and finding less expensive ways to access the resources you need is a smart strategy for improving profits.

With the word recession being thrown about as a warning for months, many business owners are bracing for a downturn in sales. Some have already witnessed a slowdown, while others are seeing sales rise. The discrepancy is likely due to how price sensitive your customers are. That is, can they afford to continue buying what you’re selling?

When the economy experiences a downturn, it can become more difficult for some customers to maintain their level of spending even on basics like groceries (have you seen the price of eggs?!). Some customers may dial back purchases of essentials to tighten up their budgets, others may reduce buying nice-to-have items, such as vacations or eating out regularly, while others may not feel a pinch at all and will continue spending as before.

What is Price Sensitivity?

These three scenarios reflect how price sensitive different customers are. Buyers who are highly price sensitive will reduce spending if the price goes up at all, while buyers who have low price sensitivity will continue spending even if the price goes up significantly.

In general, buyers have less price sensitivity to must-have items such as housing, food, and transportation, because we all need these to survive. Even as prices rise, it’s hard to go without any of these purchases. Conversely, most buyers have more price sensitivity to more luxury purchases, such as new cars, designer brands, or entertainment, meaning that as prices go up, the more buyers scale back their spending on these less essential categories.

But that doesn’t mean that lowering your price is the solution to increasing demand. In fact, depending on your type of customer, lowering your price could reflect poorly on your brand, making it less desirable to buyers. This is likely one of the reasons that Apple products only go on sale one day a year – Black Friday. Yes, you may find incentives to buy them at other times, such as free headphones or an Apple gift card with purchase, but Apple doesn’t discount its products. The same is true with luxury brands, such as Louis Vuitton or Chanel. Those products do not go on sale.

However, there are some brands that seem to always be on sale. Bed Bath and Beyond (BBB) trained its customers to wait for its 20% off coupons to arrive in the mail, with an executive admitting the company’s customers had an “overreliance on coupons.” In fact, even if you forgot them while shopping at the store,  you had 14 days to come back and present your coupons to receive money back.

What Affects Price Sensitivity?

There are several variables that can impact how price sensitive your customers are, with some of the biggest being:

Your product/service category. What you’re selling, and how badly your customer needs it, is perhaps the biggest driver of price sensitivity. For example, for someone who is diabetic and needs medication to manage it, price is less of a factor than their ability to get it. Similarly, a plumber’s fee when the kitchen sink springs a leak or the cost of a tow service when your car dies on the highway becomes less important than the speed with which these pros can respond to an emergency. But if you’re a retailer selling swimming pool equipment in January, your customers may see those purchases as less essential at the moment.

How different or unique your product/service is. Think about Tesla electric vehicles, which have been in high demand for years. You can’t buy them from a dealership and you can’t negotiate price. You either pay the asking price or you don’t get a car. Tesla can set its own price because for a time, it was one of the very few electric vehicle manufacturers. For that reason, its customers had low price sensitivity, because they were willing to pay whatever the price to get one of the company’s electric cars. If you are the only distributor of a particular brand that is in demand, you are likely to attract less price sensitive buyers. That is, they are willing to pay your asking price to get what they want.

The availability of competing products/services. The flipside of uniqueness is competition. If you have a lot of competitors who are selling the same thing you are, or something that can be used in place of what you sell, your customers are likely to be more price sensitive. For example, if you sell ice cream for $3/cone and there is a store across the street selling a similar cone for $2.50, you may have trouble attracting those buyers unless you can differentiate your product. Maybe your cones come in flavors other than vanilla, or maybe the brand of ice cream you sell is only available at your store. Unless you have a way to justify a higher price, your customers are more likely to be more price sensitive if your product or service has a lot of competition.

How easy it is to switch providers. The ease with which customers can switch from one product or service to another is also a factor impacting price sensitivity. The more difficult it is to switch, the less price sensitive those buyers become. Meaning, if it’s hard to go elsewhere for what they need, they may be more willing to continue to pay your (higher) price than make a move. For example, if you are a hairstylist announcing a price increase, the number of customers you lose from that announcement will depend on the relationships you’ve built. The more your customers trust you and prefer your work, the less price sensitive they will be; they may not want to start trying out other stylists. 

How Can You Reduce Price Sensitivity?

So, how can you reduce price sensitivity to keep your existing customers and attract others, even as you increase your prices? 

One way is to improve your customer experience. Make it so far superior to anything they can get elsewhere and you will reduce price sensitivity. That might mean learning their name, taking notes on what they prefer, or going out of your way to make sure they get what they need. Make buying from you a special experience as much as possible.

Determine desired differentiators and build those in. That is, find out what your customers value about your product, service, or business, and do more of that. Amp up what makes your business unique. Separating yourself from the competition will make your pricing less relevant.

You can also invest in marketing efforts to improve your brand’s awareness and reputation. Increase the number of people who have heard of your business and think highly of it (doing more to enhance their buying experience can go a long way to achieve this). That might mean getting some help with social media, paying for PR help, or rebranding the company, to name a few potential options.

The more you make your product or service preferable to buyers, the less price will be a factor for those who choose to do business with you.

Gartner Inc. estimated that buying, using, and storing paper documents costs an average business 3% of its revenue—and that was 10 years ago. The cost today is likely even higher.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that the average office worker goes through 10,000 sheets of paper a year and that the cost of using paper is 13 to 31 times the original cost. And if that weren’t bad enough, years ago Xerox reported that nearly half of all documents are thrown away within 24 hours.

For both cost and environmental reasons, businesses in a wide range of industries are now taking aggressive steps to reduce their reliance on paper. You’ve probably already received notices from your bank, mortgage, and credit card companies asking you to opt into paperless statements. Sending out tens of thousands of emails is much more efficient and cost-effective than printing and mailing hard copies.

If time and money savings appeal to you, here are some steps your business can take to reduce your use of and reliance on paper this year:

Don’t print it out

Start by watching your printer usage. With communication going electronic—meaning messages are more commonly sent via email and direct messaging than using physical mail—you have an opportunity to cut back on paper usage simply by keeping electronic documents in the cloud rather than converting them to hardcopy. 

Read communiques online. If you have to sign a document, use an electronic signature rather than printing, signing, scanning, and emailing back. If someone sends you an interesting article or report to read, peruse it online instead of printing it.

Break the habit of instinctively printing documents out that don’t need to exist in physical form.

Store it in the cloud

When you receive material you want to be able to refer to later, don’t print it out and place it in a paper filing folder in your office. Instead, save it in an online filing folder that you can pull up later on your computer.

Convert your metal filing cabinets to digital ones by using online storage services like Google Drive, Box, and Dropbox.

Scan it

Likewise, when you receive paper documents and want to be able to store and retrieve them later electronically, scan them.

Using a physical scanner that you keep near your desk, or an app like Genuis Scan on your phone, convert your notices, reports, memos, drafts, and other papers to electronic form and then recycle the pages (unless you’re required to keep original signatures). Once in electronic form, you can easily email documents to others as well as store them for easy retrieval later.

Organize it

One of the fears paper hold-outs express is the ability to quickly find important papers; they are afraid that a change to their organizational process may make information harder to find. When documents are in hardcopy and filed alphabetically in a filing cabinet, tracking them down is pretty simple. Fortunately, there are now software programs that will serve the same purpose, but in the cloud.

Evernote and OneNote are two big players in this field, both of which allow you to capture images of online information and store it in online folders. You can capture images of web pages, reports, articles, and other published materials, as well as your own documents.

Recycle it

As you start to convert printed pages to digital form, you’ll be left with hardcopies of documents you no longer need. If they are sensitive or business confidential, you’ll want to first shred them, and then recycle them. If you have shredding to do in bulk, Staples and other office service providers will take care of it for a fee.

If you’re considering storing important documents off-site, keep in mind that there is a cost to that as well, which can range from $6 to $10+/year per box, according to RecordNations. 

Companies are increasingly recognizing how much more efficient their operations can be without stacks of papers cluttering their desks, filing cabinets, and mailrooms. Can you picture what your office would look like without paper in it?

Have you started planning out your next 12 months yet? With the start of the New Year next week, now is the perfect time to think through how you want 2023 to go.

Look Back First

Before looking ahead, take some time to reflect on what went well in 2022 and what did not. For example, for the high points, you might list:

• Hitting a revenue target
• Landing a big contract
• Launching a new product
• Reaching a social media follower milestone

As you reflect on these wins, think about what enabled you to hit these milestones. Did you approach situations differently, delegate more, invest in coaching or training, increase your fees, modify your product? What were the most important changes that netted these results?

And for your list of where improvements could be made, you might include items such as:

• Working more hours than you’d like
• Systems needing improvement
• Obsolete technology
• Underperforming employees

These are your bottlenecks, as Rachel Rodgers, author of We Should All Be Millionaires, calls them. They are what are holding you back from even greater success.  Zero in on the improvement opportunities that would make the biggest impact on your business. What are they? 

When you are clear about the highest impact changes you need to make, you’re ready to plan out how you’ll approach 2023.

Setting Next Year’s Goals

It’s always a good idea to set an annual revenue target to use as one metric of success. It doesn’t need to be your only metric, but sales are one way to measure your progress.

Then you’ll want to refer back to your improvement opportunities. Which of those on your list are having the largest negative impact on your company’s growth? What do you need to do to address them?

That’s your next step: Determining how to best clear those bottlenecks.

Depending on your challenge, you may need to:

• Hire new employees
• Eliminate current products or services
• Invest in new technology or systems
• Create a new lead generation process
• Design new products or services
• Secure funding

Once you’re clear on what needs to happen to achieve your revenue target, you can now start to break those projects down into smaller and smaller tasks. If one project is to hire new employees, for example, your smaller tasks might include:

• Identifying which roles need to be filled
• Drafting job descriptions
• Creating qualification lists
• Retaining a search firm or registering on a job search platform
• Scheduling the new hire start dates

The next step is breaking any tasks down even more and then scheduling them. For example, before you can register on a job search platform, you may need to schedule a couple of hours to investigate which will be the most effective for your location, industry, and job. Then you may need to schedule time to set up the account, set a budget, and type up the job details.

Break each larger task down into 10 to 15-minute to-do items. 

Schedule Your Action Items

Then assign tasks to months based on when you need them to be completed in order to have the biggest impact on your company’s operations and your budget. 

For example, you may want to implement all of the projects on your list in January in order to hit the ground running in 2023, but you probably won’t have the time or the budget to cross them all off at once. Instead, spread them out over the next 12 months in sequential order, meaning, in the order in which they need to be completed. For example, you can’t outsource tasks until you hire a new employee, for example, or you can’t start a pay-per-click campaign until you’ve had the digital ads designed. 

Choose your highest impact projects for 2023, break them down into tasks, and then schedule them by quarter or by month. Then, track your progress during the coming months in order to recognize when you need to pivot or make strategic adjustments to your plans.

Research has shown that entrepreneurs who take the time to write down their plans and refer to them throughout the year are, on average, many times more successful than people who make big plans and never refer back to them. So don’t just file these plans away until 2024.

Most business owners know that marketing is critical to success. Marketing is essential because it connects your company with potential customers and helps persuade them to spend money on your products or services. Marketing is what leads to sales, which is every company’s life blood.

There are two basic types of marketing methods—outbound and inbound. 

Outbound marketing is essentially outreach. It is sharing information about your business with as many people as possible, in the hopes that in doing so you’ll connect with people who might be interested in learning more about your products and services. Outbound relies more on mass marketing tools, like advertising, sponsorships, and email blasts, that are designed to get your offerings in front of the greatest number of people possible. It’s a numbers game you’re playing with outbound marketing.

Where outbound marketing uses more of a push strategy in marketing, which attempts to push information out to potential customers, inbound marketing uses pull methods, which aim to attract just the right customers. Inbound tactics aren’t designed to reach everyone. They include methods such as targeted social media posts, blog posts, and digital downloads that are relevant for your company’s target audience.

Hubspot estimates that businesses today spend 90% of their efforts on outbound marketing and only 10% on inbound, when, really, they should reverse those percentages.

So, what, exactly, are the best inbound marketing tools?

Aaron Ross and Marylou Tyler, authors of Predictable Revenue have identified nine inbound marketing methods that work, ranked below from most effective to least effective in terms of generating leads:

1. Referrals. When a customer is so happy with their purchase from you that they feel compelled to tell everyone they know about it, your odds of landing some business from that unprompted testimonial are high. Sometimes customers share their delight through online reviews, or they may make a recommendation when one of their friends or colleagues asks for suggestions. These are the very best sources of leads. And one of the best ways to encourage others to refer business your way is to refer business to them. 
2. Free trials. Very common today in the online software business, free trials are a great way to allow a potential customer to sample what you offer without a long-term commitment. If they like your product, they’ll pay to stick around. Free trials or samples also work for online groups or subscriptions. You could offer a free consultation, a free product, or free content to demonstrate your expertise, to encourage your prospect to spring for a full-priced product.
3. Search engine optimization (SEO). To achieve positive results with SEO, you need to research what keywords and phrases your customers are using to look for the products and services you sell, and then attach those keywords to your website, so that your company’s site comes up higher in search results. The more time and energy you invest in applying keywords to your webpages, web content, and blog posts, the better your ranking—meaning the closer to the top of all listings you will appear. This is useful because many buyers only look at the first few results search engines like Google provide them.
4. Blogging. Writing blog posts that you publish on your company’s website is a great way to demonstrate your expertise, position yourself as a resource, educate potential customers, and help prospects get a sense of what you’re like in person, among other things. This can be especially useful if you’re selling personal services or consulting. The best blog posts encourage a conversation, Ross and Tyler say, such as by asking a question or inviting input from your audience.
5. Email newsletters. Although you may feel overwhelmed by the number of email newsletters that land in your inbox, the fact is that they work. Sending out an electronic newsletter once or twice a month using an automated system provides a way for you to remain top-of-mind to your customers and prospects. You can share ideas, promote products, educate buyers, and offer special deals or discounts that may spur a customer to make a purchase.
6. Webinars. Online seminars are a terrific tool for reconnecting with customers, by inviting them to a scheduled event where they can learn something new from you. Ross and Tyler say that 80% of webinars are focused on teaching, rather than selling, and to make the most of the opportunity, you should consider approaching your webinars as educational opportunities, too. Demonstrate a skill or a product, share industry information, or update participants on information they need to know, but whatever you do, do not use hard-sell tactics to make a sale. You’ll only turn potential customers off.
7. Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing. Paying for leads through online ads, where you are charged only when someone clicks on it, works well in some businesses. However, “the more trust-building and education your prospects need, the less likely PPC leads will convert into customers,” Ross and Tyler claim. That may be because many buyers are skeptical of paid ads. However, PPC has been found to work for some businesses, just be conscious of how much money you’re investing and confirm the sales that are resulting more than pay the cost of the ads.
8. Affiliate marketing. Partnering with other businesses that are willing to promote your products or services in exchange for a commission is how affiliate marketing works. And affiliates can help attract new customers, especially when they have huge or loyal social media followings. Think about complementary businesses or colleagues who might be willing to tell their audiences about your company and earn a small payment for each sale you make. Those are often the best affiliate partners.
9. Social media. Social media platforms can be useful tools for introducing yourself to potential customers, through images and video they can’t see anywhere else. That glimpse into your life or your business helps build trust and familiarity that can lead to a purchase at some point. However, social media alone is generally ineffective. If you’re going to invest your marketing resources in a social media platform, like Instagram or TikTok or LinkedIn, use them to drive traffic to higher value inbound tools, such as your blog, or to your website to sign up for a free trial, or to register for a webinar. 

Although each of these methods is separate and distinct, they are also complementary and can work together to amplify a message. But don’t try all of them at once, the authors say.

Instead, pick three tactics first and get some momentum with those before branching out any further.

By investing time and money in finding customers who have an interest in your business and who then take the initiative to gather more information, either through a free trial or visiting your website, your odds of success rise significantly, all without having to invest heavily in expensive promotional tactics. In fact, the best marketing tactic of all, referrals, can cost you absolutely nothing.

Filling out grant applications is an art form. And while there are professionals who specialize in crafting grant requests, odds are good you probably aren’t one of them. Few entrepreneurs and business owners are, and that’s okay. No one at WomensNet expects you to have grant writing experience or expertise.

The reason that the application for the Amber Grant is so simple is that we want to make it easier for you to tell us what you think is important about your business; we haven’t tried to pose questions you will find hard to answer. However, some applicants have told us that our broad questions are also challenging. They aren’t sure how far back to go when describing their company’s history, or how specific they should be when talking about their current situation or future plans, for example.

We get it.

So, to help you decide what is most relevant and important for us to understand, we wanted to offer some tips for how to fill out your Amber Grant application. 

Keep in mind your audience

Since our goal at WomensNet is to help woman-owned businesses get started and grow, we want to hear more about your growth plans than anything else. There are plenty of other grants out there that are for startups or retailers or companies hard hit by the pandemic, but that is not the focus of the Amber Grant. 

Before you submit your own application it’s always a good idea to study past Amber Grant winners. Watch the video interviews we recorded to get a sense of who applicants have been, what their challenges were, and how they used their grant funds. That information will help you determine what you should share about your own business. 

The basics

Members of our advisory board, who determine the monthly grant winners, want to understand what your business is, first and foremost. What do you sell? Who are your customers? Why did you start it? How have things gone? If business is growing like crazy, why? 

If you’re comfortable sharing top-level financials, that can help make your case. Statistics are also useful, such as by explaining that costs have increased 45% in the last year but that you still managed to grow by 20% by raising prices. Or that 89% of your customers are repeat buyers.

By giving the advisory board context, or background, it helps them evaluate what you tell them next.

What is stifling your growth?

Since the Amber Grant was established to help companies grow, our advisory board is especially interested in understanding what’s restricting your company’s growth. What is your current bottleneck or obstacle? 

For example, if you’ve been offered a contract for embroidered sweatshirts, but you can’t accept the contract because you know you can’t meet the terms, that’s a growth challenge that grant money can fix. Or maybe you sell out of your cupcakes at 11:00 am every day and would like to be able to keep your display case stocked longer. That’s also a capacity problem, which better equipment or more help can fix. 

The key to your growth, you can explain to the board, is securing the resources that will provide more capacity. That capacity may come through being able to order more inventory, to stock up on raw materials, to invest in more equipment, or to hire more employees, just to name a few solutions.

How will the grant money help you be successful?

The advisory board also wants to understand how you’ll use the Amber Grant if you’re awarded the funds. How will you invest the $10,000 grant to have the greatest positive impact on your business?

Will you move into a larger space, renovate the space you’re in, outsource more of the production, build or update your website, upgrade equipment, or something else to address the bottleneck you’ve identified? Tell us.

And what are your long-term plans? Where do you want the business to be in three or five years? Do you envision multiple locations? A different clientèle? A broader product line?

Stay focused on your business

Although some business grant programs want to hear how you’ll benefit the community, since the Amber Grant’s primary purpose is to fuel a company’s growth, community service is not something we look for or expect you to do. In fact, if your community service could be perceived as interfering with the management of your business, or if you tell us you’ll give any part of the grant away to another organization, your odds of winning decline.

Although there is no limit to how long your Amber Grant application can be, don’t type five pages of information if you can cover all the relevant facts and figures in two.

While any stage business can apply for an Amber Grant, startups do face the challenge of not being able to report a financial history. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply, only that it may be difficult to demonstrate unmet demand if you haven’t been in business very long.

Competition for the Amber Grant is fierce, so make sure your application reflects your very best work.

The opportunities for distraction today are greater than they’ve ever been. With phones by our side 24/7, social media calling our name, and anxiety seemingly ever-present, it’s challenging for anyone to stay focused on any one task for more than a few minutes.

And yet, staying on-task is critical for progress to be made. Spread your efforts and attention over multiple tasks at one time and you’ll make little progress on anything, or the progress you do make won’t be your best work.

So, what’s the secret?

There’s really no secret or trick, but getting more done requires getting organized and setting yourself up to stay on task. 

Start with a to-do list

Getting more done starts with identifying what your highest priority tasks are. What’s on your to-do list?

It can help to make a master list of absolutely everything you can think of that you need to do, from drafting a blog post to responding to a customer’s email to picking up dry cleaning, placing your meal subscription order for next week, and paying your utility bill. Get everything out of your head and onto a sheet of paper or into a Google doc where you can see it.

Distinguish between important and urgent

Next, go through your list and identify the top things you must get done today. Rank them from 1 to 10. Although it’s best not to try to do more than three major things in a day, if some of your action items are sending emails or making phone calls, you can get more than three accomplished.

As part of your ranking process, think about which activities will have the greatest impact on your business success. Which proposal has the potential to bring in the most money? Which tactful email needs to be sent to calm an irritated client? Which Yelp review needs a response? Which supplier needs a call to clear up confusion about your order?

Some tasks may have deadlines that are in the next day or two and that could eat up most of your day, but are they really essential? Just because someone else has assigned a deadline doesn’t automatically make it important to you. (Sure, your sister wants a call back to catch up this afternoon, but is that the best use of your time today? If not, call her tonight or tomorrow.)

Then there are tasks that have deadlines that have the potential to make or break your business, like the deadline to be considered for a grant, or to be quoted in an article, or join a business accelerator.

Which to-dos are most important? Those go to the top of your list.

Break down larger tasks

Now that you have a list of your highest priority tasks, start with your top priority. Think through what it will take to complete this activity and break it down into 10-15-minute tasks. You may have been putting it off because it seemed so overwhelming, such as responding to an RFP or outlining a course you want to release. So, break it down into smaller pieces, and then break those down, and again, until each task is super quick and easy.

Finally, get that very first piece related to your top priority done. Then, move on to the next piece of that first priority, and to the next, and keep crossing those steps off your to-do list as you complete them. Only stop when you can’t do any more, either because you have an appointment to get to or because you need information from other people before you can do more.

At that point, it’s time for a break. Take a few minutes to relax, maybe take a short walk, get some lunch, for example.

After your break, come back and go through that same process for your second-highest priority.

Avoid multitasking

You’ve probably heard how inefficient multitasking, or task switching, is. Sure, it may feel like being on the phone while you also read or respond to emails is killing two birds with one stone, but it’s not. You’re not giving all of your attention to the person on the other end of the phone, which makes it less effective, and you may be missing key pieces of information in those emails you’re skimming.

Research has shown that you are up to 40 percent less productive when you multitask. Also, the results of your efforts are of lower quality. A London study found that “multitasking dropped a person’s IQ at the same pace that someone experiences after a sleepless night.” Meaning, you aren’t able to do your best work. 

Instead, do one task at a time. Focusing on one action item allows you to devote all of your attention to it, which will actually help you complete it faster.

Optimize your environment

Sometimes where you work impacts your ability to focus, so take steps to improve your surroundings. 

Cleaning your desk and work area off helps reduce distractions, because your eye is able to focus on what’s in front of you, and not what’s in the piles off to the side. Closing your email while you work also prevents new messages from pinging and alerting you, which can cause you to fear you’re missing something important. And if you work in a noisy setting, consider getting noise-blocking headphones to drown out the chatter or ambient sounds that can interfere with mental function.

If you know you need support to prevent you from taking a peek at social media, consider getting a program like Freedom, which blocks your access to certain websites for whatever period of time you specify. Want to force yourself to work uninterrupted for 30 minutes? Use Freedom to keep you from checking the latest Facebook or Instagram posts.

Once you’re clear on what you absolutely have to get done, by when, and you take steps to reduce potential distractions around you, you’ll get much more done faster.

Businesses working to grow their social media following often decide at some point to explore the merits of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. Where blogging and content creation contribute to organic growth of your audience, paid online advertising can be a shortcut.

Digital advertising consultant Barry Hott recorded a video for the WomensNet community to try to explain the merits of the different ad platforms, when it might make sense to pay for advertising, and what you can do to improve the results that you get.

Choosing Where to Advertise

The first thing to understand, Hott says, is consumer intent, or how interested potential buyers may already be in your product or service. That will help lead you to the right platforms on which to advertise. Some platforms are best for high intent buyers and others work well with low intent consumers.

“People that are already looking for and thinking about what you’re selling,” says Hott, are high intent. They are primed to buy and are already searching for solutions or options using search engines.

Low intent buyers are consumers who are not already thinking about their need for your product or services, but who might be prompted to consider them when served up an effective ad. Hott describes a typical low intent scenario: “You’re watching TV. You’re not thinking, ‘Oh, I need to go to Burger King.’” But when a Burger King ad is shown on TV, the goal is to spark interest and get you to head there for a burger and fries, even though you previously weren’t considering it.

Make sure you’re choosing the right ad platform, based on whether you’re targeting high or low intent buyers. Sometimes this is based on whether you’re trying to generate sales or building your list or follower count for sales in the future.

High Intent Platforms

“Google ads are great for businesses where there is already intent,” Hott says. “People are searching to find the things they need. They’re entering their problems [into the search engine], which you can solve with your product or service.”

To get in front of those high intent buyers on Google, you can “optimize your site and get links so that you rank higher in Google,” he says, or “you can also pay to have the promoted top spots on those search pages.”

The cost to advertise will depend on how competitive the market is for your products or services. Auto insurance, for example, is extremely competitive, so costs will be higher, no matter whether your buyers are high or low intent. A product with a smaller market size is likely to be less expensive, because you’re competing with fewer advertisers for the exposure to your target audience.

With high intent buyers specifically, “You’re competing against other advertisers for those customers, who probably don’t need to be sold as much. You don’t have to convince them as much,” Hott says. You may have to convince them to choose your business over your competition, but you don’t have to educate them on the benefit of the product or its use.

Pinterest

“Pinterest is a great platform for advertising for both low intent and high intent,” says Hott, because people are doing intent-based searches there. 

Users often head to Pinterest for inspiration or product ideas, whether it’s for furniture or paint colors or jewelry. So, there is intent, though not as much as with a straight search engine like Google or Bing, Hott says, “but there is intent.”

Even for low intent buyers, Pinterest can be great because of its targeting features, which allow you to go after certain keywords, as well as interests or other categories, Hott says.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a great place to advertise if you’re selling business services, or expensive things that are more relevant to businesses, Hott says. 

However, he doesn’t love LinkedIn’s tracking capabilities, which he says is weaker than other advertising platforms. But if your target audience is business people, LinkedIn may be right for you.

Facebook

“Facebook is the ultimate low-intent sales machine,” according to Hott, who says it’s great for selling “pretty much anything” to low-intent audiences. The key with Facebook “is to make content that gets people’s attention and motivates them to take action,” he says.

Although Facebook’s interest-based targeting algorithm isn’t as good, or as relevant, says Hott, because its machine learning algorithm has gotten better, you can target audiences through your creative. 

Hott explains, “By making ads that are relevant to certain users, the more users that pay attention to it, Facebook has signals based on those users to show ads to more similar relevant users.”

Which means that you don’t have to obsess as much about targeting specific people, as long as you create ads that catch the attention of your target buyer. “Focus on targeting with your creative,” he says. “Focus on the user viewing it rather than your brand or yourself and you’ll do well.”

TikTok and Snapchat

Folks who are feeling creative may want to explore TikTok and Snapchat, which are video-based. Although you can run image-based ads, “I wouldn’t waste my time or energy,” Hott says. Stick with video there.

While the impression is that these platforms are for youth, that’s not the case anymore, he says. “There are audiences on there of all different shapes and sizes, and it is a quickly growing platform,” he says of TikTok. So don’t avoid it because you think adults aren’t watching—they are.

To get a sense of whether your content could do well on TikTok or Snapchat, first spend some time watching what’s working on the platforms. If you can create videos that match those that have lots of views and engagement, you can do really well, he says.

The key on TikTok is to have fun. Don’t overproduce your videos or try to cram in lots of content, because that’s not what viewers there want.

Start Small

Whether you have experience with online advertising or not, the biggest benefit to this type of marketing campaign is the ability to test the waters at a relatively low cost, Hott says. “You can dip your toe in at a small scale and as long as you use good data and tracking practices,” you can gather useful information.

For example, you could spend a few hundred dollars on ads this week and then stop advertising to take stock of what you learned. You can evaluate what you spent, what consumer actions were taken as a result, whether you generated any sales, and how much money you made. Then you can tweak your campaign to get better results next time.

Maybe the problem isn’t with your ads, for example, because you’re seeing a huge influx of traffic to your website or your landing page, but then you’re not seeing any sales. That suggests that your ad is performing well (because people are heading to your website) but your website or landing page is falling flat. So before spending any more money to drive traffic to your site, you need to make changes there to increase conversions.

PPC ads can become an integral part of your advertising program, but start small first, create an effective ad, and then put more money behind it once you see you’re getting the results you’re after.

Now that Labor Day has come and gone in the U.S., you know what that means—holiday season is just around the corner.

Yes, even as we’re enjoying fairly warm temps across the northern hemisphere, smart business owners are beginning to plan for Q4.

Although retailers are best-known for generating a large portion of their annual sales during the last few weeks of the year, the holidays can also be an opportunity for other types of businesses. Restaurants are often busier due to holiday parties, service-based businesses involved in holiday decorating and interior design get booked quickly, and tutors frequently find their schedules filled with students needing last-minute assistance prepping for finals and finishing papers, as a few examples.

There is a sense of urgency and excitement around the holidays that is unique to that season. So, take advantage of the buying frenzy by getting your ducks in a row early, to reduce any stress you may typically feel. Here are five steps to take now to feel less anxious and more in control:

Follow up with prospects to get any new business in the door before year-end

Many corporations suddenly discover toward the end of the year that they have money left in their budget that needs to be spent now, before it gets eliminated. You can help your clients by checking in to see if they might want to commit to the work you had discussed this year, rather than after the holidays. That way you can better plan your workload and they can pay with 2022 funds. Not only can this push clients to commit to hiring your company, but it can also help generate some new cash flow. All it takes is an email, phone call, or text to see where things stand regarding their previously stated need for your products or services.

Refresh your company website

As we head into the holidays, give prospects another reason to come back to your website, by adding new information and photography. You don’t have to give your website a complete overhaul, but make enough changes that visitors will notice something is different and stop to check it out. That will require updating your online images and product shots, as well as online copy. This is true whether your company sells products or services. With products, you can add new offerings and spotlight them in a blog post, for example. And with services, consider creating a new limited-edition bundle of offerings to address specific needs clients may have. The trick is to make some tweaks to your site now, before you get too busy in November and December.

Get your inventory organized

Speaking of spotlighting your products on your company website, if you’re a product-based business, now is the time to confirm all of your holiday season pre-purchases and get any last-minute orders in based on recent trend predictions. Make sure you have the products your customers will be looking for, whether you run a coffee shop, online reselling boutique, or ski equipment store. Given ongoing supply chain woes, checking on the status of your incoming inventory is essential.

Schedule a special event

When your customers are in a buying mood, give them a reason to connect with you through an invitation to an event. If yours is an accounting, consulting, or law firm, for example, that might mean scheduling a holiday open house at your office, where you give them a small token of appreciation for their business when they stop by. If you run a gift shop or book store, how about inviting an artist in for a demonstration, or an author in for a presentation. If yours is an outdoor business, schedule an event that is part opportunity to test out your products and part demonstration to get them excited about local recreation. You can also hold online events, such as educational summits or live sales events. Start thinking about what your best customers would most enjoy and then get something on the schedule.

Invest in some marketing and promotion

In addition to or in conjunction with a special holiday event, consider designing a special limited-time sales offer. It could be as simple as a discount, such as 25% off during a specific week or after buying a certain dollar amount from you, or as complicated as completing a series of tasks on your website to qualify for a giveaway. Other market tactics to consider include issuing press releases, pursuing guest blogging opportunities at complementary businesses, exploring being a podcast guest on relevant podcasts, or participating in holiday events in your area, just to name a few.

Even if the holidays aren’t typically busier for your business, you can still invest some time in making it more memorable for your customers, so that you end 2022 with a bang and tee up a great 2023.