Many entrepreneurs often waste time. Of course, it’s not intentional, but they spend time they shouldn’t on tasks that don’t require their direct involvement. Reducing that wasted time is the key to getting more done in less time.

By focusing on maximizing productivity, by managing your time better, your business has the potential to become more profitable. Here are some tips and tools that you can use in your daily work to optimize the use of your time.

Plan your day

Making a daily and/or weekly calendar to plan out what you need to get done on a daily basis is the most important step in managing your time. Either at the start of your day, or the evening before, spend a few minutes writing down the top three tasks you absolutely must complete that day. Those essential tasks should then guide how you schedule the rest of your day.

However, you should also build in breaks and rewards. Try to create a day where you can both be productive and feel good about what you’ve accomplished. For example, if you have a big project to complete by the end of the day, don’t just put that one item on your calendar for the whole time. That can either seem overwhelming or too easy, and if that’s the case, it’s very likely you’ll add in other smaller tasks due to overconfidence about your availability.

Figure out what your three must-do’s are and slot them into your day first, to ensure the most important tasks get done. Then, when you do, reward yourself with a walk outside, a fresh cup of coffee, or a social media break.

Rely on technology

Typically, many of the tasks that you complete in a day are handled manually. That is, without the use of technology. However, there is an opportunity to use technology tools that will get those tasks done faster, and maybe even better.

A great example of this is recording and then transcribing your interviews. If you are currently manually transcribing your interviews—stop! That is not a task you should be completing. Transcribing is a time and energy-exhausting task that can make it harder for you to get other tasks done. Not to mention, there are online services that will do it for you.

Otter, Rev, and Speechpad are all good options for having transcripts done, though some are more expensive than others.

Also, using Google Workspace or other browser-based platforms make working on collaborative documents a breeze. Google Docs is a great example of this. Instead of uploading every little change you make to a document, share the document with team members and work on it together.

Focus on high-value tasks

Since we know (thanks to Pareto) that 20 percent of your work will yield 80 percent of your results, make sure you take the time to identify which of your tasks are going to generate the most value for your business. Frequently, we use smaller tasks as excuses to procrastinate and avoid the larger to-do’s we actually don’t want to do.

While this strategy is helpful in avoiding your work, it doesn’t do your business any good. Let the smaller things wait and focus on what really matters. For example, a high value task for a copywriter might be drafting an article, for a product distributor it might be negotiating a contract, and for a caterer, it might be helping clients choose a menu for their big event.

What is considered a high value task will be different for everyone, but being clear about which yours are can help you focus your time and energy on the activities that have the biggest payoff for your company.

Delegate or outsource business activities that don’t require your expertise

Similar to focusing on high value tasks, don’t waste your time on a task that someone else could just as easily handle. You’re adding no value in that case and preventing yourself from addressing some other, more important, task.

For example, if your area of expertise is business management, don’t spend your time crunching numbers or designing websites. Similarly, if you’re not a graphic designer, don’t waste your time trying to replicate what a skilled graphic designer could create for you. Your brochure, logo, or flyer will be much more professional and done in less time than if you tried to cobble something together.

Instead, do what you excel at and hand off the other work to people who excel in those other categories.

Don’t drive, get it delivered

Entrepreneurs and business owners who started small are used to doing it all themselves, from landing the business to doing the work to billing, and everything in between. Sometimes, that work includes administrative tasks like ordering coffee, dropping off packages at the post office, or running out to buy a toner cartridge because the printer ran out of ink.

However, thanks to Covid, we now know that it’s possible to get almost anything delivered to your door. Why get in your car and drive, or take the subway, to run time-consuming errands when all you need to do is head online to make arrangements for what you need?

Have packages to go out to clients? Schedule a pick-up at your business. Need office supplies? Place an online order at Staples or Amazon and have it delivered. Ordering sandwiches for a working lunch? Use Grubhub or DoorDash and have it made-to-order and brought to you, rather than spending your valuable time leaving your office to pick things up. Convert that time to productive work time.

Running a business is hard, but by making better use of your resources and your time, you can increase your odds of massive success. The more you make use of available people, technology, and resources in running your business, the more time you will save and the more money you will make.

Reports of cyberattacks are increasing in frequency, with small businesses becoming bigger targets because they typically have not invested in security technology to the degree that larger corporations have. Many also lack internal policies and procedures designed to thwart access to sensitive data. The FBI’s 2020 Internet Crime Report found that the cost of cybercrimes hit $4.2 billion in 2020 and were up 38% from 2019.

A recent Small Business Administration (SBA) survey found that 88% of small business owners believed their business might be vulnerable.

So, what can you do if your budget doesn’t have a line item for pricey IT security solutions?

Understand Your Threats

The first step is to understand that cybercrime consists of several different types of online attacks, each of which requires different strategies to prevent malicious activity. Most cybercrimes fall into three broad categories:

• Phishing. Perhaps the most common type of attack involves emails that look like they are coming from a legitimate organization or individual, and ask you to take some action that will then give them access to your computer or to financial accounts. They can also infect your computer with viruses.
• Ransomware. This type of malware, or malicious software, infects your computer and then restricts access to the computer or to files until a ransom is paid. It usually gets into your computer through phishing emails.
• Viruses. Another type of malware involves infecting your computer with software that often gives hackers access to your computer. Other times viruses tamper or modify data on your computer. Once in, viruses can control what your computer can do, including steal sensitive information.

The common element in all cyberattacks is gaining access to your computer system, usually through email. That means that your best defense against getting hacked is by setting up protection systems and training employees in how to spot phishing attempts.

Stopping Cybercrime

Although it’s very difficult to outsmart sophisticated cybercriminals, there are some basic steps you can take to reduce the chance that a hacker can get access to your computer systems. These include:

• Installing computer security systems

Just as your home and office likely have some kind of exterior security system, even if it’s a locked door, you can purchase protection for your computers. This layer of security, called a firewall, is a software program that prevents outsiders from getting into your system. Installing antivirus is another must-do, to keep malware from activating on your computers.

• Using secure wifi networks

With so many companies and individuals relying on wifi networks to stay connected and get work done, it’s essential that your business use a password-protected router and an encrypted, hidden wifi network. It’s harder for hackers to gain access to a network if they can’t easily find it.

• Keeping software up-to-date

Sometimes older versions of programs have vulnerabilities that can unintentionally allow access to your system. As soon as software developers discover these access points, they fix them—called a “patch” —and provide them through updates sent to customers. Making sure that you’re always running the latest software version on your computers is one way to reduce the chance that a hacker can get in.

• Requiring strong passwords

Provide employees with guidance or training in setting up more complex passwords and then require that they update those passwords regularly, at least every 60 to 90 days. You might also consider implementing multi-factor authentication, to make it even more difficult for a hacker to gain access.

• Performing data backups, backups, backups

Make sure all the computers on your network, and any off-site devices, are being backed up regularly. Store copies of important files or paperwork in the cloud, off-site, or both. If your computer is hacked, you’ll want to be able to clean off any viruses and then reload all of your programs and data. That’s only possible if you have a clean copy somewhere else.

• Training employees to recognize phishing attempts

Since the majority of cyberattacks begin as phishing attempts targeting employees (KnowBe4 claims the percentage is as high as 91%), to reduce the chance that hackers have to break into your system, you need to train employees in how to recognize phishing attempts. Security training can increase awareness and help prevent data breaches. KnowBe4 has a phishing test you can share with employees to see how vigilant they naturally are. 

Although little can be done to prevent cyberattacks themselves, taking these steps to prevent access to your computing network and the sensitive information stored there will help reduce the chance of harm done.

Fifty percent of Americans would choose word-of-mouth, meaning recommendations from family and friends, if they had to choose one source of information regarding a potential purchase. That’s the power of word-of-mouth marketing, which is based on trust and credibility. In fact, 41% of Americans trust word-of-mouth recommendations over social media suggestions. Yet, surprisingly, only 33% of online businesses use word-of-mouth marketing. 

So how can you grow your business through word-of-mouth? By taking steps to exceed your customers’ expectations on all fronts. 

3 Steps to Encouraging Word-of-Mouth

Although word-of-mouth is hard to control, you can certainly increase the odds of generating positive recommendations by doing the following:

1.Focus on superior customer service

Word-of-mouth marketing involves getting people to talk about your business, and the very best way to encourage positive word-of-mouth is by blowing them away in terms of the quality of the overall experience of doing business with you. That means providing an aesthetically pleasing environment, whether you’re in an office that provides tax accounting services or a nail salon. Try to take your customers’ breath away as soon as they step into your business space, through how it looks, feels, and smells.

After making a great first impression, provide excellent service. That includes exceeding expectations on all fronts. If you’re a housecleaner, you might do a top-quality job of actually cleaning and disinfecting, and then also leave behind a batch of homemade cookies for customers. If you run a restaurant, maybe you make a point of learning your customers’ names after their very first visit, so you can greet them when they return and immediately serve their preferred beverage. Or if you’re a freelance writer, in addition to delivering the article you were assigned on time, maybe you also deliver some suggested Twitter or Instagram copy for your customer to use in conjunction with the article.

And if there is a problem at some point, correct it quickly and go overboard in making it right for your customer. For example, if someone buys a product at your retail shop and it breaks on the first washing, don’t just offer to replace it—replace it for free and then offer a credit on a future purchase. By going above-and-beyond, you’ll give your customer a reason to rave about the terrific service they received at your store, rather than ranting about their disappointment. The more you do to please them, the higher your chances of eliciting a positive response and recommendation.

Delighting your customers is an essential first step. Because if your clients are happy with what you’ve done for them, they are much more likely to want to tell all their friends and neighbors about what it was like to do business with you.

That’s positive word-of-mouth in action.

2.Ask for positive reviews

Although generating positive chatter about your business may be foremost in your mind, it is probably not in your customers’. Many people want to be supportive of businesses they like, but may need prompting, or instruction, regarding how, exactly, they can do that.

So, tell them.

Request that they:

• Write a positive Yelp review
• Write a positive Google review
• Respond with a positive recommendation when people ask for them on NextDoor
• Share a photo and review on Instagram
• Comment online when others ask for recommendations or opinions
• Mention it to friends who are looking for guidance on Facebook
• Give a five-star rating on Amazon or whatever platform you sell on
• Offer a testimonial you can use in your marketing materials, or online

Let them know that in addition to their continued patronage, telling their network about your company is nearly as valuable.

3. Build a community

Since 71% of consumers tend to buy based on social media referrals, bringing people together in an online community can encourage them to buy more from you. The good news is that setting up a free Facebook group is easy, and creates a way for your fans to connect.

Inviting customers and prospects to join your free community provides an effective way to engage with them. You can share information about the business, announce new policies, new products and services, new employees, as well as good news and customer stories.

Within your group, you can provide tips for the best ways to use your product, when your service might be most needed, or how to care for purchases. You can ask for feedback on new product ideas, branding designs, or upcoming events. You can also host online presentations or webinars, sponsor contests and giveaways, and spark discussions that would be of interest to your tribe. The more frequently they return to your group for content, the more positively they’ll feel about your company. That’s the value of word-of-mouth.

And because word-of-mouth is 10 times as effective as traditional advertising, says Professor Jonah Berber, author of the bestseller Contagious, you might consider reallocating some of your marketing budget to improve and enhance your customers’ experience of doing business with you.

The number of woman-owned businesses continues to rise, reports the US Census Bureau, and those with employees account for nearly 20% of all US businesses. When you add in women solopreneurs, that percentage rises to 42% of all businesses in the country. And women of color own half of all woman-owned companies.

The rise of woman-owned businesses is good news for everyone, really. Entrepreneurial ventures allow women to earn a living engaged in an activity they are passionate about, or particularly skilled in. 

The key to future growth for women business owners is increasing support for their companies and their work. Instead of making a purchase on Amazon or Walmart, for example, how about seeking out a smaller, woman-owned firm selling similar goods and services. You can buy through their business website or on a platform like Etsy or Fiverr, just to name a couple.

But support doesn’t have to mean spending money. 

Sometimes, support that doesn’t cost a dime can ultimately lead to bigger and better opportunities for women business owners.

How about trying some of the following tactics to show your support for female entrepreneurs:

1. Celebrate their successes

When you see a fellow woman business owner achieving their goals, whatever they are, show your support by giving them a pat on the back, publicly. Give them a shout-out on Facebook, share a celebratory note on IG and tag them, and mention their recent win on LinkedIn.

Spread the word. In many cases, those mentions and virtual high-fives can lead to connections that are worth far more than a single purchase you could make.

2. Make referrals

After you have a good experience doing business with a woman business owner, tell all your friends. Spread the word that your bookkeeper makes your life so much easier, that your lawyer is helping you protect your assets, or that the café on the corner has the BEST doughnuts. And drop names, and maybe even addresses.

Or when a colleague or friend asks who you use for trash pickup, or snowplowing, or tax accounting, try to recommend a woman business owner you know and respect. Those types of referrals are worth their weight in gold.

3. Leave positive reviews

Along the same lines, when you have a positive experience, go online and tell everyone about your recent purchase experience. Rave loudly!

Yelp is best-known for restaurants, but you can review local businesses there, too. You can also leave Google reviews and LinkedIn recommendations just as easily. If the company sells a product, you may be able to leave a customer review on their website, or on the platform where the product is sold.

4. Share their posts

When you see a woman business owner sharing news or an article or photo on social media, share the post with your network, if it’s relevant. This helps raise the visibility of the entrepreneur and their business.

Or, if the post isn’t really appropriate for your crowd (maybe it’s about a business 500 miles away, or topic you’re not sure your followers would be interested in), comment on the post. Comments help post performance and can help ensure others will see it. So, add a couple of words of encouragement, or type up your positive thoughts on the topic.

5. Make introductions

One way to help expand women business owners’ network is to bring them into your own circle of friends and colleagues. Introduce them to other women business owners they should know.

You can do that simply through email, through a Zoom chat, or by inviting them both to a business networking event. “I want you to meet…” is a great conversation starter.

6. Mentor aspiring and current women business owners

When you’re just starting out in business, it can feel overwhelming. You don’t know what you don’t know, and that’s scary. Imagine how comforting it would be to meet another woman business owner willing to help you avoid common problems and expensive missteps.

Sounds great, doesn’t it?

If you’ve had a few years of experience running your own business, how about looking for opportunities to help other women business owners who aren’t yet where you are. You’re likely to find them within trade and professional organizations you belong to, or local associations and civic organizations. The Chamber of Commerce may be a good starting point, or a networking group like BNI.

No matter what you do, if you keep your support positive and encouraging, you can help women business owners thrive and succeed. 

Public speaking is one of the most effective and least expensive marketing tools available. If you have more time than money right now to grow your business, think about doing some public speaking.

As the person in the front of the room sharing information, you’re the de facto authority on your topic. You’re the expert. This positioning can help raise your visibility and credibility as a businessperson.

That’s true whether you’re speaking to a high school classroom, where students may go home and tell their parents about you; to undergrad or graduate students; to members of a civic organization like Rotary or Kiwanis; to employees of a corporation or nonprofit; to colleagues and peers in an industry organization; or to attendees at a trade show.

The more you speak to groups, the faster your name and brand will spread, through word-of-mouth. Even if they don’t know exactly what you do, people will begin to recognize your name, or the type of business you run. You may start to receive referrals or recommendations from people who have sat in your audiences.

By speaking to multiple people at once, public speaking is also a very efficient marketing method. Instead of meeting one-on-one with prospects, you can educate and inform an audience of many, without having to convince them of your knowledge and expertise. After all, an organization asked you to speak to their employees, members, students, or industry professionals. That means, you probably know more than everyone else in the room.

Learning the Art of Public Speaking

If you like the idea of being perceived as an expert, but aren’t thrilled about the prospect of standing up to speak to a group, there are ways to learn the art of public speaking and get chances to practice.

Toastmasters is a terrific resource for people who want to get better at any kind of public speaking. The organization’s mission is to build public speaking and leadership skills. There are local Toastmasters groups that meet regularly, to help their members get practice and receive regular feedback to help them improve.

Dale Carnegie and other training organizations offer public speaking classes, where you can learn basic do’s and don’ts and have the chance to practice in front of people. Your local community center or community college may also offer public speaking courses. The more you can get in front of people and get feedback on your performance, the faster you’ll improve and get comfortable with your role as a speaker.

LinkedIn has an online course (which is free), to help develop public speaking skills, as do paid platforms like Udemy and MasterClass.

If you’re already confident of your speaking skills and are ready to explore where you might get in front of an audience, here are some strategies for connecting with people in a position to ask you to speak.

Craft a List of Potential Talk Topics

Once you’re confident in your ability to entertain and educate an audience, you’ll want to prepare a speaker one sheet, or speaker sheet, which contains information about you, your qualifications and experience, and the topics you’re qualified to speak on.

That’s your speaker marketing tool, so you’ll want to put some time into polishing it.

Thinking about topics you could speak on that would also position you as an expert and help promote your company is an important step in this process. Sure, you might be able to talk for an hour about quilting or ADHD or extreme couponing, but if your business provides personal training services, you’re not helping to promote your company if you talk about those other interests. Your target audience is likely more interested in learning from you about good stretching exercises, the best in-home gym equipment to buy, or training for a 5k run in 30 days.

Brainstorm topics that will present your business in a positive light, give you a chance to demonstrate your expertise, and be of interest to your target customer.

Finding Speaking Opportunities

Before you start looking for opportunities to speak, which can quickly eat up a lot of your time, get clear about your target client or customer. Who is it you want to connect with? 

For example, if you’re a retailer, it might be worth your while to make local residents know more about your store. Speaking to local groups would be a good start. If you’re a pet groomer, finding organizations and groups in your region dedicated to pets and pet owners would be smart. If you manufacture a product, connecting with potential wholesalers or retailers might be your approach. And if you’re a management consultant or coach, finding groups that bring together professionals potentially in need of your services would be your best bet.

Think about who is most likely to buy from you or hire you, and then look for events, groups, and conferences where you can get in front of them.

Add a speaker/speaking tab to your company website. When you decide that you want to pursue speaking opportunities, let people who visit your website know that you offer speaking services. That’s as easy as converting your speaker sheet into a page on your business site. That way, your name is more likely to come up when event organizers go looking for likely speakers.

Blog regularly. Another way to attract attention to yourself, which can result in speaking offers, blog at least weekly on topics of interest to your customer base. Not only will this improve your Google rank in search, but it will support your new position as industry expert.

Join LinkedIn and Facebook groups for speakers. Get your name out there among people who speak regularly, or hire speakers as part of their jobs. There are many online groups that bring such people together.

Reach out to conference organizers. Conferences that bring together industry participants are always in need of speakers, though sometimes they turn to their membership for candidates first. Or you may need to be an exhibitor to qualify. Find out what the requirements are for being considered at various conferences your target customer might attend, and then submit some proposed topics from your one-sheet.

Register on SpeakerHub. Creating a free speaker profile and receiving “a few free” speaking opportunities in the SpeakerHub Marketplace can quickly elevate your game. However, to be able to scour the free and paid speaking opportunities and be positioned as an expert on the site, you may want to consider paying the annual $260 fee. Whether that makes sense depends on how serious you want to be about public speaking, really.

Join the National Speakers Association. If you decide that you want to make speaking an income stream for your business, look into joining the National Speakers Association, which is the organization for professional speakers.

Because a large percentage of the population view public speaking as scarier than dying, you have an advantage if you’re willing to take the stage, or even just stand at the front of the room. But develop your speaking skills before taking that step, to be sure you’re presenting yourself and your business in the best possible light.

Although we’ve been hearing a lot about video and image-based social media platforms, like TikTok and Snapchat and Instagram, LinkedIn is where you can make valuable business connections. 

Becoming active on LinkedIn can connect you to people who may want to do business with you, as well as with potential new hires, with potential joint venture partners, mentors, and colleagues. Yet many entrepreneurs overlook this decidedly less flashy platform. 

If you’re an entrepreneur and you’re not on LinkedIn, it’s likely you’re missing out on making new business connections that can help your company.

Here are some basic tips for tapping into LinkedIn’s powerful network:

Make your profile stand out

Whether you’re setting up a new profile or you’re updating one you’ve had for a while, take a close look at your headline, which is the two lines right underneath your name.

Think about the keywords someone would use if they were looking for your products or service and try to use those to describe who you are and what you do. Can someone read your headline and understand what you sell, or what your skills are?

Just listing your job title as “CEO” or “Founder” or “President” tells an outsider nothing about what you could potentially do for them or their business.

Instead, could you say that you’re an “Award-Winning L.A. Dog Groomer,” “Certified SEO Expert Specializing in the Telecom Industry,” or “Personal Trainer for Busy New Moms in Boston?” 

Combining keywords and your location (if that matters) will attract notice from people in your local area and industry.

Then spend a little time filling in the other sections of your profile, including past jobs, education, and any interests you have, such as hobbies or other LinkedIn organizations you like or admire. This helps others get to know a little about you before they connect.

Expand your network

After you’ve tweaked your profile to make it immediately clear what you offer, it’s time to add new connections. You’ll get noticed faster, the more people you’re connected to.

Doing that is as easy as searching for people or companies you want to network with, or by searching for specific titles, such as “CMO” or “CFO,” if those are your target clients, for example.

You can also go to the profiles of people you admire, or even your competition, and see who they are connected to, and then ask to connect with important people in their network.

If you spend a few minutes each week asking to connect with more people, you’ll see your network size expand almost exponentially.

Ask for recommendations

Near the bottom of your profile, you’ll see a section for recommendations, which are words of praise and compliments written by people you’ve worked with, current or past clients, or people who know you through volunteer activities or school.

Ask people who you know would say nice things about you to write recommendations. And then return the favor by writing one for them.

Create content

With your profile looking more robust and your network growing, it’s time to start making some waves. By that I mean, creating and sharing content with your network.

Under the Activity heading in your profile, you can write articles right on the platform, or you can share posts others have written.

Both are smart to do, but you’ll likely attract more eyeballs if you write an original article related to your business and post it with an image right on LinkedIn (rather than sharing from your blog, for example). The topic should be something that your target audience would be interested in, and maybe has been asking about.

For example, if you run a temporary staffing company, you could pen an article on why temp work is a smart choice right now, as workers decide where they want to work next. Or if you’re trying to attract more corporate clients, you could write something about how retaining a temporary staffing firm as a partner can help avoid any staffing shortages.

Or if you run a retail store, how about an article featuring a company that you carry, to talk about how their products are among the best. You could do profiles of your different product lines, to encourage your shoppers to consider buying them. Doing that also encourages your wholesales to potentially share your article with their network, which then expands your reach considerably.

Create a company page

Since business gets done on LinkedIn, setting up a LinkedIn company page is a good idea, too, in addition to your personal profile. 

It’s a separate account on LinkedIn, which you can use to promote your business. HootSuite has great step-by-step instructions on how to set it up.

There are so many social media platforms today that it’s hard to know if being active on them will be worth your time. LinkedIn is one where you will likely see a payoff if your goal is to connect with fellow business people.

When faced with a choice between hiring an inexperienced employee and an award-winning superstar, most organizations would prefer to hire the superstar. The hitch is that the superstar’s compensation expectations may exceed what a smaller company can afford.

It may be possible to rationalize bringing them on board and cutting budgets in other areas to afford their high pay rate. Some companies have done this in order to tap into the skills and network of top salespeople, for example. The expectation there is that the employee will more than cover their elevated salary with all the new business they bring in. And in many cases, that is the case. The new hire effectively self-funds their compensation package.

However, with non-sales roles, it may not be possible to tie the employee’s pay to immediate revenue increases. In fact, their job may not be impacting revenue directly at all, if they are in an administrative or research position, for example. 

So, what can you do to attract and retain such high performers when your bottom line can’t afford a big payday right now?

While the annual report, “The 2021 Voice of the Blue-Collar Worker,” conducted by EmployBridge, did confirm that pay is the number one factor hourly workers consider when accepting a job—32% claimed it was their top priority—there are a number of other considerations that impact that decision, and may prove equally important in recruiting and retaining workers:

Job security

Twelve percent of workers surveyed indicated that job security was important to them. So how can you convey that the company and their position, in particular, will be around long-term? Can you offer a year-long renewable contract? Can you share financial results company-wide so that all employees can see how the company is doing and what they can do to continue to fuel its success?

Schedule

Another 12% of respondents reported that their schedule was a big deciding factor. For some workers, that might mean that they want flexibility. During the pandemic, being able to work from home became essential for many employees with children who were being schooled remotely. Many want to continue to have that option. Can you provide it? Other workers may prefer certain shifts, whether that’s overnight or day. Can you offer any flexibility in choosing the timing of shifts?

Advancement opportunities

Some employees—6% in this study—indicated that opportunities to be promoted would impact their employment choice. So, can you design a clear career path or path to promotion for your employees? Your business may have ongoing advancement opportunities, but do your employees understand how to find out about them and be considered? Do you have any kind of mentoring program to help high potential employees get noticed?

Education and skill-building

Five percent of those surveyed reported that the opportunity to receive training, to add or enhance skills, was desirable in an employer. What kind of training can you offer? Can you provide each employee with an annual professional development budget to use for skill-building? Can you partner with a local community college to design a program or series of courses for your employees? Do you offer education reimbursement for employees who want to earn a degree? All of these offerings could tip the scales in your favor.

Other offerings that might also prove desirable could include:

Paid time off

What is your policy regarding vacation time or sick days? Are you liberal with days off? Adding personal days or extra vacation time to a new hire’s compensation package is the equivalent of giving them extra compensation, except that you didn’t need to write an additional check. Some companies even offer unlimited vacation, as long as the work gets done. 

Long-term incentives

Even if your business can’t afford to pay top dollar right now, how about identifying larger goals that could trigger a payout to employees. Sometimes referred to as “long-term incentive plans (LTIP),” these programs can be a way to retain skilled workers, with the promise of a big bonus when a milestone is reached. That milestone could be a sales target, a productivity goal, a corporate buyout, or something else. Make sure you’re prepared to write those checks, however, when the target is hit.

A voice in company decision-making

The more employees feel that they’re part of a company, or have a say in how it is run, the more likely they are to stay. So how about creating departmental advisory boards, to get employees involved in policy-setting? Or hold regular town hall meetings, where employees present recent successes, to raise the profile of your hard workers. Find ways to involve top performers in the company’s operations—it could be a useful way of identifying potential successors to current business leaders.

Social activities

Another big reason that employees stick around is that they like their boss and/or their coworkers. So, what can you do to foster bonding within your company? Even if you can’t afford a big off-site gathering in Europe, how about monthly fun events? Depending on where your company is based, you could have an evening of snow skiing or a day at a local amusement park. Or, even simpler, you could have a Friday night potluck dinner, or a chili or barbeque cook-off. Creating opportunities for employees to get to know each other as people, rather than colleagues, can pay off in terms of retention and loyalty.

If your goal is to attract top performers, brainstorm how to craft a compensation package that you can afford and that will give candidates what they value, even if it isn’t quite as much money as they had hoped for.

It’s customary in many industries for companies to give their customers gifts of some kind during the holiday season. For example, beauty salons often give clients small samples of beauty products in appreciation for their business. Accounting firms sometimes mail out annual calendars for the coming year. Salespeople have been known to hand out jars full of candy, which they commit to refilling during the next year. And many firms mail out holiday greetings to let their best customers know their business is appreciated.

These are all great ideas and customers certainly appreciate signs that they are valued, but don’t feel that you need to spend lots of money to express your gratitude. Especially in business-to-business (B2B) relationships, there are many ways you can show appreciation today that won’t cost a dime, but that can reap rewards for your client that can be worth more than a gift basket or nice bottle of wine.

Leave a 5-star review

Leaving a 5-star review on Yelp, Google, Amazon, or wherever your client or supplier is visible can provide a boost to their business. Since many potential customers turn to online reviews for a sense of whether a company is reputable, the addition of a 5-star review may ultimately help sway a potential customer their way. 

For example, adding a 5-star review to a book on Amazon can help the author attract more attention and potentially sell more copies. The same with the caterer whose website you just redesigned, or the payroll provider your company uses. They would love to see a positive review on Yelp or Google. 

Not only does a positive review like that help with Google search rankings, it also adds credibility and legitimacy to a business. Positive reviews are like gold, and they cost you nothing to provide.

Give them a shout-out on social media

Another way to show appreciation is to share a post on social media dedicated to saying nice things about a client or supplier. 

You could take a photo of a product or memorable experience you had or witnessed, for example. Post it to Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, LinkedIn, and/or Twitter, to spread the word that you were completely delighted with what your client provided in the way of goods or services.

Or create a post and mention how great the business is, and that you’re a fan. It can be as easy as that.

Refer them business

Of course, nothing beats sending other businesses new clients.

Whenever you spot an opportunity to refer clients to other clients, you demonstrate the value of doing business with you and your company. Some companies go so far as to create a list of recommended partners. For example, real estate agents keep lists of their go-to home stagers, gardeners, electricians, and inspectors, which they routinely share with potential clients. Commercial printers have lists of designers, copywriters, illustrators, and photographers they like working with.

Create your own list of preferred partners.

Enter an awards program

Ask for your client’s permission to enter your work together into an awards program or competition. Not only does this demonstrate how happy you are with the end result, but it creates an opportunity for the client to be recognized as well.

A graphic designer, for example, could enter a logo or brochure design into a marketing communications awards program. A public relations (PR) firm could enter a publicity campaign into a PR competition. And a painting or landscape contractor could enter photos of client buildings or grounds into programs that recognize top work in their industry.

Whether you win or not isn’t as important as demonstrating to your clients that you’re proud of the work you did, and signaling that they should be, too.

Send a personal note

Our heavy reliance on electronic communications means that snail mail is unexpected. Take a minute to handwrite a personal note of thanks, mentioning specific details of your work together with your client that you enjoyed or appreciated.

For example, if you’re a career coach, you could thank a client for the opportunity to assist them in finding a new career opportunity and for the chance to be part of their journey. If you’re a retailer, you could thank your clients for continuing to patronize your company during a pandemic year. Tell them you’re looking forward to serving them in the New Year as well.

The note doesn’t have to be more than a few sentences, but because no one else is sending out handwritten notes, yours will be noticed and appreciated. And all it costs is a first-class stamp.

Provide a complimentary service

If your business provides a range of products or services, consider giving away something small as a token of appreciation.

Although products cost cash, services will generally only cost your time, depending on what you provide. For example, photographers could send out a free print of a shot the client didn’t select as part of their photography package, as a holiday thank-you. Housecleaning services could clean an extra room in the house, or do a deep clean of the refrigerator at no extra charge during the holidays. And auto mechanics could top off all the fluids and check and fill the air in all the tires on client cars.

These extra steps don’t have to take a lot of time or cost much money, but going beyond what’s expected to express appreciation to your clients will be memorable.

While your business may serve a national or even global customer base, your local news and broadcast outlets are likely to be the most interested in learning about your company. Since their purpose is reporting on local people, organizations, and events, news about you and your business fits right into what many area media outlets want to report on.

And the publicity that can result is one of the best and cheapest ways to promote your business. 

That’s because not only is the media coverage free (versus advertising or some other kind of promotion), but with each quote or mention comes the implied third-party endorsement of the media outlet. Assuming the article topic is positive, your company’s reputation can only be enhanced when readers see you’ve been interviewed in the local business magazine or in the daily newspaper. The natural assumption is that you’re successful, and that’s why the reporter interviewed you.

Local publicity can also be leveraged to pursue national or industry attention.

Believe it or not, catching the attention of local news and broadcast reporters isn’t as difficult as you might expect.

The key is coming up with article ideas that are related to your company, but that go beyond simply profiling you. Profiles are fantastic, but it’s typically harder to convince a reporter to write a piece only about your business. Better to come up with topics that also quote you, rather than being the sole focus.

Proposing Potential Articles

What you need to do is suggest article topics, also known as “pitching.” 

Pitching article ideas is a 4-step process that begins with studying the newspaper, magazine, or website you want to be featured in.

1. Do your research. That means looking at the different sections of, say, the paper, to identify the type of news each section covers. Make a list of what you see as the different departments.

That might include business, sports, personal finance, home and real estate, national news, and/or other subjects. 

Then, read each section to identify the types of articles that are written. Are they profiles of a single person or organization? Are they how-to pieces? Do they tie local happenings to national trends? Do they quote experts or local residents?

2. Brainstorm article ideas. Now that you’re more familiar with each section of your local paper (or magazine or website), it’s time to think up different topics that could fit within those sections.

Daily newspapers want topics that are timely, meaning happening now or in the next week. The same is generally true of websites, since they can update their content quickly. 

Magazines want pitches for topics relevant two to three months in advance; printing and distribution takes that long, so don’t bother pitching a magazine an idea for next month. You’re too late at that point.

Using what you observed from your read of your newspaper, magazine, or website, think about what articles might be of interest to your local community that have to do with your business—not just a write-up describing your company, but having to do with what you sell, how you sell, and who you sell to.

For example, let’s say you run a gift shop and you’re having a special artist demonstration next month. Given the timeframe, you know this is only appropriate for newspapers and websites. Some of the possible articles you could pitch around this one event include:

• A piece about the event itself, offering to connect the arts reporter with the artist who will be in town, for an interview.
• A calendar listing inviting members of the public to attend the demonstration.
• A trends piece about the type of art being demonstrated and why it has caught on recently; why it has become increasingly popular in the last few months.
• A round-up article about women artists, including the one coming in to provide the demonstration.
• A business article about how effective in-store demonstrations are in generating sales.
• A piece offering tips to other gift shops for scheduling effective demonstrations or events

These are just ideas to get you started, but think about your business and all the different angles that might be of interest to a reporter.

3. Find your contact. Once you have a specific idea for an article you want to pitch, you need to track down the name and contact information for the editor who is responsible for that particular department. If you’re reading a print newspaper or magazine, there is usually a masthead—often a page or section of a page near the front—that lists all of the reporters and editors. 

If you can’t find that list in print, use Google to identify who the appropriate person is to connect with.

4. Send a summary of your pitch. When you have an idea and you know who is most likely to be responsible for writing it, send an email summarizing your idea. In the subject line of your email, you could write “Article idea,” to make it clear why you’re getting in touch.

This should be a 3- to 4-paragraph summary of who you are, what your suggestion is for an article, with details regarding why that reporter would be interested (because it’s a local event, represents a local trend, or ties into a national news piece, for example), and an offer to share more information if they’re interested.

Keep in mind that you’re not offering to write the article, nor are you sending a draft of what you’d like to see in print. You’re sending an idea that would include quoting you as a resource.

Another Approach: Write a Press Release

Now, if you want to have a little more control over what is written, you could instead draft a press release and send it out to multiple media outlets at once in the hopes that they use will that information in an upcoming story. 

Press releases are designed to make announcements, primarily, so you could prepare one if you want to share information about:

• An upcoming event
• An honor or award your business received
• A new location
• A new product or service
• A new partnership or joint venture
• A new employee
• An employee who was promoted

Press releases are not appropriate to pitch individual articles, however.

Hubspot has a useful article on how to format a press release, along with some free templates, if you decide you’d rather send something out en masse.

Pursuing media coverage in local newspapers, magazines, bulletins, and community gazettes is a great first step to landing national publicity, and a smart way to raise awareness of your company’s existence within your local community.

Although many business owners focus on sales as the most important metric of success, profitability, or how much you have left after you pay all your bills, is actually a much better measure of how well you’re doing. Profits are what allow you to grow and expand. They also determine whether you can afford to stay in business. 

So, what, exactly, can you do to increase profitability in your business?

There are really two basic ways to boost profits: 1) Increase sales while holding costs steady or 2) Reduce costs associated with those sales. 

Fortunately, there are a number of steps you can take on either front to increase your profits.

Increase sales

Driving up the amount of top line revenue your company generates is one approach to increasing profitability. Some ways to do this include:

Increase the value of each sale. It’s always easier to sell more to your existing customers than to go out and find new customers. So, one way to boost profits is to get your current customer base to buy more from you. That could be by raising your prices, for example, or by giving them reason to buy a wider variety of products and services. If you own a beauty salon, for example, you might persuade your customers to buy their hair products from you, on top of the cut and style they normally pay you for. The goal is to increase the average amount each customer spends with you. 

Increase the volume of sales. Another approach is to get your customers to buy more frequently from you. The average sale remains the same, but you receive more payments than you usually do. You could do that by giving them an incentive to come in more often. Such as if you run a restaurant, you might give diners a reason to come back more than the typical once a month they usually do. Or if you run a doggy daycare, you might offer a temporary discount for bringing dogs in more than, say, once a week—to get clients in the habit of dropping their dogs off more frequently.

Increase your service area. Even without increasing costs or selling more to your existing clients, you can increase your potential market by expanding your geographic service area. That might entail announcing that you deliver to new zip codes, or by advertising in media that serve a broader market. The key is spreading the word that customers outside your current territory can now easily buy from you. One step you can take is creating a website to serve customers nationwide, or even globally. Furniture retailer IKEA used to only sell through its retail stores, making it difficult for customers who weren’t local to buy from the company. Creating a website and accepting online orders has greatly expanded its customer base. You can do the same.

Create new products or services. Another way to convince customers to spend their money with you is to give them other products and services to acquire. You may have customers who rely on you for one or two types of services, but who would gladly buy more if you offered it. For example, a restaurant could add more dessert offerings, a consultant could add an annual evaluation or assessment to track progress, and a personal trainer could begin to sell apparel or vitamins alongside their weekly workout sessions. Keep in mind that the products or services you add to your offerings don’t have to be things you personally create; you could explore affiliate relationships, where you sell products others have created in exchange for a small commission.

Reduce costs

The converse of increasing the topline revenue is looking at how to reduce cash outflow. Some tactics toward that end are to:

Negotiate with suppliers. Reducing the cost of your products and services begins with looking at what you’re paying your suppliers. Can you find a way to reduce your cost of goods sold by buying in larger quantities, for example? Can you negotiate for your supplier to pay freight costs? Or can you find a supplier who is closer to your operations or less expensive? Explore with your suppliers what kind of discounts they might offer you, or strategies they might recommend to drive down your costs.

Delegate to lower-cost suppliers. Sometimes it’s possible to find suppliers to take on the responsibility for managing parts of your business and that cost less than an employee’s salary. For example, using an outside bookkeeper might be less expensive than adding a full-time staffer. Or retaining a social media manager, content creator, or prototype designer on a contract basis, per project, might turn out to be less expensive than the ongoing expense of an employee, especially if there isn’t 40 hours of work to be done each and every week. 

Reduce direct costs. Sometimes the problem with expenses has to do with basic overhead, such as what you’re paying for office or warehouse space, what you’re spending on utilities, or on employee salaries. Could you save money by moving? By reducing the hours you’re open (without significantly impacting sales)? By installing solar panels to generate electricity? Reducing what you must pay each month, separate from anything related to production, can dramatically impact your profitability.

Improve productivity. Helping your employees do more in less time is another way to reduce indirect costs associated with serving customers. Offering training, for example, is a great way to help staff members learn how to complete tasks in less time, or with fewer errors, which can also drive up costs. In some cases, you may need to invest in tools and technology to enable productivity improvements, so confirm that the long-term benefit will more than pay for what you’re spending. Automating some tasks, for example, is another strategy for productivity improvements.

Look at both sides of the balance sheet—meaning cash coming in and going out—for clues to how you can increase your company’s profitability.