Relationship Marketing | Build Your Online Business

Every few months I re-visit the topic of goal-setting.  I've found that to a large extent the measure of success that I experience in my life and business is closely connected to the goals I set and work towards, as well as the effort made to achieve those goals.

How about you?  Do you set realistic goals in various aspects of your life, or do you dream about what you'd like to achieve and make decisions on a day-to-day basis?

Areas of Life to Apply Goal-Setting

• Spirituality – Grow in your level of spirituality
• Relationships – Develop healthy relationships with others:  family, co-workers, business, etc.
• Work – Become more focused on your business while keeping work in its proper place
• Friendships – Become a better friend, and build more genuine friendships
• Personal health and fitness – Evaluate where you are and where you need to be in order to enjoy optimal health to the extent you can control.

These are all areas of life in which each one of us can set realistic goals.  However, this series will focus on Goal-Setting for Entrepreneurs.

Goal Setting for Entrepreneurs

Whether you are a Solopreneur who works from home, an entrepreneur who has a home-based office but works mostly away from home, or you have a brick and mortar office or store, all of us are affected by how well we implement the goal-setting process.

In my next post we'll discuss some personal benefits you can gain from setting goals.

If you work from home you invariably have multiple responsibilities.  You may be a work-at-home-woman or a work-at-home-man. Your reasons for working from home may differ, but ultimately the goal is the same: To earn an income from the business activities you engage in from home.  Note that I mentioned “from home.”  While home is the base for many of us, our actual work activities may take us away from home for chunks of time. On the other hand, some jobs may involve spending the majority of time working in your home office.

Set a Schedule and Learn to Say “No”

The challenge for many of us at the end of each day is answering the question,  “Where did the time go?” People who work from home usually fall into one of two camps: 1) Those who set a schedule and try their best to stick to it 2) Those who ‘go with the flow.'

If you have a schedule, do you stick to it or do you find yourself constantly engaged in non-business activities during designated business hours?  Do you find it hard to say “No” (more…)

Recently I was talking with a small business owner about become more visible online and we got to the topic of having a blog.  I got a negative reaction and wasn’t sure why, so I asked searching questions.   The reasons for the negative response became clear very quickly.  The business owner's concept of blogs was that blogs could not have any beneficial effect on her business since blogs are just logs or updates of what people do on a daily basis.

There are people who use blogs for that purpose, but large companies are now using blogs to reach their market and build an audience, gain online visibility, and promote their business.  This in itself should make anyone who underestimates the value of having a business blog stop and think.  If large companies are taking advantage of the benefits of having a blog, how much more can this benefit small business owners?

Here are five important reasons why blogging can enhance your business and should be part of your internet marketing strategies:

1.  Google and the other search engines love blogs.  Unlike static websites, blogs are updated frequently so that when (more…)