Good habits build together to make you successful

Your habits can be the foundation to your success.  

a) When you have a new activity on your list that you want to do 5 days a week, consider picking one day and locking in that you complete the activity that day no matter what.  No excuses - first thing on the list is that activity.  Guarantee your success once a week.

Once you do that a couple weeks then add in a second day that has a very high guarantee that it will get done.  You might be aiming for 5 days a week from the start but do promise yourself and get it done the once a week and then twice....and keep building until you get really consistent for the five.  

b) Putting things in the correct place right away can save so much time and energy.  If you have the habit of taking the extra couple of seconds to save the file into the correct place or putting that item in the correct place in the office in the long run you save time and energy.

c) Write down your shopping list as you think of the first thing you need.  Whether it is the grocery store, Staples or Canadian Tire, starting a list makes it easy to identify when you need to go and helps ensure you get everything you need in one trip.

d) Repeat your successful morning routine.  Professional athletes tend to have very specific routines before they compete - they eat the same foods, wear the same socks, etc.

e) Sleep is a huge factor in your success so figure out your bedtime routine. Having the same bedtime can improve your sleep.

f) Focus for an hour then take a couple of minute break and then pick a new task.

The more good habits you have the more successful you will be.

To figure out what habits will help with your success, consider the following questions:

Are you most productive on the days you go for a walk in the morning?

Are you excited for the days that you have meetings out of the house?

Did you notice that the days you build in breaks between meetings you get so much done?

Is there a noticeable difference in your efforts when you play music?

Need help to set up your success habits?  Book a business consultation with Cheryl Rankin, Fit For Business.

Cheryl Rankin

Fit For Business

647-287-0320

info@fitforbusiness.ca

www.fitforbusiness.ca

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2025 Fit For Business Tips For Success

Now is the time to set yourself up for success.  Do not try to be perfect as the novelty will wear off too quickly.  Try to improve and get on track and stay on track.  Here are some tips to help you.

1 - Write down your goals

2 - Start your day at the same time each day

3 - Track your efforts each day for a week - does everything align with your goals?

4 - Identify the 10 tasks you would like to get done today and give them each one hour in your calendar

5 - Block time for meetings - actual meeting time, travel time, prep time and follow up time

6 - Set up your system to track any new contacts and your follow-ups / interactions

7 - Assign at least 1 hour a week to work on the future / long term goals

8 - Confirm timeslots for your meals and any personal activities

9 - Monitor your efforts - if you made 100 phone calls, how many voicemails did you leave?, did anyone book a meeting....

10 - Review your marketing action plan and revise if needed

11 - Document any repetitive tasks so you can make them easier in the future

12 - Identify any tasks that you could delegate - are you charging enough to pay someone else to do them?

13 - Get outside everyday - fresh air and sunshine definitely reenergize you

14 - Back up your files - if you do not have a back up system then email yourself any super important documents so you have a copy

15 - Read - block at least 15 min a day to read

16 - Have a single calendar.  Incorporate all of your calendar appointments into one place

17 - Schedule one coffee meeting a week with a prospect, client or referral source 

18 - Continue to market even if you are crazy busy - an occasional post or an email once in awhile will make a huge difference in the long run

19 - Network in-person at least once a month.  Online networking does not always create a local foundation for your business.

20 - Identify your reward for your success but also identify your reward for your efforts

21 - Stay inside your budget.  Even marketing opportunities are not worth overspending.  Find other marketing options until you have the money for the larger opportunities.

22 - Take business cards or note down new contacts.  You might not buy from the new contact but your prospects might and you could get some good points by connecting them.

23 - Encourage contacts online to connect with you directly so you have their contact information.  If the social media website goes down or closes - you lose all of those contacts.

24 - When you complete a project, finish it down to the last detail and do not leave any lose strings.  

25 - Be confident - you can do it.  Use daily affirmations if you need to help convince yourself you can do it

PS - sign up for the 100 day business challenge to improve your business.

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/1101067946869?aff=oddtdtcreator 

Cheryl Rankin

Fit For Business

647-287-0320

info@fitforbusiness.ca

www.fitforbusiness.ca 

Business During The Holidays

Is your business very quiet at holiday time?  Are your clients busy with other things? Are your clients limited with funds due to holiday spending?

Here are 12 ideas to help you be productive during the holidays.

1 - Stay on a routine as much as possible.  If you always start work at 9am then start at 9am.

2 - Do a minimal amount everyday.  Even one hour a day can keep you in the game and keep you productive so you do not start 2025 at a dead stand still.

3 - Check emails daily.  Delete anything you do not need.  Only deal with the urgent ones.

4 - Create a 'to do list' for 2025.  Whether it is emails you ignored or other tasks, take the time to put them on your to do list.

5 - Respond to emails that require your attention.  "Quick note to confirm I received your email.  I will respond in the new year.  Happy Holidays!"

6 - Write one article you can use for your blog, newsletter or website in the new year.

7 - Send yourself an email with an idea or task that you do not want to forget by using your phone -- stay off your computer so you do not start checking emails but do not forget that idea or task.

8 - Set up your calendar for 2025 - do you have a paper calendar or online one?  Take the time to block the timeslots for your repeat meetings and other dates you already know.

9 - Work on organizing any receipts and finances you can when things are quiet.  Consider hiring a bookkeeper if you have too much to catch up on - they will catch you up and set you up for success going forwards.

10 - Invite great clients, referral sources and potential clients for an in-person coffee.  You can enjoy the chat, get to know them better and plant a seed about how you can help them or they can help you in 2025.

11 - Are you caught up?  Do you owe any clients or potential clients proposals or notes?  Use one block of time to get one more task off your list.

12 - Holiday time is for family.  Enjoy the time!

PS - sign up for the 100 day business challenge and start growing your business exponentially! Click here to sign up.

 

Cheryl Rankin

Fit For Business

fitforbusiness@rogers.com

www.fitforbusiness.ca

647-287-0320

 Is your business stuck?

Sign up today for the 100 day business challenge.

You will receive an email each day with a challenge to review and improve one piece or your business.

Spend a half an hour each day on 100 pieces of your business and watch your business grow exponentially.  Marketing, sales and more topics to turn around and / or grow your business to the next level.

To Register and pay with a creditcard - click here

To register - please e-Transfer your registration fee to fitforbusiness@rogers.com

Cheryl Rankin

Fit For Business

fitforbusiness@rogers.com

647-287-0320

Networking For Business Prospects

Here are a few tips that will make your networking more successful.

1 - know your target market

2 - have a strong one minute business introduction

3 - your prospect may not be in the room but know that the people in the room have contacts that might be your perfect prospect

4 - keep track of who you networked with in case any of your contacts might need them

5 - figure out how to help at least one person in the room

#3 above is at the core of networking.  A room of 10 people who each have a contact list of 1,000 means that there are over 1,000 contacts that you are trying to connect to.  Leave a positive impression with everyone in the room.  They could connect you to your perfect prospect.

A consultant that I met many years ago, said he went to small business networking events for 3 months.  His target market was large businesses like McDonalds, Air Canada, and Home Depot.  After the 3 months he had connected to arrange 3 introduction meetings and got two clients.  His prospects were never at those small business networking meetings.

Cheryl Rankin

Fit For Business

647-287-0320

Gardening For Strategies

 Do you do any planning or thinking when you are in your garden?

After a crazy summer schedule, I found ragweed / golden rod weeds taking over my garden.  Well that is not good since I am allergic to ragweed! Not good at all!

I blocked time to get rid of the ragweed.  

step 1 - decision to pull out the ragweed and not just chop it off (Do the project correctly the first time and do not have to worry about having to redo it.)

step 2 - try pulling it out to no avail.....the roots are too strong 

step 3 - review the strategy - new strategy - water the ground and see if it makes it easier to pull the weed

step 4 - try again......some of the weeds came out with this new strategy

step 5 - review the strategy - new strategy - try digging down to break the roots before pulling them out

step 6 - wow - it worked - the rest of the weed came out

When working on a business project, try a strategy but evaluate the strategy before repeating it.

Did it work? Was it effective and efficient use of time, energy and tools?

Consider other strategies to reach your project goal.  Learn from my gardening experience that some of the best results come from changing strategies during a project.

Cheryl Rankin, Fit For Business

fitforbusiness@rogers.com / 647-287-0320

Do Not Sell Anything!

Do Not Sell Anything!

To have the most success in sales - do not sell anything!

Help your prospect buy your product or service.  Have you ever had a pushy sales person?  They were not taking the time to find out anything about you and were pushing the sale on you.

- confirm the prospect's need
- identify how your product / service will help them solve their need (problem)
- confirm the prospect's timing (when do they need your product?)
- confirm the prospect's budget

What does your prospect need in order to buy your product?

- do they need to test it out? (try on shoes?)
- do they need to have more than one price quote? (an insurance company gives you 3 quotes so that you can be ready to buy)
- do they need testimonials?
- do they need a sale?
- do they need extra details and explanation?
- do they need to see some before and after pictures from previous projects?

Take the time to give your prospect the information they need in order to help them buy your product and you will not have to sell them anything.

Book a sales consultation and boost your revenue starting this month.

Cheryl Rankin
Business Consultant
Fit For Business
info@fitforbusiness.ca
647-287-0320

20 Tips for 2020

20 Social Media Tips for 2020

1 - Keep your business and personal posts separate.  A few posts that show you have personality are great but if every second post is personal then your target market may get distracted and forget what you do for business.

2 - Build your list.  Posting to 20 people means that only 20 people will see your post - grow your list.

3 - Start a group - use your business name and start a group.

4 - Start a business page - use your business name to start a business page.

5 - Join other groups and review their guidelines.  Can you post tips and hints?  Can you post advertisments?

6 - Join other business pages, especially the ones of business friends who may help share your messages.

7 - When someone asks you to join their group or follow their business page - do it and then send them a private message "I followed your page, please consider following mine at https://www.facebook.com/FitForBusinessConsulting/ "

8 - Be helpful in 9 out of 10 posts.

9 - 10th post can be an advertisement.

10 - Use pictures and /or coloured backgrounds.

11 - Stay positive - if you always complain then you send out negative energy and people prefer to buy from people who are positive.  

12 - Be timely - if it is the holiday season then include that in your post.

13 - Try videos - they can be short and sweet - 2 minutes.  Whether it is a facebook live or a You Tube video link, they add extra energy and attract more viewers  to your post.

14 - like / comment / share - if you help your contacts share their information then they will help share your contact info once in awhile.

15 - Set up an event - you can set up a facebook event and you can invite your contacts to the event.  They will receive an email to the event but may not receive emails for individual posts.

16 - Post regularly - try to post daily.

17 - Post a link to your blog or newsletter articles.

18 - Be sure to remind people to go to your website and sign up for your newsletter.  If the social media site ever closes down you do not want to lose all of your contacts.

19 - Check the inbound messages in your account regularly in case you have a lead.  You can also send private messages to people who seem interested in your posts.

20 - Remember that social media is part of your marketing plan - not your whole marketing plan so you should still meet people in person, phone people and email people individually.  Consider getting a booth at a business tradeshow or a commuity event to introduce your business and use your social media accounts to stay connected and build your business relationships.

Fit For Business can take care of your social media accounts for you.  Call today to get our introductory social media services rates at $60 plus tax a month.

Cheryl Rankin

Business Consultant

Fit For Business

info@fitforbusiness.ca

647-287-0320 

 

2020 is here.  Is your business ready to go? Are you ready to go?

A business plan will help you confirm your focus and what resources you need in order to succeed.  An existing business plan should be reviewed and updated in order to be as useful as possible.  

Your focus - identify your goals and what products or services you are selling in order to meet these goals.  Your goals will start as an annual goal but it is best to break them down into  monthly and even weekly goals so that you can create your tasks / actions you need to perform in order to meet your goals.

Your resources - in order to meet your business goals, what do you need for resources?  Whether it is raw ingredients for manufacturing products or new software to manage your schedule or staff in order to meet the production and delivery needs of the business - you need to identify the resources and confirm when and how to get them.

You - identify the skills you need in order to meet the goals you have identified.  If you need some more skills then do some research on how to get those skills.  Identify how you will actually do the work that is needed. Confirm whether or not you have enough time to do all of the tasks necessary or if you need to hire someone to help.

Most people are not actually ready to run their business at the level of their goals.  Taking time to prepare will help insure that you can actually grow to that level, attain the success you dream of and most of all make sure that you do not burn out.

Cheryl Rankin

Business Consultant, Fit For Business

info@fitforbusiness.ca

647-287-0320

Fit For Business - 100 Day Challenge

Fit For Business - 100 Day Challenge