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10 Simple Ways To Boost Your Business Energy

The start of the month is a great time to bring some intention to your business – and especially to boost your business energy. These 10 simple tips are great ways to energise your business and feel good while you’re running a creative business this month.

If you’re a small business owner, chances are you easily find yourself on the hamster wheel of your to-do list, responding to enquiries and orders as they come in. The bigger business strategy can fall behind! However, having simple steps to work through can make a huge difference.

Even if you don’t do a full plan for the month or the quarter, I have some tips that will help you to bring in some fresh energy in the month ahead…

Jenny is smiling with her hands together, over a graphic image that reads, "10 simple ways to boost your business energy"

10 Business Tips To Boost Your Business Energy In April:

  1. Refresh your homepage. Does it reflect your current bestsellers, offerings, and energy? Rather than a chore of technology, imagine you’re tinkering with a real-life shop window. What would you put on display? Let your online equivalent reflect that spirit.
  2. Check your Instagram bio. Could it share more authentically about your creativity? Are the links up to date and useful? Does it articulate your value? I’ve had “update highlights” in the back of my mind for a while, and I’m determined that this will be the month for it!
  3. Have a gorgeous Money Date with your business. Invite yourself to coffee and cake (or whatever tickles your fancy) and catch up on your bookkeeping and cash flow. This is something creatives procrastinate, so make it enjoyable!
  4. While we’re at it, get ahead with your tax return (if you complete a UK self-assessment). You’ll feel really smug if you get this done early, and your cash flow planning will thank you later. If in doubt, hire an accountant to help.
  5. Plan a creative outing with yourself or a friend. Visit an art gallery, take a day trip somewhere, or even book a class! Cultivating creativity ultimately fuels your business, so it’s highly recommended.
  6. Invest in a pretty wall planner that inspires you. Betsy Benn has one that starts every quarter, so there’s no wasted space.
  7. Choose ONE marketing channel to focus on this month. Instagram (especially Reels) can be great for visibility; email marketing typically converts to sales at a higher rate.
  8. Check your profit margins (and put your prices up!). There’s no denying that costs are rising, so make sure you’re not caught out. My profit calculator spreadsheet is now available for just £22, making it a wise investment that pays off.
  9. Have a spring clean. “Outer order, inner calm,” says Gretchen Rubin. She’s right, and yet I’m still allergic to decluttering. Taking 15 minutes to clear my desk is manageable and effective. Do that weekly and you’ll see a big difference.
  10. Choose 2 or 3 pick-me-ups to raise your spirits this month. Try a new blend of tea or coffee. Buy yourself flowers for your studio. Order cake for 3 weeks’ time and be surprised when they arrive (Jess makes great options). Enjoy an inspiring book (Austin Kleon’s Steal Like An Artist has a gorgeous 10th anniversary edition, and it’s easy to just read one page). Try a new essential oil roller (I love the chakra range by Eve & Keel).

This isn’t a perfectionist to-do list.

You don’t have to do every single one of these things to boost your business. One is great!

Above all, listen to your own inner wisdom: I’m pretty sure there are things you know will benefit you, too.

What are your favourite ways to boost your business energy? I’d love to hear!

How to focus: part 1

If you’re a small business owner, and especially if you’re a one-woman-band / solopreneur, finding focus (and sticking to it) can feel impossible.

A single day can include fulfilling orders, answering emails, scheduling social media posts, ordering stock, trying to fix that thing on your website, wondering whether you should invest in advertising, uploading products, taking photos, and on and on and on.

Whew! Can you see why you feel exhausted?

A big part of my work with clients has been to cut through the noise and find the things they really need to focus on – and then prioritise them.

This week and next, I’m sharing focus tips, reminders, and to dos that will help you to focus and find more ease in your business.

Today: It’s part one, and we’re starting out with WHY a lot of small business owners don’t stay focused. (You may recognise yourself in this list)…

5 Top Reasons Creative Business Owners Don’t Stay Focused:

  • We overestimate what we can do in the short term. We think things will take 10 minutes when they really take half an hour. We think we can get a wide variety of things done in a single day, task-switching merrily. We are wrong.
  • We underestimate what we can do in the long term. We dream small because we’re really tired from all our overestimating in the short term. This is the twin sister of the point above, and they’re both brilliant observations by Gretchen Rubin.
  • We underestimate the effectiveness of focus. The biggest secret of business is that focus actually works. Going all in on one thing feels vulnerable because we think we have to do everything. But time and again, it pays off. Big time.
  • We don’t trust we’ll get to it later. We carry all the to dos over to our daily lists because we think we’ll forget. So we’re just thinking about a million things, all the time.
  • We don’t trust we’ll choose the RIGHT focus. OOOOOOOH, this is a big one. The vulnerability of committing to a thing. Let me tell you: you know what you really want to focus on. You know how to get resources and support if you’re not sure of specific steps.

Sound familiar? All the more reason to start seeing focus as the key that unlocks your potential…

And I’ve been there too! I like shiny things. I like ideas. I like creating. It is HARD to commit to one thing (more on that in a minute). But the last couple of years, and especially the last 12 months, have been more and more focused for my business – and it has massively paid off.

Plus I see this all the time with my clients. The focus of creating a new collection and working towards the launch. Focusing on a clear customer desire and meeting it. The clarity of working on a new website to completion before adding in any other projects.

It works.

Focus actually makes us MORE productive, profitable, and effective. Which leads to more success, happiness, and satisfaction.

By focusing, you get a sense of completion, you start trusting yourself more, and your confidence grows. You work on the things that uniquely right for you – and seriously, that’s just the best.

So here’s what you, dear one-woman-band, need to let go of…

You have to let go of comparison, distractions, and what other people are doing.

Choose two or three projects to focus on at a time and commit to them.

If (when) something else comes up, put it one a “to consider” list for when you have space to take on your next project.

Join me next week, when I’ll be sharing real-life examples of client projects and how to focus them. (And I have some exciting news!)

Do you need to change the journey or the destination?

If you’re a maker, solopreneur, or creative business founder, there’s a possibility that you’ve been reviewing your business and considering your goals for the year.

Chances are, you feel like there are a lot of possibilities, but you maybe haven’t really clarified your vision just yet.

I get it. There are lots of moving parts to business (and life), and 2021 isn’t exactly the most straightforward of times to be living in.

And as humans, we have this amazing ability for our monkey minds to be noisy chatter about all kinds of things that don’t really matter.

So let’s quieten down that voice and cut to the heart of things.

I have a metaphor (full disclosure: I love a metaphor!) that may just help you to see things differently…

The train metaphor

Imagine this year, or perhaps this phase, is a train journey. (Remember them?!)

You’ve got a ticket, you’ve found your seat, you’re ready to enjoy the ride.

Well, maybe you’re ready to enjoy it. Let’s just check in with that, shall we?

Are you headed to a destination you’ve been to before? Is this year looking pretty much like the last? Or are you headed somewhere new?

You can go to the same destination: reach more or less the same financial position, help the same customers, do the same things. For some of my clients, that’s actually really brilliant. For them, I invite them to buy a first class ticket, or maybe take the fast train with fewer stops. (Or even take the slow train and pause along the way…)

If that’s you, perhaps you can imagine how to upgrade your journey this year. Pack better snacks? First class seat? A welcome party when you get there?

And maybe you’re changing the destination…

The thing about trains is that there are a lot of them. You could go somewhere nearby, or you could board a train to another country and get halfway around the world.

Where will your ticket take you this year?

Is it close to where you’ve been before, or somewhere new?

Are you taking a stopping train through somewhere beautiful? Or a fast train to somewhere vibrant and exciting?

Where would you like to end up? And how can you make the journey smooth, enjoyable, and totally right for you?

The journey matters

We get caught up in the destination a lot – and that’s important. Especially when you have business goals that feed into the quality of your life.

But we spend a lot of time on metaphorical trains, moving from one place to another.

So my invitation for you today is to consider how you could make your journey work better for you.

You don’t have to take the same old train, sit in the same old seat, feel the same old weariness. We’re not commuters, worn in by habit and trying to get everything done as quickly as possible.

Instead, see the full possibility of what’s available to you. Trains headed in all kinds of directions. A ticket to platform 9 3/4. Trains through beautiful countryside with stunning views. Journeys that are just as much fun as the destination.

I can’t wait to hear if this helps you think differently about your business and plans for the year ahead! I’d love to know more about the train you’re on.

And if you enjoyed this metaphor, you might also like this one about cake, this one about cooking, and this one about movies.

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Notes of Encouragement

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