Motivational Advice For Business Owners In 2020
2020 is the year of challenges and changes. For many people the pandemic has had a huge impact on all sectors of their life. Unemployment has risen with more small-scale businesses shutting down due to drop in the market, but as with the saying “no pain, no gain” if you survive this year it is sure to make you stronger. If you’re smart, this is the year to review your business roadmap and make changes if necessary. The highest mountains are conquered by those who don’t give up, no matter how tough the situations get. The victory lies on the other side of the obstacles, and we can always win through them. Now the question lies, how to get through this year…
Self-improvement And Enhancement Is The Key
Learning is important for constant growth, as an individual and as a business person. Because if you’re not willing to invest in yourself, why should anyone else be willing to invest in you?
Investing in yourself, your mindset, and habits is key to good business. It’s your dependability that people believe in more than the ideas, so it’s necessary to work on your frame of mind.
Embrace Your Fears And Be Courageous
The absence of fear is not courage; it is embracing the fear and going along with it to achieve the tasks, regardless, which takes courage. Fear is nothing but a condition of the brain; it is there to protect you when something is unsafe. Fear keeps you safe and makes you avoid a situation when it’s unsafe. A businessperson’s mind works slightly differently, an entrepreneur’s brain can do anything until it gets to the edge of the cliff, but it won’t let them jump, for that leap of faith they must rely on something else instead of their brain. No-one likes to be afraid, but it is the ability to get out of your comfort zone that makes you learn and grow. This is the year to get comfortable with being uncomfortable!
Talk To Your Customers
The more you interact, the more you’ll connect, the more you connect, the better you’ll know your customer’s needs and the better you fulfil them. This will earn loyalty from your customers, which is the most important requirement during a pandemic. Whilst your physical Cigar shop is closed, you can pivot and sell cigars online. As many physical stores and businesses pivot to online during the pandemic, this is when loyalty will be essential.
Set Goals Or Renew Them As Per Needs
It’s essential to adapt to the changing market, business conditions, and client types to keep up the growth and development of your business, even amidst adverse conditions like a global pandemic. Switch to more market efficient techniques, set new goals, motivate your employees to work towards achieving them with better speed.
Tap into your original motivation for starting your business
In tough times like these, it’s important to remember why you started doing what you’re doing, in the first place. Were you super passionate about sharing your passion for Cuban cigars with people? Can you create an online community of passionate cigar smokers whilst everyone is in lockdown? When you visualize the beginning, it helps you be open to new ideas, and to have a clear perspective of the situations and how to deal with them.
Seek Help From Industry Professionals and Peers
You can’t be expected to know everything or be an expert in all areas of your business. Be honest with yourself, and where needed turn to a business management consultant to advise you. Join small business associations for advice, for in times like these, every hand of support counts.
Change The Game
Look, analyze, innovate. Observe the working patterns and ideas of people nearby in the industry, analyze the ways of their creativity, and then observe innovation in industries other than your own. Combine these new ideas with your existing knowledge and create something new. A business stands and thrives on creativity.
Promote And Show
Half your success depends on the quality of your work, and the other half depends on how much you shout about it. The more you promote, the more will people know. Do a lot of PR to promote and prove to the world that what you’re presenting is what they need.
Pay Yourself
You must focus first on making money first, then and after doing so, be sure to pay yourself. After all, the most important investment you’ll make is in yourself.
Believe And Keep Positive
Even in the darkest moments of your life and your business, look for light and don’t lose hope, because your positive mindset will get you through the toughest hurdles.
Venue Type For Client Meetings
Providing a good venue in meeting a client helps in establishing a good impression and reputation. But what is the ideal one to casually meet a client in to catch up? A formal or an informal one? Perhaps, the best way to know is to be aware first, about the difference between a formal meeting and an informal one.
A formal meeting has a set agenda and the minutes of the meeting had to be documented. Examples are board or conference meetings, informal venues, special task forces, committees, and communities. The ones that attend it usually have defined roles that follow a hierarchy and are more likely to be representing companies and organizations. Note, if your team or client is about to undergo a training session like an organizational development certification then you need to formalise the meeting in advance.
On the other hand, informal meetings happen as it gets organized on a day-to-day basis. Brainstorming sessions and progress reporting fall into this kind. Informal meetings require an agenda. But mostly, to keep everyone focused. It keeps them on track so that they won’t get derailed from the purpose of the meeting. Minutes are not legally required but it’s always advisable. And if they were taken down, it’s just to know what was tackled as a pointer for the next meeting to take lead from.
When it comes to informal meetings’ minutes, such as one-on-one coaching and mentoring information chats, they are more lenient and do not require formal use of language and sequence. No formal votes needed therefore, no need for structured decision-making. This is not a license for informal meetings to lose their structure altogether. They also most certainly aren’t free for all to attend.
Now that we have clearly defined each, it’s safe to assume that it’s common that informal meetings will take place in an informal venue. But just in case you have to decide which is best for your casual client catch up, here are some factors you must consider in deciding which:
Agenda
What is the casual meet-up for? Is it just to exchange views on some progress in the project to be done? Is a signature or two needed to finalize contracts? Is it for tripping to a property for sale? Or to get feedback from the product bought from you or the service rendered by you? Having an agenda is one of the most ultimate factors one must consider to identify how casual a meetup could be.
There are casual meetups that are full of idea generation. But there are casual meetups that create just as how Steve Jobs initially met up with his friends at the garage as they worked on the first Apple computer. But since that was the most conducive at that time, and all they needed was a workshop where they could all work together regardless of the location.
Time
Casual meetups or informal meetings follow an agenda, but it’s more laidback and relaxed. It doesn’t have a set time to finish. Its minutes are not taken down strictly. Although casual meetups usually need little time only, it all depends on how much of exchange is needed in terms of views, opinions, suggestions, and agreements. It’s advisable that the longer you expect a casual meeting would last, the more it needs a formal venue because a coffee shop may not be too ideal for long meetings. Many things are discussed during informal meetings. The client is encouraged to speak up more and discuss anything that’s not usually discussed in a formal meeting.
People
Informal meetings usually involve not more than 5 people. If it is too large than that, it may need its own boardroom. As an informal venue somehow releases the client from anything tense, they feel encouraged to share their views and opinion. An informal venue provides a less threatening ambience for the client that enables it to express more of itself making the rapport you build even sturdier.
Informal meetings or casual meetups come in many forms. Examples are ones that are done in ad hoc, impromptu, or last minute. There are no minutes taker, manager or chairperson and a strict agenda. Some clients prefer a formal venue over an informal one even though it’s a client catch up meeting only. Represent yourself well by consulting this list to help you gauge what is the most appropriate for your client.