3 Tips To Help You Prepare To Make More Money In The Coming Year

3 Tips To Help You Prepare To Make More Money In The Coming Year

We all need to start thinking about how we can prepare to make more money in the coming year! I have been working on my new marketing plan and during this time I have come up with 3 Tips that may help you as you are preparing to make more money in the coming year.

  1. Create A Great Mindset!
  2. Set Your Goals!
  3. Start The Year Off With All Of Your Financials In Order!

Create A Great Mindset!

This is the very beginning and most important tip of the 3. That is why it is No. 1.
Do you have a great or positive Mindset? Many times our thoughts, especially the negative ones, are what hold us back from succeeding at what we want to achieve and may really be hurting our chances of having a successful embroidery business. I thought that I had a positive mindset but I discovered that I had fallen victim to a negative mindset and it was all of my own self-talk and negative feelings.

I wanted to charge higher prices for my embroidery work when I first started my business but then the negative talk started. I had been told so many times that there was no way that I was going to be able to make a living with an embroidery business that I actually started believing it.

We second-guess ourselves and we have doubts when this happens. With all of the negative thoughts and other people‚’s opinions, we soon tell ourselves that we aren‚’t good enough, smart enough, talented enough, or whatever to be able to charge the prices we want or need to for our work. So we end up just settling for what we think we can get and really create a tough struggle for ourselves.

This was a huge struggle for me when I first started my embroidery business and it lasted for almost 15 years!I was determined to have the highest quality embroidery of anyone that I knew of that was in the embroidery business and I was told many times that I had accomplished that. I was offering this very high-quality embroidery at a price that was as low or lower than the embroidery businesses that were offering low quality. How stupid was that!

I thought that my customers would not pay the prices that I really wanted to charge and I found that the secret is not to project your thinking & feelings onto your customers! This mindset held me back for 15 years! Since everyone else was charging low prices, I thought that I had to stay in line with them or charge less to get the customers. That mindset almost cost me my entire business!

I did not realize that what I had to offer was a product that I could have priced much higher right from the beginning of my business but my mindset had blocked my ability to see that. It took my accountant practically batting me in the head to get this point across.

It was a struggle for me to change that mindset but with his help, I was able to do so. I guess you would say, he was my first business coach. When I changed my total mindset and started promoting my quality product and excellent customer service I had plenty of work! Most of my customers were already coming to me for my quality and service and when I raised the prices, they were OK with that.

I would love to be able to convince you and all embroiderers that you need to charge for your expertise. We are not or should not be struggling artists! We are highly skilled professionals and should be paid accordingly and you need to develop the mindset of a professional!

Set Your Goals For The New Year!

Now is the time to start thinking about the new goals for the coming year! This year is already half over and we need to be prepared to get the new year started off on the right foot! Are you on target to reach your goals this year? If not, how far are you from reaching them? What is the obstacle that is in the way that has prevented you from reaching your goals?

Sit down with a pad and paper and look back over each month of this past year and see where you were and think about what you could change to make this next year a more profitable year.

Now is the time to set your new goals for the coming year. Do not wait until January gets here. You need to get prepared months in advance so that you can start January off with the right plan to reach those goals.

Setting your goals is the very first step in creating your plan for the coming year. Do not set goals so high that you cannot reach them and do not set them so low that they do not mean anything. Set your goals a little out of your reach so that you do have to stretch in order to reach them.

Write down your Goals. I have found that if I commit to them on paper, not just on the computer, but actually writing them down they mean a lot more and I am more apt to follow through and reach my goals. You must create a plan for each one of your goals in order to be able to reach them.

Start The Year Off With All Of Your Financials In Order

Do you know how where you will stand financially for your year end? I know that the year has not yet ended and we  are few months away, but you should be able to anticipate how your year is going to end.

Are you happy with the results of where you are presently? Can you run off a quick report and see where you are today? You may or may not be happy with the way that your year is going to end or where you are today, but knowing exactly where you are financially is the first step in being able to make a change.

Without the knowledge of your current status, it is impossible to create a plan that is going to help you reach your goals and make the necessary changes in your business to do so for the coming year.

If you cannot run off a quick report to find out where you are, you need to start preparing to get all of your financials in order and be ready to start the new year going in the right direction. By the time the year ends, you need to have all of this information gathered.

  • All of your expenses, month by month
  • Your credit card purchases
  • Your Bank Statements
  • Loan information

Your next step is to see if you are making a profit. If not how far are you behind? Do you know your break-even point? This is exactly how much money you need to be bringing into your business each day, week or month in order to pay all of your bills, including a salary for you! You need to be rewarded for all of your hard work.

You need to know which area of your business is profitable and which area is not. This is the only way that you can realistically make the right course corrections and start your plan for next year. If you find an area in your business that is not profitable, get rid of it. It is not servicing you well and is costing you money.

Change your mindset, Set your goals and get your financials in order. This is the beginning of creating a great plan to help you make more money during the remainder of this year into next year!

If you will do some serious thinking about what I have given you in this article and start applying these tips, it will help you to get prepared for the coming year.

6 Ways to Jump Start Your Embroidery Business Growth Today!

6 Ways to Jump Start Your Embroidery Business Growth Today!

Are you confused as to how you can jump-start your embroidery business growth?  Do you feel overwhelmed with all you have to do currently and wonder how you can fit in the time to grow your business at the same time?  Where do you even start with embroidery business growth?
The first step is to tackle overwhelm with an organized and systematic approach and then use your current customers as the foundation for your embroidery business growth.  I want to think very strongly about your current customers, what you have to offer them and about the 6 ways to jump-start your embroidery business growth that I am going to share with you.

Discover Your Strong Points

• Talk to your customers and get their feedback: find out why they like doing business with you and your business
•  Customers know things about your business you don't know
•  Once you know your strong points, you can leverage them to grow

Get New Product and Service Ideas

•  Your existing customers can help you come up with ideas for offers they'd like to see
•  Ask your followers on social media for products or services that they would like to see you offer that they are not able to get other places.
• While you're discussing ideas, you can also ask for feedback on changes you could make that would improve your products or services or your business.
•  Once you have some ideas, take them back to your team and discuss what would lead to profits or business growth.

Go the Extra Mile for Your Buyers

There are many different ways to make improvements for your current customers
•  Decrease Customer Delivery Time – respond to your customers’ inquiries immediately and deliver your products or services slightly faster.
•  Take an Individual Approach – Interact with customers and respond to issues personally.
•  Win People Back – Solve your customers' problems quickly and give them something extra to assure their  satisfaction.
•  Know Your Customers Well – Use marketing data and personal interactions to modify your customer service to their tastes & preferences.
•  Be Consistent – Handle all issues in the same way and establish procedures so everyone offers consistent customer service
•  Always Put Customers First – Always consider how changes will affect your customers and make sure it's in their best interests

Nurture the Relationship with Your Customer

•  Great customer service is not enough. You need to build strong, long-lasting relationships with your customers
•  Email Marketing – Build an email list and send your subscribers regular messages with helpful exclusive content
•  Social Media Challenges – Increase engagement by giving your audience a challenge on social media
•  Entertain Your Audience – Know your audience well and share content sometimes that's just for fun
•  Create a VIP List – Identify VIPs who are the most engaged with your business, offer them special promotions and nurture a relationship with them
•  Interact Offline – Host offline events or join local community events where your customers are

Offer Rewards for Referrals

•  Referrals are the best and most cost-effective marketing for any business.
•  Ask for referrals:
•  Right after a purchase.
•  When someone sends you a personal message thanking you
•  At the conclusion of helping solve a customers’ problem
•  Offer a small incentive or reward for referring you
•  Publicize your referral program
•  Reach out to reviewers, bloggers, and others with a large audience and offer them an incentive to talk about you.

 Extend Your Customer Database

•  Always look for opportunities to gain new prospects.
•  Regularly attend networking events and talk to as many people as possible
•  Create a system for following up and telling people about your embroidery business or offering ways you can help them

Was this article helpful? It should give you a great starting point. But there's more you'll need to do in order to take your business to the level you desire. If you're ready to get started, I'm offering a course that teaches you step-by-step how to create embroidery business growth so that you can achieve your long-term goals.

Want to start growing your business today? Click on this link to get started TODAY!    Embroidery Business Growth Plan

 

 

10 Tips To Make Your Embroidery Business Plan Easy!

10 Tips To Make Your Embroidery Business Plan Easy!

Embroidery Business PlanLet's face it, we all want to have a business that we love! We all want to start each day with the feeling of I can't wait to get started today!Your business is a very serious venture and if you do not plan it out, you are just running a hobby and you would be better off doing something else with your time unless of course this is the kind of life that you want! For me, I want to know what I am doing and what I need to do each day of my week and month. I wake up each morning with my plan in place and I know exactly what I have to get done that day and I do whatever I can to get it accomplished.

Does it always happen, No, but I surely do work at it hard enough and try to get it all accomplished. Without a written Embroidery Business plan, I would not know what I had to get done by the end of this week or this month in order to reach my goal.

Here Are 10 Tips To Help You Make Your Embroidery Business Planning Easier!

  • Set Your Goals!
    Do not set goals too high that you cannot reach them and do not set them so low that they do not mean anything. Set your goals a little out of your reach so that you do have to stretch in order to reach them. Write down your Goals. I have found that if I commit to them on paper, not just on the computer, but actually writing them down they mean a lot more and I am more apt to follow through and reach my goals. You must create a plan for each one of your goals in order to be able to reach them.
  • Reach Out For Help-Outsource!
    I create my plans in cycles of 60 days and to reach my goals and get everything done that I want done at the end of this 60 day plan, I have to reach out for help. I have hired someone else to help me and have given them instructions as to what I need done.When you are the main person in your business and the only one running it, trying to get everything done is impossible. There are tasks that you can hire out to take some of the big burden off of your shoulders. This may be simply having someone come in and clean your home for you periodically. It may be someone that can run errands for you. Before my husband retired, I had someone do small errands for me each week, like go to the post office and make my bank deposits. This freed up a lot of time for me. I have someone that does all of my books for me.
    I found that this was one of the areas that was really bogging me down.I have heard embroiderers say, as soon as I get enough money to hire someone I will, and it will be easier. This is the wrong way of thinking. Thinking like that will not be productive for you and you will find that that day will never come. You cannot get ahead and do everything yourself unless of course you are just starting out and you do not have much work. Once the work starts coming in, you cannot afford to try and do everything yourself because some of the other areas of your business will suffer when you are trying to get your embroidery work done.
  • Find Out Where You Stand Financially!
    Before I hired a bookkeeper, I was always behind with my books and before I knew it, the year was half gone and I had no idea as to where I was. I did not know if I was making a profit or losing money. I had a vague idea and I knew what was in my bank account, but it was very frustrating for me not knowing where I stood. If you do not know where you are financially, it can really put your whole business in a tailspin and it is usually a downward spiral.You need to know where you are at all times, so that you can make the proper adjustments to change whatever needs to be changed. You must also be willing to say NO! This is another area that is a hard one for most of us embroiderers! I know that is a hard one for me, but I have come to the conclusion that I cannot do it all and what is not creating the most profitable for me is gone! You need to know which area of your business is profitable and which area is not. This is the only way that you can realistically make the right course corrections.
    Start Planning Small!If you that have not been in the habit of monthly, weekly, or daily planning, you need to start today, but start small. I know that in all of the books about planning it says to start out with your entire year first, then your month, then your week and then your day! To me this was impossible. I could not relate to that because I really did not know what I was going to be doing in a year and I did not have any type of a plan in place.I started by planning out my day at the end of the day before. I worked hard to try and complete what I had on my list to do. I also found out what I could realistically do in a day‚’s time. Once I got used to that and saw how much more smoothly my days started running, I planned out my entire week on a Master plan and then created the daily plan from there.Now I have a basic plan for the year, but my Master Plan is mainly a plan for 60 days at a time. To me that is much more realistic. I have specific goals that I set for each 60 day cycle and without my Master Plan, I would never reach them!
  • Time All Of Your Actions!
    Start timing all of your actions. This was huge for me when I started this. I found out that I was wasting a lot of time on mundane items and by timing myself, it made me work a little faster with a totally different mindset. I was taught this by another internet marketer and I found out that many of the top marketers were using this method so I decided to give it a try.In my Embroidery Pricing program I teach you about timing all of your production and artwork but I have not talked about timing all of your other tasks. This is just as important. Timing each one of your tasks is a big step toward creating more efficiency. Create A Master Plan!Planning out your business takes time, but once you have a Master Plan in place, it is a huge time saver! When you are creating your Master Plan, you need to be off by yourself and not in the middle of your business. This may require that you go away for a day or lock yourself in one room with strict instructions to leave you alone!
    I find that creating my Master Plans in 60-day cycles works great. This is not a huge chunk of time and it makes it easy to plan out 8 weeks instead of trying to plan out an entire year. I have basic goals for my year but it is just too difficult to try and plan out an entire year. There is one exception to this and that is Marketing, but we will touch on that later.Each piece of your 60-day plan is then broken down into smaller chunks that are more manageable and easy to plan out right down to your daily to do list.I do not want you to be overwhelmed by all of this and start thinking that you have to immediately create a 60-day plan. I have a simple method that I use to create my 60-day plan and if you choose to participate in my Embroidery business Plan Made Easy program, you will see how simple my step by step method really is.
  • Plan Each Area Within Your Business!
    After creating your Master Plan it is very important to go back and start planning out each are of your business. You have many individual departments within your business, even if you are a 1 person business.To start planning each area, you will go through each of your processes, 1 by 1 and write down your process step by step. As you are doing this, think about what you are doing and ask yourself a question. Is there an easier or quicker way that I can perform that same task? Write it down in a step by step fashion and create an actual process manual out of it.A process manual needs to be created for everything that you do from taking an order from a customer to shipping your products out the door and even creating that invoice and sending it out.
    Every function that you have in your business has a certain way that it is done or needs to be done to be efficient. When you are finished with your manual, give it to someone that is not familiar with the process and ask them to read through it and try to duplicate that process. If they can, it is complete. If they cannot, you need to go back and rewrite it until they totally understand what it is that you are trying to do. Make it so simple that anyone can pick it up very quickly!
  • Create a Marketing Plan!
    Most embroiderers do not even have a marketing plan and really do not know how to create one. One of the biggest mistakes that embroiderers make is cutting back on marketing during the slow periods. You know when your slow periods are, you know when the holidays are, create programs to ramp up your sales for all of these times. It is not as hard as it seems or a lot of people make it out to be.Most embroiderers think that when the business is slow, this is the time that you have to cut back on everything. How is that going to bring more work in the door? That makes no sense to me. I have embroiderers even say to me, I have to stop your membership site because things are slow. What they should be doing is reaching out to me for help so that they can avoid those times.
    You should create a Marketing plan for 1 year in advance.You need to create a plan around the entire 12 months calendar, this would be holidays, sports events, business events and any other type of event that you can think of. If you know ahead of time when your promotions are going to be, it makes it easy to plan out each one in advance of the promotion and be ready for it. This will help to avoid those slow times.Marketing is the most important part of your business besides your skill level but even if you are the best embroiderer in town, if you are not marketing your business, you are not going to have any!
  • Use Tools To Make Planning Easier!
    Without the proper tools it is a lot harder to create a plan or even know where to start in creating your plan. You need to create a good Business Plan as your foundation and then you can start planning each area from there. I have a program that I have created that will give you all of the tools to help you create the type of business plan that you need and will be able to use on a daily basis.This is a 4 session video training course that I have recorded that takes you step by step all the way through your planning. I want you to have your total Embroidery Business Plan in place by the end of the course.This is a program that will show you in an easy step by step manner how to create your Embroidery Business Plan and get you on your journey to being able to run your embroidery business more efficiently and be able to create more profits! I want you to have the opportunity to get this next year started off properly.
  • Work Your Plan!You must be committed to this process. Without a good working business plan or roadmap, it is very difficult to grow your business or even stay in business! If you have your goals set and your plan together it is much easier to get through your day.There are so many areas within your business that need to be planned out and without getting started, it is very hard to run it efficiently! When you have your business planned out and know what you are doing each day, you are then on the road to creating the very type of business that you will love!

Get started on creating your own Embroidery Business Plan TODAY!