chaos: complete disorder and confusion
Yup, that sounds about right.
Starting a business is a daunting task. Starting a business in the middle of the worst recession that we’ve seen in my lifetime? A little more daunting. When I turned in my paperwork to the lovely state of Ohio to officially become a business in March of 2010 – I knew I was signing up for a challenge. The stats are clearly against any business succeeding past a year or two – not factoring in the economic conditions that we facing now as a country.
So I did what I thought was best, jump in feet first. Immerse myself in the communities that already were familiar with my work & work ethics, network my standards as a business owner and hope to catch on in as many places as possible. I started small – looking for customers that would be enthusiastic about a new web site and would brag about my business at every turn. “Mom & Pop” operations (similar to my own upbringing) were my target (and still are) because they usually weren’t able to afford the high prices of my competition – so they just created a web site on their own. More times than not, they were wasting money with the ads you see on TV about creating your own website. Not happy with what those companies offer in lack of service & customization.
Within a year, I was signing two new clients a month, sometimes more. And now, with 30 clients under my belt – I’m in chaos mode. But here comes the artist in me – I control that chaos to fuel my growth.
Sure, I could take a little more time in between clients – tell a potential client that “I’ll be able to get started on your project in a month or so.” But then I run the risk of them going elsewhere. If they are trusting me to get the job done, why not get it done as quickly as possible? The sooner I get their project done, the sooner they are seeing the benefits and the sooner they are out there bragging about the great (and quick) job I did for them.
I’m sure my wife would disagree, but I’d rather have too many projects on my desk than not enough. Some days I’m up with her at 5:30am and I’m still at my desk until she gets home from teaching at 6:00pm. Some nights I work until midnight or later after she’s gone to bed. But I think that level of dedication is the cornerstone of a good business. I don’t want to be one of those failed businesses. Putting myself in chaos mode keeps me motivated to get projects done, to get new clients and to keep on keeping on.
How to Juggle Chaos
- Having a to-do list (or to-do app, as I do) is a must. When I give a client a proposal with a timeline of the project, I immediately put those dates into my to-do app. That way I can match up deadlines to be sure I’m working ahead of schedule.
- Make priorities and organize your time. I have a networking meeting every Thursday morning with my fellow BNI’ers that has brought me a lot of new clients. I dedicate myself to this time every week because it is important to the growth of my company. Since I work out of my house, I try to set a few days a week as ‘in days’ and ‘out days’. Since I have a meeting every Thursday morning, I try to schedule other meetings after it so I can be as efficient as possible with my time and not driving all over the place.
- Organized communication and customer service. I recently installed a ticket system on my website for customer service requests. This allows my clients to submit a ticket when they need something changed and know that I received it, when I looked at it and when the problem/change has been fixed. This is a more sophisticated way of communication and customer service than emailing. Emails get spammed, deleted, lost. My ticketing system is a secure and reliable way of communication. I also use an email marketing platform (MailChimp) to relay information to all of my clients. I am adding services all the time that would benefit all of my existing clients. A simple newsletter once a month allows me to check in, say hello, give them some advice on how to improve their internet marketing strategies and maybe interest them in something new.
- Know when to ask for help. I think the next phase of my business will be bringing on some help. I recently attended a workshop on hiring interns. I think that is a logical next step for me. I’m not quite ready to bring on a part or full time employee (thanks government for making that so expensive) – but handing off some of my $8-$10/hr tasks that I do every day will free me up to continue my growth and keep my quality of work at the highest level.
How do you handle chaos in your business? Do you agree that being too busy is a good thing?