How Being A Mentor To Someone Else Can Help Your
How Being A Mentor To Someone Else Can Help Your Business
When you started your home business, there may have been
someone who inspired you. That person may have guided you and
helped you learn business skills along the way. They may have
told you about mistakes they had made in order to prevent you
from doing the same, or gave you advice on steps you could take
to improve your business. That person served as a mentor. You
can pay that act of kindness forward and grow your business at
the same time by acting as a mentor to someone else.
Depending on how long you have been in your business, you may
have a “been there, done that” attitude. By working with
someone who is new to the home business world, you are gaining a
fresh perspective on things. Remember the excitement you had
for things when you first started? A new person will have that
excitement, and their passion and excitement can help you get
excited for things all over again.
Working with someone can also help you gain new skills. They
may have questions about things you are not familiar with. As
you help them research and understand the topic, you will gain a
new understanding of it. Or perhaps the person you are
mentoring is fluent in a computer program that you have no
experience with. They may help you learn it in exchange for all
the help you are giving them.
Being a mentor can also help you improve on the skills you
have. For instance, if the person you are mentoring asks you
how you manage to get everything done, you can go over some
basic time management skills with her. This will reinforce
things for you. Plus, it is hard to tell people to do something
that you currently aren’t doing. Helping someone learn the art
of time management may help you become a better organizer and
planner.
You will also have access to their feedback. If you are
teaching them to do things similar to the way you are doing
things, ask them if they feel if anything can be improved upon.
They may have ideas on how to streamline certain activities or
other ideas.
As you work with someone, you will notice the changes and
progress they are making. This can help remind you of how far
you have come in your own business. This can definitely help
you feel more confident and ready to take on more tasks. The
more you challenge yourself, the further you will grow.
Plus, helping someone out will simply make you feel good. Just
knowing that you made a difference in someone’s life will help
you be competent and worthwhile.
When Everything Goes Wrong: How to Effectively Manage the Rest
When Everything Goes Wrong: How to Effectively Manage the Rest of Your Day
Your workday will likely suffer if your water heater bursts and floods your home or office but you dont have to lose the entire day when less serious interruptions occur. Although it is tempting to tell yourself something like, well, half the day is already gone so why worry about the other half, most of the time its worth trying to salvage what you can of the rest of the day so you can keep your business on track. When you practice effective time management skills, unforeseen circumstances dont have to spell disaster.
Discipline, Discipline, Discipline!
Imagine for a moment that you have a boss. (You may have many; they are called clients or customers.) When you have a boss looking over your shoulder, though, you are expected to get right back to work after a break. You cant just blow off the rest of the day because your best friend just called about a terrific sale. Remember, most events and situations, short of real emergencies, can be managed and planned for ahead of time. Even one-day sales are often advertised ahead of time and if you plan for them ahead of time, you can save time and money.
If youre a serious Internet marketer, you should already be screening your phone calls and taking personal calls only when youre not working. Sure, kids get sick and things come up but unless it is really necessary to take the rest of the day off, take care of the situation at hand and then get back to work! Successful Internet marketers utilize time management skills to plan for distractions, manage them, and then get back to work!
Administrative Duties
Set aside a certain amount of time each week to take care of administrative duties. This is also when you should make your own schedule and check over any lists you may need to make or adjust for the following week. Also, check your supplies during this time so that you do not have to rush out to purchase ink or toner or any other critical supplies during the middle of your workday.
You probably already know how hard it is to get back to work after you leave your office in the middle of the day to run a quick errand, especially if the weather is nice. Its too easy to stop for lunch, drop off the dry cleaning, and pick up dinner while youre out. Before you know it, the day is shot and the rest of the family is home and demanding your attention. Smart entrepreneurs set aside time to do the shopping and errands and leave work time to grow their business. It may take a while to develop effective time management skills, but by practicing simple tips and techniques and by being self-disciplined, your time and your business can be managed effectively.
Use Time Management Skills to Keep Customers Happy
Customers are the greatest asset an Internet marketer has and savvy entrepreneurs know how to get them and just as important, how to keep them. While Internet shoppers spend billions and billions of dollars online each year, the competition for those dollars is fierce, and only those who are meeting and exceeding customer expectations will survive. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that you deliver what you promise your customers 100% of the time. Without effective time management skills, you could be in danger of letting your customers down so realize early on that time really does mean money.
Turnaround Time
If youre a marketer who ships goods to buyers, have you set aside certain days for shipping? Are you meeting your promised delivery times? If not, this is something you should immediately address before you lose loyal customers. Some Internet marketers rely on positive feedback or ratings from customers to help draw in new customers, some of which will only purchase from those with extremely high ratings. However, even if youre not operating under this type of system, rest assured that your customers will rate you and spread the word about their experience with you or your company. They may blog about it, tell their friends, or cancel their order so dont fool yourself into thinking that you are not operating under some type of rating system. You are!
Do You Need to Hire Help?
Anytime you have difficulty keeping up with customer demand you may need to assess whether or not you need to hire someone to help you to keep up. Even if you cant afford to hire full-time help, having a dedicated person to respond to customer inquiries can help you to retain those customers and attract more, which will profit your bottom line and move you to a position where you can afford full-time help. If that just isnt possible, schedule a block of time each day to ensure you are on time with such tasks as answering customer questions or complaints, issuing refunds, processing orders, and anything else that your customers need from you. If youve promised customers an immediate refund upon request, make sure you keep that promise. If you need to set aside one day a week to take care of such tasks, indicate in writing that requests will be processed within that time frame. That way, if it takes a week for customers to receive a refund or another type of communication, they will be expecting to wait a few days instead of fuming because they havent heard from you.
Take the time to put your customers first, whether they are complaining or buying, and they will return the favor by putting you first when they are deciding where to spend their share of the billions of e-commerce dollars spent annually. Once youre able to discern how much time you need daily or weekly to tend to customer concerns, utilize time management skills to stay on schedule.
-
More Useful Links!
