When you’re running a small business When you don’t have a marketing team, you don’t have direct access to industry experts who stay up to date with current trends. And if you’re not adept at marketing, you may not know where to turn for advice.
Solution:
Subscribe to websites that continually teach new marketing knowledge in various areas like getting traffic, increasing conversion, and even advanced email marketing strategies.
Bloggerjet offers a helpful list of 7 websites you can use to stay up to date with current marketing trends, making it easy for you to find expert advice without working too hard.
Problem #2: Inconvenient (or non-existent) tech support
You’re probably using a lot of electronic equipment in your daily operations, including a wireless network consisting of a modem, a router, and other wireless components. Although wireless networks can be the most difficult to troubleshoot, you may encounter challenging problems with printers, laptops, and even your smartphone.
When the devices you depend on fail to operate properly, if you don’t know how to fix them, you might have to shell out a lot of cash to call out a technician.
While some companies offer tech support for their devices, not all of them provide a direct connection to a live person. Sometimes you have to go back and forth through email, and some companies don’t offer any support at all.
Solution:
Tech To Us offers affordable monthly subscriptions that give you access to U.S. based tech support 7 days a week. This is a great way to create certainty around how you’ll handle technical breakdowns. You won’t have to dig around for warranties, original boxes, or registration receipts in order to get help. You can call one phone number to get tech support for any of your devices.
Problem #3: Being overwhelmed If you’re still trying to build your team, all the small tasks required to maintain your daily operations can add up to overwhelm. Even answering customer service emails can be stressful when you’re on your own.
Solution:
Use software to automate as many tasks as possible to avoid having to manually do everything. Also, outsource as much as you can.
If you don’t have an accountant, you can use Quickbooks to manage your finances. And even if you’re working alone, Basecamp is a great way to keep track of your tasks and track goals.
While you may not want to outsource your customer service emails, you can use automated replies to let your customers know when to expect a reply from you. People are more likely to be forgiving of having to wait when they know when to expect a reply.
Problem #4: Falling behind in your industry
Change is inevitable, and no industry remains the same forever–especially information technology. Regardless of your industry, if you’re not constantly learning, you’re falling behind.
And if you’re flying solo with your business, until you can afford to hire a team, you’ll need a good strategy for learning as much as you can.
Solution:
A great way to continually learn something new is to get a subscription to Lynda.com. Lynda offers over 5,000 professional courses across a wide range of industries. You can get a basic account for $19.99/month or a premium account for $29.99/month.
Learning as much as you can will benefit you in the future when you are able to hire a team. Even when you delegate and outsource tasks to others, it’s a good idea to be informed on a basic level so you know what to expect in terms of quality and standards. You don’t need to be a marketing genius when you have a marketing team, but you do need to know the basics so you can be aware of what’s going on.
You won’t always be alone
You may have started your business alone, but that doesn’t mean you’ll always be solo. When you focus on these four tips and integrate them into your daily operations, you’ll be able to achieve a higher level of productivity, which will ultimately provide you with the opportunity and cash flow to hire a team to help you and your business succeed.