Small Business Tips: 5 Things I’m Doing Differently in 2020
Feb 21
Ready for some real and effective small business tips? Well, here’s the key: if you want your results to change, you have to change what you’re doing. And as and entrepreneur who wants to see her business grow year after year, I know I need to make changes.
So today I’m sharing 5 Things I’m Doing Differently in 2020.
Small Business Tips
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Welcome back for another episode of my Branding and Business series. I’m Moriah, the owner and creative director of Moriah Riona Branding — helping creative female entrepreneurs build brands with confidence and success.
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#1: Office Hours
One of the best small business tips I learned early on in biz was set regular biz office hours.
Like a lot of entrepreneurs, when I first started my business, I didn’t have “strict” office hours. Iould work any day of the week, and at any hour.
But I think it’s really important to have a set schedule for two reasons:
- Helps avoid burnout
- Actually more productive (knowing that I had to get everything done in a set amount of time—actually working less hours)
In the spirit of productivity, I’ve decided to shake things up this year by cutting back on my office hours.
I currently work 4 days a week, 8 hours a day. This year, I plan to work 4 days a week, 5 hours a day.
Over the last year I’ve been working on scheduling my time to get more done—and it’s worked! Frankly, as a mom, I want more time with my kiddo, and less time a work—and I really believe it’s possible.
Want to know more? Let me know in a comment below, because I’d love to make a whole video about it!
Small Business Tip #2: More Productivity and Less Perfection
In line with my last goal—one way I’m planning to cut back on my office hours is embracing the concept of More Productivity and Less Perfection.
Now, I know most of you watching this are artists and creatives, like myself… and the idea of putting work out into the world that is anything less than perfect is… absolutely terrifying!
I have always felt that way.
But here’s the truth—Perfectionism sucks.
It actually KEEPS you from achieving your goals, because instead of doing work or producing something of value, you just over think it or over work it… and never put it out in the world
As I mentioned, productivity has become a huge passion of mine over the last year (and something I’d really love to share with you more in these videos). And I’ve noticed that focusing on productivity over perfection has helped me achieve so much more in my business.
Now, that’s not to say that it isn’t a struggle—and it doesn’t stress me out (like constantly). BUT it is something I’m working hard to achieve, and excited to make it a focus for 2020
#3: Less Client Work
Now, don’t get me wrong. I absolutely LOVE my clients. I have spent the last 4 years really honing my brand and my ideal client so that I am booked with the perfect clients for my business.
And I truly love working with my clients—creative female entrepreneurs—one-on-one to help them bring their branding and business dreams to life.
But working one-on-one with clients takes a lot of my time—and it means that I don’t have the time to work on other projects in my business that I’m really passionate about.
So, I am basically as booked as I would like to be with my current clients—and I’ve made the decision to only take on four new clients for the rest of the year. And that’s scary to me, because I know that I’ll be saying ‘no’ to a lot of awesome projects, and awesome entrepreneurs (that I just LOVE working with!)
But it means that I get to say ‘YES‘ to some other projects that I have been dreaming about for years—but never made the time for.
Small Business Tip #4: More Content
In 2019 I launched my YouTube channel… somewhat begrudgingly!
I had never really watched YouTube very much, and was reluctant to be on video. But at the end of 2018, I was planning my marketing strategy for the following year and decided that video needed to be a part of it.
So I dove in head first.
And those first few months were pretty painful!
I actually hated it—I hated video shoot days and would be sick to my stomach the entire time. But after those first few months, I developed my rhythm and systems for creating my videos and I actually started to really enjoy it.
And more than that, I love teaching and sharing my own experience and expertise to help creative women build this businesses.
So I’ve decided that this year, I’m putting more of focus on my content—and YouTube in particular
As you might have noticed, I took a 2 month break for the holidays—and I’m excited to be back creating regular content for you on this channel! In fact, over the next few months, I’m planning to start posting more often—and adding even more great videos, interviews, and vlogs to help you grow your business and your brand.
Speaking of YouTube—I was pretty excited to return from my break and see that I had crossed over the 100 subscriber mark while I was away! Now, I know 100 subscribers is not a lot at all! But I am so very grateful to each and everyone on of you who signed up to follow me on YouTube—it truly means so much.
#5: Grow My Team
Ahhh this is a scary one for me!
I’ve already got a small handful of awesome contractors that I use for various tasks in my business. And while I’m not quite ready for full time employees—I know that my workload is getting bigger than I can handle as a solopreneur.
Which is why I’m planning on growing my team even more this year—so I can continue to grow my business while still having a life.
This is something I plan to do slowly and thoughtfully—because anyone on my team is going to be representing me and my business… so I need to make sure their the right fit. But I also know I need to push myself to do this (because honestly I’ve been dragging my feet for quite a while).
Small Business Tips for 2020
So, those are my small business tips and the 5 big changes I’m planning to implement in my business this next year!
What about you? I would love to know what you’re planning to do differently in 2020–let me know in a comment down below!
