New Motivation!

On Tuesday I met with Jill Sparks the Executive Director of the Small Business Center here in Asheville to discuss my business.  She is amazing at her job.  She really inspired and motivated me to get my butt in gear.  We first discussed my business as a whole, then made a plan of where my business should be.  She stressed the importance of setting small attainable goals and focusing on one thing at a time.   So over the next month I have a list of tasks to accomplish before our next meeting.

Administration Duties:

• Register your business with the state
• Get an EIN number
• Open a Business Checking Account

Social Media:

• Monitor Pinterest - check out similar businesses to see how they are using Pinterest
• Blog - set up an automatic calendar to distribute my blog posts.  That way I can spend a few hours once a week to write all my weekly posts then have them set up to post on set days during the week.

Build Clientele:

• Organize Client list - track repeat buyers
• Track Locations - see where most of buyers are coming from
• Offer specials - Offer limited edition products or special sales to repeat buyers

Organize Thoughts:

• Put my ideas on paper - it is amazing how many times I think of a new product or idea but never write it down.  Now I have a designated spot where I keep track of all my new ideas (a giant piece of paper hanging on the bulletin board above my desk)

Attend SBA meetings:

• Take advantage of all the free seminars the SBA offers.  Just this month I can attend several different meetings from starting a business to marketing to buying and selling.
• Watch the Webinars sponsored by the SBA

This may seem like a long list but really they are all quite simple.  As long as I plan my time efficiently I should be able to get these items checked off the list relatively quickly.  I am so happy I finally took the first step of meeting with the SBA because now I feel ready to tackle my business head on.