Latest / The Kelly Jedele Show / 4 Things That Make Every Business Owner Successful
Transcript
- Kelly Jedele: So none of this is exciting. None of this is earth shattering, but that's the point. The exciting stuff does not work if the boring stuff is not. handled Kelly: Welcome to the Kelly Jedele Show. I'm Kelly. 17 years of building businesses and zero interest in hustling myself into the ground. If you want the business and the life, you're home. Let's get into it. Kelly Jedele: Hello and welcome back to the Kelly Yateley Show. Today we're talking about four things that make every small business owner successful. And let me tell you, they aren't big, huge, exciting things. They're not things that you would think that would just like blow your mind. They're not. They're everyday things that we do just to keep everything going. And I'm telling you, it's the decision to keep going. And doing it over and over and over again that brings the success. So let's get started. The first one that I have done for many, many years is return any type of text message or email within 24 hours. And if you're working with me, you know I am a hyper responder. I respond very quickly and my team very quickly. So it's very important to me to acknowledge the message if I'm not able to respond. So for example, I get a quote and if I can't exactly like sit down and do the quote in that moment, I'll say, I got you, I'll be back to you and you know before lunch. Or like, hey, I heard you, I'll be able to respond by the end of the day. So those things are very important as a small business owner because your clients need to know that you heard them and that their immediate need is being, you know, heard. Because it's so important for them to know that you're in communication with them, that you understand what's going on and that it's happening. I have a washing machine that's not working right now and it hasn't been working for a week and a half. And I have a maintenance repair guy that I've had A 20-year relationship with. And this man, he responds whenever he wants to. And if I didn't have that long-term relationship with him, I would choose another person, let me tell you. Because I responded to him, it was today's midday, and I haven't heard back from him. And I responded, I sent a text message to him yesterday morning. So it's so important to actually reply, respond. And react to people so that they know that you you want to do business with them. It's just a very simple thing that we think is just not important or whatever. Or sometimes you you get in your head about it and you're like, I don't want to respond too quickly because in the dating world that seems anxious, or you know, sometimes you feel like you're just like, so thirsty for business. No, trust me. Get that out of your head. That's not the way it is. People want to be responded to. And that's that's how life is. They want to hear you make sure that they are a priority in your world. So respond as quickly as you can. And also if you're there's a weekend or an evening when you don't like communicating with your clients, don't respond. That is probably the only time that I will tell you. Because I will when in the early days of my business, I was responding 247. And that's so people would Text me anytime, any day. And then I learned, if I don't respond on the weekend, and I respond Monday morning, they will realize that they don't ha they don't get a response from me over the weekend or in the evening after like six PM. So you teach the people how to treat you, right? And so but during the the work day, I would say respond as quickly as you can. That's very important. Your clients re appe appreciate that. Their lives are busy, they're trying to move on. They want to know if they can work with you and what the next next plan is of the steps of what you whatever you're doing. And the next one, number two, the next one is looking at your numbers on a regular basis. Your revenue numbers, your expenses, your your credit card statements, your bills, all of that on a regular basis. I look at mine at least twice a week. Just opening up, looking at the balance in my checking account because I run a sales, I run a service business. And so because service business is cash in, payroll out, so that cash flow is very important to our business. And even at 17 years in, I still keep an eye on that on a regular basis. So I'm the only one that's in the checking account, apart from my bookkeeper. So I it's it's up to me to make sure that that's flowing well. It does. It's we're on a system now, but in the early days, you've really got to make sure that you know, the timing of things that's going in and out of the account matter. So looking at your your statements, looking at your bills, looking at what's coming up, the expenses, 'cause some things are annual fees, like my QuickBooks. Holy crap, that's getting expensive. That's twelve hundred dollars every April. I can't even believe that. and then we've got different things like I know my Dropbox bill comes, you know, once a year and that's like three hundred and something dollars and then, you know, like Like I know that I have these bills that cycle through and so I want to keep track of that as well as all the other expenses. So last month I messed up and I paid my s my credit card bill for my company twice. Found that out yesterday and I found that out because I look at my bills, but I guess I was not I think what happened is I paid it on the weekend and I'm gonna have to go back and look because I need to confirm that. But errors happen. And we learn from it, fix it, learn from it and move on as quickly as possible, right? So that's one of the things I have on my calendar today to go back and look at what happened. But I think I paid it on the weekend and it hadn't like updated in the account. And so I paid it again like on that Monday and maybe it was a holiday or something. But that was interesting to see because I was like, I've been doing this for a while, so errors still can happen. So when you make the errors, it's like, my gosh, now all of a sudden I've never seen a negative credit card. statement. Well, there we go. Got that done. Check that off that we've done that first list. So but just make sure that you're looking at your numbers on a regular basis. So if an error happens or if an unexpected bill comes along, you are able to to work with that and plan and make sure that you know going forward to the end of the month, the next quarter, what is going on. Number three is keep track of your tasks. And one of the things that that I do on a regular basis is I keep I still keep a paper to-do list. It's it's a it's been I keep one of these probably mmm twice a year I update these, but these books are something that I keep track for a paper. I love scratching things off. I've tried to do something with my iPhone on my computer where I have tasks written down, but for me out of sight, out of mind. So I am someone that needs it in my face. I need sticky notes. I need those. So I actually have a list on that I keep in a book that that I check things off on a regular basis to make sure that I'm getting things done. But I will say write it down. And I have all of my default things in my calendar, like just prep for payroll, regular payroll, changing the air filter at the office and at my house. just regular things that are like once a week, once a month, once a year. I put those in my calendar, but I also have notes on what I'm supposed to do every day. And that keeps me so organized. I also like two weeks ago I ordered product for our company. I'm handing that off, but I ordered products for our company and something happened with the shipping. It wasn't on my end, it was on their end. I did what I was supposed to but I ordered it on a Monday and by the next Monday it hadn't arrived. And because of the systems that I have, I realized that I called the company. They said, okay, it's on its way. Yesterday, I realized because of my system, it's still not here. So I called and checked in. And you know, they said, of course, it's gonna be on the way now. So I have it on my calendar today to double check because now it's urgent, right? But I've been keeping an eye on it because of the systems that I have and the just just the checklists that I have that I keep going. To to keep everything going. Now I do drop things from time to time. I'll tell you, I have a lot of things that I'm responsible for, but I have just these systems in place that allow me to, you know, I have checklists for certain items that are very important to the to each business. And then I have my own book that I have. And then I also have calendar items. So and then I have people that that help me. They have their own responsibilities and they'll come to me with things to double check me. So but writing things down and keeping track of what you're supposed to do so it's not all in your head is so important as a business owner. It's not okay to just keep it all in your head. Because when you bring someone on board, if you don't have those systems in place, then they don't have anything to work off of and they can't get in your head as much as you want them to or don't want them to. You know, like there's a whole conundrum there, right? Like you want people to be able to work independently from you in your own company. And so you have to create systems and you have to think as if you're hiring someone from day one. Speak in the we, speak in the the this is how we do things and this is the system for that. So it will really help you move forward with what you're doing. So and then the fourth and final one is show up on the on on each platform with a regular rhythm. So it It feels reasonable to everyone. They expect you. So this is like with Instagram or if you're doing social media or if you're doing any type of newsletter, continue to do it on a regular basis. Now you can skip one or one can be late, but that is definitely not the norm. You want to make sure that you're consistent. So if you're consistently posting on Instagram once a week, twice a week, whatever it is, if you have a newsletter that goes out. Once a week, once a month, make sure it's consistent. Your people are counting on hearing from you and they won't necessarily notice, they won't be like, where's that newsletter? But they'll be like, huh. I haven't seen that in a while. So it's important that you just keep your business in front of your clients, in front of your prospects, in front of your leads, so that they know when they want to get a hold of you that that that's possible. And I will tell you, it's happened to me. There was this one real estate agent who posts on Instagram all the time. She's a an acquaintance of mine. I've known her in different circles. And I needed to get a hold of her one time. And I was like, great, I'll just go to Instagram. Couldn't remember her first name to save my life. I have known this woman for probably 10 years. Couldn't think of her first name. I I couldn't. And likely her phone number is probably in my phone. But the first thing I went to was Instagram because I know that she posts almost every day. Has she posted in the last few days? No. So I just sat there and tried to figure out. what it was and no, no, I couldn't. So I the next day it finally occurred to me what her name was and I was able to call her and figure it out. But your people rely on your messaging. They they rely on your consistency. And also just your consistency allows people to see you, allows people to know what you're up to and and what your business offers. the solutions that you offer, what you're doing, how consistent you are, the work that you're doing, how much you appreciate everything that you're doing. Like it's a big, big deal to be consistent. It it just shows how much of a professional you are and how much you value them and your business and yourself. It's it's truly remarkable. So As we go through these things, replying to messages within 24 hours or less, to look at your numbers on a regular basis. Number three, write down your to-dos, don't keep it in your head. And number four, show up at the same time on the platforms that you use on a regular basis. So none of this is exciting. None of this is the earth shattering, but that's the point. The exciting stuff does not work if the boring stuff is not. handled and that is so important in getting our businesses off the ground and consistent and going and successful. So thank you so much for sharing this time with me this week. I love I love hearing from you. I love talking with you. If you like this, please, please like our podcast, please subscribe to our podcast, and share with one woman that you think that this might help. If she's growing her business, if she's out there really killing it, just share. share this podcast. And then we'll see you next week. And if you have any comments, please list them. Come find me on Instagram and have a great week. So good to see you. Bye. Kelly: That's the show. One favor before you go. Send this to one woman who needed to hear it today. Strong doesn't mean solo. I'll see you next week.