Tactics to Deal with Entrepreneurial Overwhelm & ADD

As an entrepreneur there will be days when you are stressed and would just like to start the day over. There will be days when you have too many decisions to make, too many projects to complete, not enough projects to complete, and horde of ideas you would like to implement. Every once in a while we all experience the feelings of frustration, exhaustion and dissatisfaction at building our business.

Here are a few tactics to use to deal with overwhelm.

Vacation Days – The truth is that you need to take scheduled breaks in order to stay focused to succeed. My strategy is to schedule four mini-vacations and one long vacation each year. The mini-vacations are scheduled for four days each quarter and the long vacation is schedule for 10 days each year. I use the mini-vacations to refresh my mind. I spend the first and last day relaxing. The 10 day vacation is when I take a trip.

Create A Schedule – To get everything done that will have to be done, you are going to need a schedule. You want to break your day into one or two hour blocks of time. Limit the amount of time you spend on a task.

Work From a Prioritized “To-Do List” everyday - Start each by creating a list of items that have to be completed this week. Your “to do list” should be broken into the same categories as your schedule and have no more than 2 items per category. Then prioritize the items on your “to do list” by importance.

Outsource and delegate as much you can - Just because you are used to doing everything yourself doesn’t mean you have to. Just because you know how to do something is no reason to do it. Doing everything yourself is the easiest and fastest way to stress your out and become overwhelmed. The thing to remember is just because you are in business for yourself it doesn’t mean you are in business by yourself.

Divide the load with a partner - Another way to decrease your tasks and keep the stress and overwhelm down is to work with a partner on your next big product/project. Joint Ventures are a great way to get additional support with the workload. You can also have someone to bounce ideas off. When starting your next product/project, think about the resources someone else could ring in.

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Use RSS Feeds to Bring Visitor Back to Your Site

RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is essentially a tool which enables internet users to ‘subscribe’ to content they’re interested in. It helps people keep track of the information they value without having to go online and search for it each and every time they sit down to surf. For example, blogs, websites, and forums can all be subscribed to. Anytime new content is posted, it is either emailed it is either emailed to you or it shows up on a ‘reader.’ A reader is essentially an aggregate for all information a person subscribes to.

On the marketing and business side of the coin, an RSS feed (the tool used to send info to subscribers) benefits business owners because it ensures messages reach the intended audience. Content and promotions land smack dab in their mailbox or reader for easy access.

RSS feeds offer a variety of options. Business owners can:

• Send all full length blog posts to readers
• Send excerpts of blog posts with links back to your site.
• Send weekly blog post highlights – with links back to your site so readers can read entire posts at your site.
• Send top industry stories of the day.
• Send reviews of relevant products
• Send promotional messages, contests, coupons etc…
• Send posted articles, in their entirety, to subscribers.
• Send excerpts of articles to subscribers.

Some of these options lend themselves quite easily to bringing readers, and prospects, back to your site. For example, sending a full length article to subscribers is great for them – they don’t have to click on anything. The content is all there right in front of them – no work. However, delivering an excerpt or even a captivating headline encourages people to click on the link which of course brings them right back to your company website.

The key concept to bringing readers back to your site – present a benefit driven excerpt and/or an attention grabbing headline. Skipping this step results in fewer click throughs to your site and who wants that? It’s certainly not the goal – however sending a full post or article doesn’t encourage any click throughs.

Another way to bring readers back to your website and still send them a complete article, is to include an advertisement, promotion, or even a simple embedded link right in the feed. That way, even article scanners, receive the opportunity to click through and take advantage of promotions and interested readers will click through on text links – landing right on your business website or sales page.

RSS offers myriad opportunities for both readers and business owners. Be creative, pay attention to how your readers prefer to interact online (track click through rates and length of time on pages) and provide the experience they desire. It’ll keep them coming back for more. The end result, more traffic and more profits.

Use YouTube as an Effective Marketing Tool

YouTube is more than a phenomenon. It has changed the way the world works. Anyone can make a video and post it on YouTube to be viewed and shared by thousands. In fact, YouTube videos can make for great marketing. Here are just a few ways to use YouTube as an effective marketing tool.

While making a YouTube video is a simple and straightforward process: Grab a digital video camera, prepare a script, push that little button labeled “record,” upload and you’re good to go. Once the video has been uploaded, now what?

Post it on a blog – video blogs, aka vlogs, are a great way to mix up the message. Video blogs assist with branding and takes advantage of the buying behavior trigger “likeability.” It gives viewers, prospects, and current customers the opportunity to get to know you. We’re all much more inclined to buy from people we feel we know and like.

Use a “how to” video as a twist on your regular newsletter or autoresponder. Rather than adding another long article, spice up the newsletter with a link to a video. Test it to see if click through ratings increase – chances are they will.

Social networking. Link to a YouTube video in your online forum, chat room, and message board communications. Again, this is not only a great way to share a message, it gives viewers the opportunity to see and hear who you are. When people have a voice, face, and personality to match with a company – they’ll remember you. This creates recognition and awareness in the minds of your prospects and when they have a need, they won’t go to the search engines or yellow pages – they’ll come right to you.

Pay Per Click ads linking directly to a YouTube video embedded on a web page also work effectively to share a message and market products and services. Everyone enjoys free content, particularly when it’s both informative and entertaining – share the benefits in your message.

What types of YouTube Videos work best?

There really isn’t a hard and fast rule. Very effective “commercial’s” have been produced on low budgets. The key with commercials is to remember the medium – You Tube is widely successful as a marketing medium because it is viral. People share videos, they email links to each other, they talk about them on blogs, and one viewing multiplies until thousands of people have viewed your commercial. The key is to make sure it is entertaining and informative.

Like articles, YouTube videos can offer tremendous value and benefit to viewers. How to videos, tips videos and tutorials all work as an effective form.

Again, the key to ensuring success – make them fun and interesting!

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