Modern Entrepreneur: 19 ways to improve and expand your business

As an entrepreneur, time management is crucial to both thrive and survive.
Most days feel like they have 25 hours and most weeks feel like they have eight days.
Given the recent behavioural changes in reaction to COVID-19, which sees and increase in working from home, you may have some extra time available given that some parts of your business may slow down.

Here are 19 realistic suggestions as to how you can invest that time working, expanding, and improving your business:

1. Dig into your analytics
I’m fairly certain you already do this but take a deep dive and see what’s working well and what needs to be adjusted.

2. Create a newsletter
It’s not enough to only post on social media – create a stronger connection with your audience by coming to them instead of only having them find you.

3. Put the social back in social media
Comment and engage more with your digital community, plus explore and connect with some new ones.

4. Review your social media platforms for followers/followings
Some accounts have closed, merged or changed – take a spin through all your platforms so you’ve got the current accounts followed.

5. Review your business plan and adjust as necessary
Whether it’s minor tweaks or a complete re-write, a business plan is your road map and needs to be as up to date as possible.
As you examine your website needs, check out MangoMatter, a full-service web agency that also tests and reviews themes, web hosts, WordPress plugins, and much more.

6. Review your follow up folder
Because there may be things there that can be tossed and or may have fallen through the cracks.

7. Create a podcast
Podcasts are booming, they’re free to create, require a minimal upfront investment in equipment (a microphone) and it adds another offering to your audience.

8. Create 100 new content topics
Now that you’ve got the time, finding 100 content topics is easier to do.
Broaden your initial scope into sub categories that still relate to your primaries.

9. Go for a walk or drive
Not business related but mental health related. With the immense amount of information released hourly and daily, remember the importance of unplugging, even if it’s for 15 minutes at a time.

10. Create space on your phone
Do a cleanup of old photographs/videos that can be popped into the Cloud or an external hard drive.
The same applies for any apps you rarely/no longer use.

11. Explore collaboration opportunities
Whether it’s a direct or indirect correlation to your industry, do some research into some possible collaboration opportunities. If you’re selling, for example, pillows, consider reaching out to a shampoo company instead of just a pillow case company.

12. Do a social media live stream to connect with your community
From a behind the scenes look to a day-in-the-life-of aspect or an Ask-Me-Anything, engaging with your community is important as it helps personalize your business.

13. Refine and revise your upcoming campaigns
Fine-tune your campaigns to reflect not only what’s happening today but also for the proverbial “tomorrow.”
Brainstorm how you can add value to existing and new community members in this process.

14. Clean your work space
From your keyboard to floors to walls to surfaces to possible cobwebs, give everything a thorough cleaning.
Or consider rearranging your office/work space.

15. Back up your files
Technology is far from perfect and it’d be awful if you didn’t have a backup copy of your crucial documents.

16. Organize your folders
Once you’ve backed up your files, organize them. This applies to both physical and digital versions.

17. Help other entrepreneurs
Give boosts via community groups, join an online forum, call your friends with small businesses.
Share some of their content on your platforms as we’re all in this together.

18. Organize your home
What a great time to take a little break from work and get started on that linen closet that needs cleaning or sanitizing your appliances…and well, all the things you didn’t have time for previously

19. Improve a skill
Writing, photography, speaking, or whatever you can do from the comfort of your house, can be done via on-line training/classes or video.