Ep 02: 5 Practical + free ways to grow your business

Full Time Hustle

People sometimes skip over the basics. We think that marketing is all about social media posts, taking out ads, and hosting a booth at trade shows. But really, the basics are free! Sure, you might need additional forms of paid advertising, but don't skip over the free stuff-- it's valuable! 1) Make a plan. Even if you have to change your plan one week later, at least you have a plan to change. You're not going to be motivated every chance you get to work, so having a plan makes sure that you know what to do when inspiration runs dry. 2) Put yourself out there. In every way, entrepreneurship means putting yourself out there. You're going to have to make sales to survive and to grow your business, and that unfortunately involves rejection too. Expect that there will be lots of rejection, but choose to put yourself out there anyway. One of the best things we've done for our business is to be active in our community. People know us and trust us, and it really gives our business a leg up. This doesn't mean you have to share your private life every second of every day, but you do need to share a few things and let people get to know you. Action Step: Make a list of 4 things that you don't mind sharing. Make a point to share each of those this week. I just looked back at a random week on my instagram and noticed that I shared about our adoption, the college I went to, a behind the scenes story from a wedding, and our daughters birthday. Those are 4 pretty random things, especially considering I graduated 10 years ago, but they were meaningful things to me, and it lets people in to see a different side of us than just our photos and video. Do keep these mostly positive! 3) Be Positive!! It is so easy to be real and talk about the struggles, but think about how that comes off to your potential clients, and even your friends. Pause for a second: I'm NOT talking about major life situations here. Bad things happen in life, and if you choose to share them, it's truly a moment of raw honesty. And that is awesome. What I'm talking about is being negative about the little things. January - March are slow months for our business. Everyones conversation starter seems to be "So how is business?" It's easy to talk about how slow it is and how you can't wait for summer when things pick up. But instead, how about sharing a passion that you finally have time to work on? Or that this is the month you're updating your website? When you choose to look at the positive side of things more, you'll naturally start to see it more. It becomes a habit, and it puts you in more of a position to encourage people rather than to discourage with negative talk. For example, this episode was originally "Top 5 mistakes you're making in business." I realized as I was writing the notes that EVERY point was negative, so I changed it around and it just felt like a breath of fresh air. 4) Don't ONLY push your product or service. Yep, this one is negative, because I love contradictions and nothing in life is so straightforward. Yes, you want to make sales, but force yourself to think creatively on how to sell without selling. Hear me out. I can post my product or service on Facebook and Instagram all day long and tell people, "Buy from me! I have the best pictures ever and I love doing what I do!" But that makes it I'm kind of begging for business. Instead, I go back to the 2nd and 3rd point. I have to connect with people, put myself out there, and be positive. Yes, I can absolutely share my products or service, but I also need to be sharing a lot of other things too. And I need to be a human with thoughts and feelings. If I'm only ever sharing things for the purpose of selling, people see right through that. Action Step: Text a friend, and do a Friday introduction on social media. Seriously- something as simple as having a text convo with a friend is a connection. And a Friday introduction lets people know something about you other than your product.