Launching Your Business Next Steps

hello, I’m your host Kaycinho, I’m a digital alchemist, and this episode, is episode number six of a module dedicated to the creation phase of starting your business.

So if you haven’t seen the first five episodes, I invite you to check the module playlist by clicking here.

And by the way, this module is the second module of a course dedicated to take you from the burning desire to become your own boss to actually launching your business. So if you want access to the full course (videos will be added until the course is complete) by clicking here.

Launching your business next steps

Starting a new business, especially when you are transitioning from the corporate world, can suck up a lot of energy.

Now usually while you are doing the effort, you don’t really realize it, but once you’re in business and look back at all the steps you’ve been through to make it happen, you can feel overwhelmed.

It’s a bit like an athlete playing an important game, not really feeling fatigue and pain until after the competition is over.

Now this is a key moment, because right then, after all those efforts, hard work and pressure, all you probably want to do is to take a giant nap or go on vacation somewhere to recharge your batteries.

And trust me, no one is blaming you here, because that feeling is 100% normal.

… But …

Yes there is a but. This is not the time to rest on your laurels because believe it or not, the real work starts now, especially if you are a one-person-operation type of business.

I’m not saying this to discourage you: on the contrary, I’m going to give you some tips to not only get to the other side of the mountain, but actually enjoy the process.

Launching your business next step 1: Celebrate!

Okay I just told you you should not rest on your laurels. But this is not the case.

What I’m advising you to do, is to look back from the very beginning of your entrepreneur journey when you had the burning desire to fly on your own, up until the recent launch of your business. And yes: now is time to congratulate yourself.

Why?

Because even if you do not realize it yet, you have just achieved what many people only dream of. Launching your business!

You’ve launched your very own business, despite the hardships, and you gave yourself a chance to be on your way to living a fulfilling life and, hopefully to financial freedom.

Too many times, as newborn entrepreneurs, we face a lot of stress and sometimes forget to celebrate the little victories we achieve on our way to success.

I strongly believe success is only enjoyable if you can benefit from it.

Think about it: even if you made millions, what difference would it make if you never took the time to enjoy your life and spend quality moments reaping the benefits of your work?

So I’m not only talking in the context of the business you’ve just launched, but I’m talking about your whole entrepreneur journey.

Take time for yourself

Take time for yourself: do something you love doing, and that maybe you haven’t done for a long time.

Offer yourself a present, whether a tech gadget, new clothing or whatever makes you feel like you’ve been rewarded for your work and dedication.

Now it doesn’t necessarily mean spending a lot of money, it could be something you love eating, or maybe just watching the sunset at your favorite spot.

But whatever it is, I try to do that when I achieve big milestones.

The benefit is that, when I take on new important milestones, consciously or unconsciously I know that there’s a reward coming at the end so it helps me getting started.

Launching your business next step 2: Cut the distractions

I don’t know about you but my mailbox is like a giant monster that grows to jurassic proportions when I happen to not open it for a day or two.

So I used to leave it open while working on the computer so that I could treat the queue as emails came in.

As you can imagine, this is probably the worst way to deal with email overload, so instead, what I’m doing now is this:

– rule number 1: no professional emails on my personal smartphone
– rule number 2: my emailing software is not open by default
– rule number 3: I only open my email software three times a day and try to treat the emails in sessions of 15 minutes

This helped me a lot, because not only do you get rid of a major distraction source, but also you get a lot less stress dealing with your emails.

The real beast

Email management can suck up a lot of time, but nowadays, social media is the real beast that can kill your productivity.

Yes social media is great for our businesses, but I’m not talking about that.

I’m talking about endless group messaging, gazillions of funny cats videos, animal thug life compilations, hilarious baby videos, stunts, video games, epic fail compilations, inspiration quotes, “perfect life holiday pictures”, and so on.

Basically, while this can be fun in your own private time, if you spend your time on this social noise during your business time, you won’t achieve much, if anything.

Make sure you get this: whether you are freelancing, coaching or selling products, make sure you treat your business as it should be treated: as a business.

Because if you don’t, even if you are your own boss, if you do nothing all day, you will be the boss of thin air if you get what I mean.

Of course, the same advice is valid for Netflix, video games, and basically anything that can distract you from your goal.

Launching your business next step 3: Stick to the plan and plan the smart way

In episode one of the module dedicated the the “Preparation” phase of starting your own business, we’ve discussed about your Business and Marketing plans.

And if you haven’t seen that video, I strongly suggest you click on the playlist link that I’ve put in the description of this video.

In that specific video, I gave you resources to read that actually help you craft simple yet powerful Business and Marketing plans in a short period of time.

So if you’ve done your homework, you have a solid foundation but, like with all plans, they’re only good as long as you follow them.

And even with a plan, you need to know where you are before you can actually follow the plan to your destination.

What’s the solution?

So what’s the best way to follow your plan on a daily, weekly and monthly basis?

There are many ways, but what I want to share with you is a simple way to achieve that. And to do that, there are many tools you may use, like calendars, to do lists, dedicated software and even plain paper. But I like to use Trello.

If you don’t know Trello, well you should! It’s so far the easiest and most productive tool I’ve used for project management, and although it doesn’t come with all the bells and whistles of more complex solutions, to me it works great, and plays well with the other tools in my arsenal.

And by the way, this video is not sponsored in any way by Trello.

I just love their product and the good news is that their free version is just great and you can start working with it literally in seconds. The free version works wonders so just try it out by clicking here.

If you didn’t know Trello, now you do!

And basically I break it down this way:

1. I create a stack with big milestones I have for the month
2. I create a stack with stuff I should get done this week
3. I create a stack with stuff that should be done today

There’s only 24 hours in a day, so depending on the workload I try to give myself realistic goals.

Something like:

• 3 things I absolutely want to achieve in my business day
• 15 things I absolutely want to achieve in my business week

Then at the end of the business week I refine, re-adjust, and update the objectives for the following business week.

Simple yet powerful

If you follow this simple yet powerful scheme, you will achieve minimum 60 important tasks per month and possibly hundreds of small ones.

This way, you allow yourself to stick to your Business and Marketing plans, without feeling discouraged, and you achieve this by breaking down big milestones into smaller actionable tasks.

Launching your business next step 4: Study your competition

While I don’t think you should become obsessed comparing yourself to your competition, I believe it can be good from time to time to assess what your competition is doing, and how they’re doing it.

Scour Facebook groups, comments in blog articles and online forums, and write down what is liked and what is disliked about your competitors.

At the end of the day, those who make your business a success or a failure are the customers, so you may want to really take into consideration their opinion about products and services in your area of business.

Companies like Kodak, Blackberry, Nokia, Atari and Sega were once at the top of their industry, but somehow they became overconfident and probably despised their competition at some point, until the competition became too big for them to compete with.

There must have been a point when their customers were voicing their opinion but somehow they did not listen.

I’m not saying it is easy, especially when business is good, but I believe studying your competition, and the voice of their customers can help you stay ahead of your game and keep moving in the right direction.

Now let’s be clear, I’m not telling you to mimic everything your competition does, but it can help you identify pitfalls.

Or to the contrary: to identify trends that you should seriously consider so that, at your own level of business, you don’t become the next Kodak.

Launching your business next step: Your turn

So, I hope that this video has given you practical tips to use right after you launch your new shiny business.

I’d really like to hear what you’ve struggled with right after you’ve launched your business, so please let me know in the comments below.

If you watched the companion video and if you like it, please give it a thumbs up, as it really helps growing the channel and if you know someone that could benefit from it, I’m going to ask you if you’d like to share it now.

Because let’s face it, there are so many things to do in a day that if you don’t do it now you’ll probably forget.

Now if you want to brand, market and grow your business it in the Digital Age make sure you subscribe to my email newsletter so that you never miss your share of digital alchemy and tips, tools, services and case studies that can help you grow your business online.

Have you watched all six episodes of this module?

If so, you’ve just completed the fourth module of a course dedicated to take you from the burning desire to become your own boss to actually launching it.

In the next module we’ll tackle the “after launch ” phase of your new business life.

So, that’s it for this video, I hope to see you around here or on the Youtube channel, and in the meantime, don’t forget to invest in your success.