Day: September 27, 2020

How to change your Mindset to trade through a recession

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The global pandemic has hit everyone hard, the knock-on effects of which will be ongoing for the years to come. So how do we make it through? How can we keep trading successfully through the recession? While there are many changes and improvements you can make, the most underrated one by far is your mindset. By simply choosing the right mindset, you can not only survive in the recession but you can thrive in it.

How to change your mindset to successfully navigate the recession

It’s very easy to dwell on the doom and gloom when it comes to the current state of the economy, but what does that do? How does that help us to navigate through the recession so that we can come out of it stronger and more successful, and ready for the economic upturn? In short, it doesn’t.

Here are a few ways that you can change your mindset to a more positive one. One that facilitates growth and success in a time where we need it most:

1, Remember that the economy is cyclical

It’s important to remind yourself that the upturn will come. The economy is cyclical. Yes, we are currently in a downward spiral but there’s still business out there. Businesses are still doing business and they are looking for help. That’s an opportunity for you to try and grab some of that opportunity.

Be creative – how else can you offer value? What does your target audience need help with the most?

2. See this as an opportunity to review and improve

It may be difficult to see but the recession is an opportunity to put everything under the microscope and see whether you can do it differently. In some instances, you could even find a way to do things better. This is a massive opportunity for businesses and one that will go as quickly as it has come.

3. Appreciate that recessions are cleansing times

It might not feel like it now, but recessions are cleansing. If you find yourself less busy, is it because you’ve just weeded out the time-wasters? Many businesses have reported that the recession has forced them to focus on what really matters and as a result, they are focusing on their core business and what they are good at. They’ve found that the clients who were producing the most ‘noise’ have gone and they actually have time to focus on tasks that help their business to grow.

4. Reconnect with your “why?”

We’ve been forced to look at our businesses in a different way so re-evaluate. Why are you doing this? What is it that you are doing it for? What does it actually mean? Reconnecting with why you started is a great way to re-ignite the fire. It’s a great way to self-motivate and to start being proactive.

5. Surround yourself with people who support you

The last way to get the right mindset is to appoint a war cabinet. What we mean by this is surround yourself with people that you trust, people who you can lean on and who can advise you to get through this time. If you choose the right people to have around you, who you can vent to and laugh with, and who can lift you up, it’s really easy to choose the right mindset and to make positive changes.

Believe that you can and you will

Mindset is really all about attitude and you can choose it. If you think you can, you can, but if you think you can’t, then you can’t. It really is that powerful.

If you think that you can grow through this recession, you will, not because of magic but because of the decisions you make and all the things that you’ll put in place. So how can you change your mindset during this recession? How can you innovate and offer more value so that you can grow?

If you would like some more advice on changing your mindset please click here to get in touch. 
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How to get your distractions under control

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How many times are you distracted during an average workday? Once, five times, ten times?

Now, multiple this by 25.

You’ve probably heard this productivity statistic before – that it takes an average of about 25 minutes to return to the task at hand after you’ve been distracted – so imagine just how much time is being lost to distractions every day.

That means distractions don’t just eat up time during that interruption, but they affect your progress afterwards (e.g. that 30 seconds on social media is actually 25 minutes and 30 seconds), so we have to do something about it.

If you need to be contactable via social media and various messaging apps, it may seem an impossible challenge, but here are some tips on how to get the main distractions under control.

For the social media scrollers…ditch your phone and join an online networking group

A lot of us check our social media throughout the day, but there are some that do it frequently enough that it eats into their productivity. So how do you stop this?

The easy fix is to ditch your phone in the day and not have it with you at all. However, if that isn’t possible, consider adding an app on your phone that tracks your usage or limits you from using it for certain apps. Time limits mean you can tell friends and family that you have to spend your time on clients during the day, even if they see that you’re active on any social media channel during the day.

For the web surfers…install an internet blocking tool

It’s so easy to open up a tab and be diverted from a helpful article to a mass of other websites, so how do you knock it off during work hours?

Another easy fix is to install an internet blocking tool on your computer such as FocusMe or Freedom. These applications allow you to block certain websites for set periods of time so that you can still use the internet for work but you can’t get distracted by, for example, news sites.

For the easily distracted…plan a schedule and stick to it

It can be really hard working from home. Having family there is distracting, so many chores are to be done that are on your mind, and that hour for lunch seems to turn into tackling the household “to do” list. If this sounds like you, then you may be the type of person that is easily distracted.

The way to combat this problem is to create a schedule for yourself both for the week and for every day. It can help you see how much you have to get done and it gives you the discipline to sit down and do it. You can be flexible with this, e.g. setting your work hours earlier because you’re more productive, so find your best routine and stick to it.

For the busy fools…collate groups of tasks together

If you feel like you firefight through your days answering emails and phone calls, only to end the day not having done what you wanted, you can end this chaos! Start managing your time by managing your tasks.

What we mean by this is to group similar tasks together. For example, start your day off with a difficult task or dedicate 30 minutes just before lunch to answer all your emails. If you start grouping tasks together, you’ll find your productivity increases because you don’t have to shift your mindset from one task to another all the time.

For the fidgety folk…create a dedicated working space

For the people who can’t seem to sit still, who need to organise their desk every five minutes or who spend too much time gazing into space or at their photos on the wall, usually, we would recommend working from a café. Since this isn’t really possible right now, the next best thing is to create a dedicated working space at home.

Whether that’s in the spare room or in the conservatory, set up a comfortable desk with minimal distractions around you, and preferably, somewhere that has a door that you can close. This will help you to switch on your work mind when you’re in there, and switch off when you leave.

For the bored, overworked or burnt out…take a real break

Last but not least is the overworked. It’s very difficult working from home, especially if you still have your family at home too, so don’t be too hard on yourself. Not being able to concentrate or ‘switch off’ completely can really impact your productivity in the moment and the next day, so give yourself a break.

Make sure to take regular breaks away from your desk every day, go for a walk, and truly switch off at the end of the day so that you can start the next one ready to smash it.

4 ways to recession-proof your business

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Unless you have somehow managed to avoid the headlines, I’m sure you’re quite aware that a deep dark recession is coming our way. In fact, it’s practically knocking on our doors. As if this isn’t bad enough, the knock-on effect is causing issues too; relentless client queries being a big one. So how can we weather the storm as business owners? How can we be one of the ones who come out of it stronger than ever and ready to grow when the economy bounces back?

4 ways to recession-proof your business

1, Change your mindset (and quickly)

Henry Ford said “whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right” and it’s true. If during the recession, you think that you are going to come out of it, then you will. Just make sure to surround yourself with people who support you and reconnect with why you started your business. It will make a positive mindset so much easier.

2. Increase your marketing activity

The temptation is to cut marketing to save on some costs but that will do more harm than good. The recession will show some clients that they aren’t getting the service that they want so how can you expect to win them if you’re not marketing yourself?

Increase your marketing in the right areas. For example, refresh the copy on your website, review your marketing to see what is working the best, send out weekly emails to your clients, call them every month, call prospects who went cold to see how they are doing, and increase your activity on your LinkedIn.

3. Make it easy for your clients to pay little and often

Clients will say they have no money (they are struggling too), but you will find that they do for the right service. If you swap your services for ones that they really need now, they will see you as essential and they will pay for your service. You can also help them in other ways such as switching them over to a direct debit payment method or by giving them a payment holiday on their normal monthly payments.

4. Increase your practice efficiency and reduce your overheads

The best changes that you can make for your business during a recession is to cut your overheads in a way that will increase efficiency. For example, what can be automated or eliminated? Automating certain processes will cost initially but they will increase productivity. The same goes for things like outsourcing and offshoring.

Don’t forget to involve your team in this process. Ask them every week what they think can be improved on and you’ll see that they will have some great ideas.

Another task that you can do which will cut overheads is to get tough with your long-term debtors and low-performers. If you tackle these head-on during the recession, you may find that costs will reduce while efficiency soars.