Marketing for Solopreneurs

Finding Time for Marketing

It’s a crazy world. Everyone wants a piece of your time. To-do lists are made and tossed aside. And those e-mails, well, they’re like those insistent knocks on the door–impossible to ignore.

The first issue of our e-zine went out today. (Learn more about it at marketingyoursmallbiz.com.) One of the columns, The 15-Minute Marketer, gives our subscribers practical ways to promote their business in as little as 900 seconds a day. Don’t have 15 minutes, you say?

I just stumbled on a resource that might help. I read an interesting post yesterday on the infomarketing blog (infomarketingblog.com). The author suggested some excellent strategies for freeing up more time for the important stuff (like marketing). Some of his suggestions:

1. Make four hours of your work day “uninterruptable.” This means absolutely no checking, sending or answering e-mails (if you are like me, it is an addiction that steals precious minutes every day). No making or receiving phone calls. No checking messages. (I say, let the voice mail take over. That’s what it’s for.)

2. Limit the windows open on your computer to one or two. This applies to the tabs for e-mail, you know, the ones that ping or light up and scream, “Open me! Open me!”

3. Say “no” more often. Bob, my business (and life) partner has this problem. He has to stand in front of a mirror and practice using those facial muscles that produce the word “no.” (I’m not sure he ever learned how to use them!) If you are a “yes” person, you know what I mean.

4. When it comes to your work projects, change your attitude from “I have to…” to “I want to…” Seems like a subtle change, but the mindset of choosing over feeling forced to complete something can make all the difference in the world.

I was never at the top of my game when it came to time management, but I am going to try these strategies. They make sense to me.

‘Cutting Edge’ Marketing

Recently I was talking to a potential client who was looking for someone to help him with a new social networking site. The first words out of this mouth were, "I am looking for someone young, with lots of energy". Well, my 51st birthday approaching, I wondered, "Am I young and energetic?"

So here’s my question: in the field of marketing, are the “youth” taking over or are the veterans still holding ground with their experience?

I think it works both ways. All things considered, there is room for all of us.

Makes me think of a great line in the remake of the movie The Out-of-Towners. Steve Martin gets fired from the ad agency he works for and says to his wife, who is played by Goldie Hawn, "They are bringing in younger people. I guess I'm not considered cutting edge anymore."

She responds, “But, honey. You were never cutting edge!"

So am I young and energetic or over the hill? My thought: You're as young as you feel.