Are you treating your business like a marketing business?

Welcome to Monday. And welcome to the first Monday Morning Marketer blog! This will be a weekly marketing tip so subscribe and ensure you don’t miss anything. As summer draws to a close, you may find yourself bracing for September. If you are a mom, you are probably all wrapped up in back to school shopping, squeaking in precious moments to make up for those not yet had, scheduling childcare or after school care, negotiating the family calendar with army precision. As I am doing the same thing, I admire and seek role models of those who do it well! As moms, fabulous job! As business women though, did you forget something? How about your business? How about you?

As women, there are times of the year, and times of our life, where it is exceedingly difficult to prioritize our business above all else. But the most important thing to consider is that it is not how much time you prioritize, it is just that you do. Even if only a few hours a week are actually booked into your calendar, set aside this committed time to work on your business. Most of my Facebook followers now know that when I say I’m “at the office” as a status update, it is my scheduled Starbucks office time. Sometimes that two hours of free wi-fi (and a mocha) is equal to many distracted hours at home “multi-tasking”. Even in my busiest weeks, when I find myself burning the midnight oil after the little ones are in bed, I have still scheduled that time. It makes a commitment to myself and becomes an agreement with my family. It is easy to justify the time we spend on our client work, or anything directly revenue generating, but what I’m talking about here is time to GROW your own business in indirect, but just as meaningful ways.

While you have that big family organizer out, with your pencil and eraser (in our case it is a networked Outlook system – if it’s not in Outlook it doesn’t count in our house), schedule some dates to attend a networking group and also remember to schedule some professional development. If your business is truly a business you aspire to make an income from, you must treat yourself as a true CEO with office hours, professional development, and connection with the outside world. I challenge you to schedule some work hours into your calendar next week, seek a networking group, and book a course to improve your business or professional skills. You are worth it! Your business will be better for it.

Remember, if time for your business is not in the calendar, it doesn’t count!