Ask a prospective client if they need help on a project.

Ask your Chamber of Commerce when the next networking event is.

Ask yourself if your Marketing Plan is working.

Ask your accountant if you have enough money to purchase a new piece of equipment that will take your business to new levels.

Ask yourself if your Social Media engagement is appropriate for your business success.

Ask your clients if they are satisfied with your work.

Ask your business counterparts to interact on Facebook or Twitter.

What could happen if you ask the questions?  They might say yes!!!  What question do you need to ask?

Don’t beat yourself up about it.  Life is very hectic these days and running a business just adds to the stress.  Sit down with a cup of hot tea, a glass of red wine or a close friend. Take a deep breath and relax. It isn’t too late to get back on track.

Reassess your goals.  Maybe you aren’t doing what you planned because you set your goals too high.  An unrealistic goal is hard to achieve.  Break it down into smaller sections and work on one at a time until you reach your goal.  Completing one task at a time gives you the confidence you need to keep going.

Get Organized!

This is probably on your list every year but you never do it.  Pick one area that needs help the most.  Maybe it is your desk or office area.  Purchase a new file cabinet, bookshelf or fabric covered boxes and organize all you files into them.  Put up shelves to house your printer and other technology equipment.  Have a bulletin board for all the loose little pieces that seem to get lost easily.  Being organized will lead to being more productive.

Get Social!

Most business professionals have a Facebook page and a Twitter account.  But do you actually use them?  It doesn’t count if you have 10 followers and you only follow 2 others.  That isn’t being social at all.  Interact with others in your field.  Keep an eye on your competition.  Get to know you target market.  This is all possible with a little social interaction.  Build relationships on social media.  Don’t just hover.  Get involved and let people know what you are all about.

Get Involved!

Not just on social networks, get involved in your community.  Go to a networking event and meet your peers.  Volunteer your time at a community function.  Become an active member at your church.  People love doing business with people they know and trust.  Get out there and show the world what you are made of.  You will be amazed at the positive effect it will have on your business.

Get Writing!

You have a lot of useful information to share, whether you know it or not.  Why not put that information on paper and let the world know what you can do. Write articles.  Write an e-book.  Write blog posts.  And be social about them.  Let everyone know what your strengths are and what you can do for them.

Once you are organized you will feel more energy.  Put it to good use.  If you think you are not moving forward with your business, try something new. Give yourself a little push and see what happens.  Make 2012 a great year!

I compiled a list of things you should do to help your business succeed if new owners need to come in.  This is a list that everyone should be doing anyway.  Is your business ready?

1.  Clean off your desk.  This sounds so trivial.  But can you imagine starting a new job and the first thing you see is a desk with about a foot of papers on it.  You won’t know what is going on or where things belong.  Who knows what is at the bottom of that pile.

2.  Your computer desktop should also be cleaned off and organized.  Make it easy to find things.  Put projects in client files.  Have all forms in another file.  Do whatever is appropriate for your business so it is not confusing to someone new.

3.  I know they say not to write down passwords.  They also say not to put them in a file on your computer.  But they need to be somewhere.  Get a small notebook and write them all down in one place.  Then put that notebook somewhere safe – like the bank deposit box where you keep all your insurance papers.  If your computer is password protected, new owners can’t even get on to get things going on day one.

4.  Speaking of safe deposit boxes, this might be a good place to keep a copy of your business plan.  Do you have a section of your business plan that states an exit plan?  Of course an exit plan is used if you sell your business, but it might give the new owners some insight into what you would like your business to do.

5.  Make sure your books are up to date.  And balance your checkbook regularly.  Accounting can be a nightmare in the best of situations.  Don’t make it harder than it needs to be.

There is nothing new in this list that you shouldn’t already be doing.  And it may seem a bit trivial considering the circumstances.  But can you imagine your spouse or children walking in to take over your business and finding a complete mess.  Haven’t they been through enough!  Make your final act one that will make things easier for them.  Organize!

Arrive on time. You can be fashionably late to a friend’s dinner party, but you should be on time for a networking event.  Some of them are short sessions before a business meeting.  If you arrive late, you will miss the networking.

When you walk in the room and are deciding who to speak to first, look for small groups.  If you start with a large group, you will probably get lost in the mix.  A small group will be more receptive to a newcomer.

Always have a business card with you. You want the people you meet to remember your name, so make sure you have a business card handy to give them.

Practice your elevator speech ahead of time.  Make sure you know what you are going to say to introduce yourself and your business.  Have a 90 second recap ready to go.  Practice it ahead of time so you don’t stumble on your words.

Don’t talk about you.  Sure you want to introduce yourself and let people know what you do.  But word it in such a way that you are telling them what you can do for them.  Don’t make it all about you.

After it is all over, follow up with a few of the people you just met.  Send a short note to let them know you enjoyed meeting them.  Consider Following them on Twitter or Friending them on Facebook.  Check out their LinkedIn profile.  Start building relationships.

And most importantly, have fun networking.

Recently I clicked on a link that was posted by a business associate.  It was a link to an article that I had a real interest in.  After I clicked I got a message saying the link was no longer available.  How could that be?  The link was just posted a few minutes earlier.

What happened is the link was never checked.  After the business associate posted the link, she never checked to make sure it actually went through.  In this case, it did not.  Any number of things could have happened to the link, but if the associate checked it she would have known it was not there and she could have fixed the problem.

This is not the end of the world.  It is just frustrating for me to not be able to read the article I had an interest in.  It is also, in my opinion, unprofessional on the part of the person posting the link.

Take the time to check your links and make sure everything is in place.  Your clients and business associates will appreciate it.

EQUIPMENT.  Test your equipment ahead of time to assure it is in working order.  If it is battery operated, make sure you have extra batteries in case the need arises.  If you are recording in a group situation, use more than one microphone to make sure everyone is heard clearly.  Think about the external noises that could cause problems – children playing, dogs barking, telephones ringing, wind blowing.  Try to avoid any outside noises as these can compromise the quality of your recording.

WHO WILL DO THE TRANSCRIBING?  If you will be working with a Virtual Assistant, make sure she has done transcription before.  Get references if possible.  Anyone can say they transcribe, but not everyone can do a professional job.

COST.  Most Virtual Assistants will charge by the audio hour.  If you add more than one speaker, heavy accents or noisy backgrounds, there could be additional charges.  Keep in mind it could take three or four hours to transcribe one audio hour of a good quality recording.

FINISHED PRODUCT.  Think about how you want it to look in print form.  Specify the font type and size.  Do you want it single spaced or double spaced.  One and a half is a better option as it doesn’t take up as much space and it is easier to read.

LANGUAGE.  No one speaks in correct grammatical English.  No one speaks in complete sentences all the time.  How many times will you say um, oh, or like in your seminar?  Do you want your Virtual Assistant to transcribe as you speak or do you want her to do some editing as she goes along?  Of course, there are times that you will want the transcript to be exact, as in the case of legal matters or police and insurance records.

This is just the basics but hopefully it has given you something to think about.  Let me know if you have anything to add to the list.

We went on the internet and picked out a company that we thought would give us the product we wanted.  The salesman came to our house and gave us his pitch.  We signed on the dotted line that day.  This was an easy sale.

Two weeks later the doors were installed and they are beautiful.  Unfortunately there were a few problems.  We called the salesman and he said he would be out the following morning.

He didn’t show up.  He didn’t call.

He called at 9:00 the next morning and apologized for not coming by.  He asked if he could come by at 6:30 that night.  I said that was too late in the day and asked if he could come by earlier.  He had to think about that and said he would call back and let me know.  He finally called back and said he could not come by until the following day.

I have a real problem with this whole situation.

First, if you say you are going to be somewhere, you make sure you are there.

Second, if you can’t be there, you call immediately to let the client know.

Third, if there is a problem, you make sure it gets fixed as soon as possible.

This salesman obviously does not want our business.  As I said, our house was built in 1985.  We have lots of old windows that will need to be replaced.  This could have been another easy sale.  Instead, I will probably find another company to do the job.  A company that will treat the client like someone who matters.  A company that I can count on to fix a problem if it arises.  A company that will be there every step of the way.  A company that understands what client follow-up is.

This is not rocket science.  This is just good business sense.  Why do some people just not get it??

1. DON’T PROOFREAD YOUR WORK. I am just too busy to have to take the time to proofread. Who is going to notice it anyway?

2. SWEAR. This is how I talk. If people don’t like it, they can just unsubscribe to my blog. What do I care? I have so many other subscribers that like that kind of language.

3. DON’T ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF EMAILS OR DOCUMENTS. You’ve got to be kidding me! You want me to write a simple thank you when I receive an email or document? Why would I do that? They sent it so they must know I got it.

4. DON’T ANSWER OR RETURN PHONE CALLS. I don’t really want to be bothered by those people anyway. Who knows who they are and what they want. If it is that important, they will call back.

5. SPAM. It’s not spam. My emails contain important information that everyone needs to know about. If they don’t respond the first time, I will just send it again, and again, and again. Eventually they will see how important it is.

Unprofessional? That’s not unprofessional. That is just the way I do business. If you don’t like it, that’s your problem. Not mine.

1. You might write a great post but if your title isn’t strong enough, you might not capture anyone’s attention enough for them to read it.

2. Use keywords in both the title and the body of the post.  Keywords are what the search engines pick up on.  Use enough to get noticed but not so many that you overload the post.

3. Write about what you know.   The object is to let people know that you have the knowledge needed to handle their particular task.  Showcase your abilities by choosing topics you are familiar with.

4. Speak from the heart.  Be sincere about what you are saying.   Talk about something that means something to you.  Be sincere in your words.

5. Use bullet points or caps to highlight important information.  This breaks up your paragraphs.  Most readers only skim an article so make sure they see the important information.

6. Proofread.  This is extremely important.  Misspelled words show how impatient you are.  If you can’t take the time to proofread your own post, how can you possibly take the time to do a client project perfectly?

7. Post often.  If you post on your blog once and then don’t post again for two months, you will be forgotten fast.

8. Don’t just write and post it on your blog page.  Tweet it.  Put it on Facebook.  Talk about it wherever you can so more people will see it.

9.  Get your audience involved.  Ask for comments and suggestions.

Can anyone add to this list and make this a better post?

Don’t get me wrong.  There may be a very good reason why that little voice is talking to you.  Starting a new business is a major commitment and you need to go into it with all the information you can.  This is why doing that business plan is such a good idea.  If you have done your research properly, you will have all the answers to your questions on that piece of paper so when that little voice starts talking you can answer.

It might help you if you make a chart and write down the pros in one column and the cons in another column.  Work with your business plan to figure everything out – your start-up budget, your marketing strategy, what equipment you need.  Don’t leave anything out.  By looking at your two columns you will be able to see exactly what you are up against so when you are asked questions you can give concrete answers.

Sit down with whomever is going to be your main support system.  Talk things through.  Ask questions.  Research more if you need to.  Make sure you know exactly what you are doing in every situation so there are no surprises later on.  Don’t give that little voice a reason to talk to you.  Do your research, know what is going on, and tell it to be quiet.