Ch. 14 of the Comprehensive Checklist for Growing Your Business: Preparing the Army

Putting your business in the forefront of your network will give you the exposure your business needs to reach its potential. If you’re a mobile business ready to scale, Handlr will do that and more. However, some questions must be answered before you make the jump. Are you mentally ready for growth? Do you have enough team members to support all of these new customers? Here are some great starting points if you’re looking to bulk up the size of your company.

Hiring a Bigger Team

• Ask for referrals. Sometimes, the best workers come from a friend of a friend that knows the person on a closer level. These referrals can vouch for a person’s character and give you more insight to what he/she is like versus sifting through a stack of applications.

• Use your resources. If your referrals don’t seem promising, it’s okay to turn to Craigslist, Indeed, LinkedIn or ZipRecruiter to find new team members. Some best practices include asking specific questions relevant to the job responsibilities and requiring a cover letter to discover the perfect candidates.

• Dig deeper. Once you weed out a majority of the candidates, ask for more detailed information in an email and then seal it in by scheduling a phone interview. Once they have passed the phone interview, meet in-person. Just remember, it’s good to have options so don’t be in a rush to hire the first good candidate you come across. Go through all the possible candidates, take your time in getting to know them and invest in a highly skilled team member who’s willing to stay long-term.

• The nitty gritty. Run a background check on your new hire. It’s a necessity now these days with the job market. Too many candidates make false claims of themselves that could backfire against your business. Depending on your business type, if the team member is required to drive a car for their duties, it’s wise to get a driving record check to make sure that you are hiring someone with a clean record. We like using Checkr to perform all of these tasks.

Now, what?

Paperwork first! If they are an employee, make sure that they read and agree to your Employee Handbook and don’t forget to give them their W-4 form. If they are an independent contractor, be sure to give them their Independent Contractor Agreement and a W-9 Form to fill out.

Update your bookkeeper about your new hires and add them to payroll. You can also use platforms like Zenefits to keep hiring streamlined and easy.

“The most important thing you can do to make your new team member feel welcome is to have them build authentic, personal relationships with other members of your team.”

— Matt Stjernholm, ReWork Blog

When hiring a new person to join your team, invest a great amount of time to fully train them. Ride along with them for at least one week and then have them ride along with a few of your other team members. This ensures that they get a fully immersive training experience. Setting up a buddy system is setting up them up for success. New hires need resources to turn to when they don’t know what to do or if they have questions.

Business Hacks to Maximize Productivity

Ch. 13 of the Comprehensive Checklist for Growing Your Business: Don’t Fear the Feedback

Often times, we business owners cringe in fetal position with the thought of hearing criticism and feedback from our own customers. Sometimes, hearing those comments can be a little bit too raw and too personal to see the bigger picture it serves. When we talked with a local pet walking business owner, she shared, “I get anxiety attacks when I see an email from Yelp that I’ve had a new review!” I think we can all share that feeling. Let’s try and retrain our minds on how we handle and manage feedback for our business positively.

Criticism = Opportunity

No one likes to be criticized and we all like to believe that we’re Beyonce-level flawless. Unfortunately, no one is without flaw and we tend to discredit them and even ignore criticism altogether. However, most feedbacks that our customers provide presents a great opportunity for improvement. We should want it. If no one ever told us how to do things a better way, our businesses would be in a constant state of mediocrity. Don’t be afraid to ask your customers if they’re happy with your service!

Utilizing Yelp

As biased as Yelp can be, it is a necessary evil. Asking your customers to post their reviews to help you boost your presence on Yelp can benefit your business greatly.  After all, Yelp has 86 million monthly mobile visitors on their platform and most likely, your customers are going to it to seek information about your business.

Ask For It!

Asking for reviews means you also have to monitor it and follow up with them. Even though we’re quick to search for the ‘delete’ button when a 1-star appears for that stickler of a customer, it speaks greater volumes to deal with it. Go head first into the problem and reach out to that customer and make it right. With the latter approach, we often see 1-star reviews get bumped up to a terrific 5-star.

Even sparking the conversation in real-life (I know, what a thought) could open up trust with your customers. A question as simple as, “Are you happy with our service today?” Or following up next time with, “Were you pleased with XYZ last time?” Gives your customers an opportunity to share their thoughts and insights about your business.

How Do You Handle It?

Do you have an internal method of handling customer suggestions and opinions? Some opt in for the good ol’ paper form, some send a survey in an email afterwards, or some might find it conveniently on their smartphone. As the general consumer population is increasingly referring to their phones for everything, a lot of mobile apps are now offering follow-up strategies this way. Particularly with mobile and on-demand services, it’s quite a challenge to find an app that helps you run your business, yet alone manage customer feedback and reviews, until Handlr came along. With Handlr, every service your business completes prompts your customer to tap a star-rating and write a review if they want to. This way, you as the business owner get a precise evaluation for each employee and service. It also alleviates the middle man (Yelp) and directs those not so happy customers directly to you.

So what do you do with all of this information? It’s great to sit and assess what pain points you hear often, patternistic issues that keep recurring, and strategize how to apply changes to your business to minimize those concerns. Again, feedback and reviews don’t have to be hair-pulling and personal. It’s to benefit you as a business owner and your business itself.

Ch. 10 of the Comprehensive Checklist for Growing Your Business: Community Outreach

In the midst of your crazy day of managing a business, the thought of community outreach and social responsibility probably isn’t floating around at the front of your head. They all say, “It takes a village to raise a child,” and that applies to raising a business as well. Without the support of your neighbors and community, your business probably wouldn’t exist. Let’s take a minute to surface the real ROIs on doing a little something for your community.

There are different levels of involvement that you can choose from that best fits your availability. You can sponsor local events, organize meetings/networking gatherings, or participate in a meetup. The opportunities of helping your community can get really fun and creative while also being a cost-effective method of marketing. It’s also a great opportunity to rally up your employees for good old team building and morale boosting. Now, on top of all those positive things, let’s get to how it can help build your business.

1. Get yourself publicly known by your locals.

   The more you put your name out there, the more your community will gain awareness of your business. Community outreach is heavily effective because it puts a real person in front of prospective customers. In contrast, with an ad, or website, it garners a one-way communication to your audience. Making real connections to people involves engagement, and a moment that you and your customer share - it’s hard to forget that.
    

2. Build long-lasting relationships with them.

   By putting a face on your business and engaging in conversations with people in your community, it’s only natural that you start to build long-lasting relationships with them. You get to know first names of pivotal people in the neighborhood, their family, and story. Slowly, business owners can build their network and make important connections that are beneficial for the long run. However, these connection are symbiotic. The more resources and value you can provide for your customer, they more they depend and come to you.
    

3. Increase company reputation and image.

   By staying active and involved in community events, it builds fantastic repertoire amongst your neighbors and customers. The driving force of purchasing decisions are made by emotion. If you can connect with your community on an emotional level, it’s a win-win for them and your business.

Community outreach can build your clientele and strengthen your presence in your community. By participating in these events, businesses can develop customer loyalty and top of the mind recall. It is also fantastic for building a positive reputation which can then lead to long-lasting, returning customers. Investing time into this method of marketing doesn’t have to be a complex process. Doing something as little as printing branded bookmarks for the library, or providing water for your local marathon can leave an unforgettable, lasting impression on your business.

5 Platforms to Increase Efficiency for Your Small Business

We get it, entrepreneurs! Time is like gold to you. It’s hard to manage it efficiently when there’s a constant flow of incoming emails, phone dings, and alert beepings, on top of just having to simply work. It’s also hard to let loose the reigns of your business and trust a platform that will better your productivity, instead of sucking away the little time you already have. We’ve compiled a short and sweet list of platforms that we can first-hand say, is f@#$ing awesome. Here we go:

Start with the core of the business. You and your team members need to know what to do. Here’s two of our favorite task management tools.

Trello

We like Trello because it’s a visually-focused way of organizing a project. You can assign different boards for different topics and build a list of things that need to be done within that topic. Trello allows you to assign responsibilities and set deadlines for when they need to be completed by. The interface also allows users to click and drag boards in different orders to prioritize.

Asana

Asana’s approach to task management is a user-friendly list view of projects and tasks. Create tasks, assign them to one or more people, and set a deadline for the job. You can leave notes on each job, attach files and start a discussion. The fun thing about Asana is that it triggers this endorphin kick to get things checked off your list - when things are checked off, you might just see a flying rainbow unicorn - really. Lastly, they are on top of sending you reminders via email so you don’t forget.

Keeping an open line of communication between members of your business makes for a more streamlined, efficient team. One word, Slack.

Slack

We are in love with Slack. It’s a versatile team communication platform that allows you to do more than just that. Create different topics of discussion, (called channels) and invite people to join it. Slack supports a long list of different file types that you can send and allows users to privately message other teammates. Integrate other apps into Slack such as Twitter and Lyft even, and send a tweet or order a ride via commands.

Here are two of our top email management tools to help stay in touch with your leads and existing customers.

MailChimp

MailChimp simply said, is a great email management platform that allows you to easily design engagement templates, and is versatile for all business types, small or big. You can run reports and see how successful your emails are. MailChimp lets you send better emails to the right people by filtering through different targeting options.

Active Campaign

It’s a great tool for creating different email templates. Do you find yourself sending out the same email and drafting it a million times already? Create a beautiful template as you need it, save it, and send it out when you need it. Staying in contact with your leads is the lifeline of your business and Active Campaign makes it simple.

Social media management is often overlooked to maintain when there's more pressing matters to tend to - especially when there's so many avenues to maintain and track. Here's two platforms that make it simple.

Hootsuite and Spredfast

Both of these platforms lets you schedule social media posts so that you don’t waste your time having to log in and post across all your different channels. Hootsuite allows you to use their service for free with up to three different platforms before you need to upgrade. These both work in similar fashion as you can see analytics and insights of your posts so you can better communicate with your audience.

How much time are you wasting creating schedules, collecting payment, and marketing your business? Our all-in-one business management platform saves countless hours in your work week.

Handlr

How nice would it be to wake up, sit back, and see your business run on its own? Handlr lets you do just that. Handlr is a mobile business management software specifically designed for small businesses to become bigger businesses. Upload your list of services, create open availability, and watch customers schedule themselves with you. Handlr lets business owners and their team members chat directly and share photos with customers. Team Members can check-in to services and you get paid instantly upon check out. That’s just the tip of the iceberg!

Business Spotlight: Tranquil Home

This week's Business Spotlight is Tranquil Home based out of San Diego, California! Nicola is co-partner of this home cleaning service that has been using the Handlr mobile business management platform for 5 strong months. We asked her a few questions on her journey of starting this business.

1. How did you start your business? Bootstrapping, I started literally with zero resources and used only what I could obtain through either trade, or doing the work myself to get started. Seven months in, I asked my childhood friend Erin if she would like to partner with me. Erin and I then bootstrapped together, and slowly but surely established a solid business.

2. What was your biggest struggle in the process? Finding the appropriate business model for Tranquil Home, and just learning dozens and dozens of tiny lessons that all were road blocks but now we use that knowledge to grow faster and more efficiently.

3. What’s your favorite inspirational quote? "Forget past mistakes and forget failures. Forget everything except what you are going to do now and do it." -- William Durant

4. Which historical person do you most look up to?  The one that sticks out in my mind is Joan of Arc. The film, "The Messenger" about her is one of my favorites! I admire people that have enormous amounts of conviction like that. Granted she was leading people to war, which I don't condone - but you kind of have to stand back in awe at that level of passion. Plus the fact that it was 1492 and managed to get a man, let alone hundreds of them to follow her into war is pretty amazing.

5. If you could be an animal, what would you be and why? Definitely a bird, preferably one that doesn't get prayed on much so I would say maybe an Eagle. I love the thought of flying around free, it sounds so liberating and non-stressful.

6. What does your typical weekday look like? It varies day to day, however usually a minimum of 5 hours work starting at around 9am. I try to get in a work out at least 3 x a week.

7. How many hours do you spend on marketing, sales, scheduling, employee/contractor management, customer communication, accounting, business development, other? 25-40 hours a week on a combo of all the above. However, my business partner Erin focuses more on the accounting side, and I try to work day-to-day on at least hiring, and or marketing/tweaking our website in addition to editing our calendar, customer service, answering phones, following up with clients, etc.

8. What’s your favorite business hack? Working when I’m in the mood. I really do well with late night working. My brain has slowed down by the end of the day so I can focus easier.

9. What does your morning routine look like? Well, I would like to say its a morning jog, followed by a healthy smoothie but honestly it's not. Most days, it involves rushing out the door.

10. Where do you see your business in 5 years? I see it becoming easier and much more profitable. We learn so much every month. In 5 years, I think we will really have our act together. We are aiming for 1MM in sales this year, so to have a sales revenue of over 2-3 MM in 5 years would be a great goal.  

11. If you could do anything right now, what would it be and why? Vacation for sure, maybe a drive up the coast. I love the feeling of returning home after a vacation, refreshed and ready to work.

12. If you could go back and change anything when you first started your business, what would it be and why? I would take advice from other successful people but maybe not as seriously. No one knows your business better than you, and while, yes, other successful people can, and do have great advice I wish I didn't take  it as gospel. I would have joined an, "association" related to my business earlier. I also would not have let fear of breaking every tiny rule be the main motivator behind hasty decisions. I would have also read the E Myth earlier!