
Small Business owners, Freelancers, Gig Workers, and Solo Entrepreneurs:
prepare for business success in 2021!
By: msloydwrites
What’s Inside:
- Use technology to your advantage
- Schedule Your Social Media Posts
- Clean Out Your Email Inbox
- Organize Your Workflow
- Improve Website Performance
- Take Advantage of Free Website Analytics Tools
We’ve finally reached the beginning of 2021!
A new year means new opportunities for improvements, innovation, and preparing for success. In this article, we talk about ways small business owners, freelancers, entrepreneurs, gig-workers, and solopreneurs can set themselves up for success. Let’s start by learning how to use technology to our advantage.
“Strive for completion — not perfection.”
Schedule Your Social Media Posts
Using automation software has been a lifesaver for me. Automating your social media posts can save you time and money. If you haven’t already started scheduling your social media posts — you’re already behind. It’s important to share regular (and relevant) content with your social media followers.
Regardless of how big or small your audience is. Social media marketing is an easy and free way to build relationships with potential clients, mentors, partners, and even competitors.
Using social media automation tools can help you stay in contact with your audience on. a consistent basis.
Some of my favorite social media automation tools are:
Sprout Social
Meet Edgar
Zoho Social
Each of these social media scheduling platforms offers a free trial for you to “test-drive” the software for making a buying decision. These services offer affordable monthly and annual plans for small business and individual users.
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Clean Out Your Email Inbox
Have you ever thought about how much you rely on your email inbox to manage your business? Email is the easiest and fastest way to convey important information to business and personal contacts. I’m definitely taking my inbox more seriously this year. Here are a few tasks that i’ve completed so far.
- unsubscribe from outdated newsletters
- Merge duplicate contacts
- Delete or archive old messages
- Check your email settings for multiple inbox users
- Centralize your email communications
Add personal or business email accounts to Gmail so you can receive all of your messages in one place. Email managers like Front and the Gmail app for Mac are great alternatives to managing multiple email accounts individually.
Don’t Forget to Update Your Contact Manager!
Organize Your Workflow
Getting more organized is one of the best ways to reduce stress for you AND your clients. Set up your workflow to make it easier for you to respond to the following.
Email requests
Quote requests
Customer Service Requests
Create templates for responding to repetitive inquiries like service requests or quote requests. Having a template available can save loads of time when responding to an email or other online request.
Using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool is the easiest and fastest way to get organized. Today’s CRMs aren’t just designed for large or enterprise-sized businesses. There are CRMs specially designed for small businesses, solopreneurs, and freelancers that get the job done.
A few of my favorite CRMs are:
Zoho CRM
HubSpot CRM
Nimble CRM
Note:
The Nimble Social Contact Manager connects with popular social networks to complete your contact records. Find social media accounts for contacts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and even learn their influence scores via Kred. This is my favorite integrated feature of the Nimble CRM platform.
Improve your Website’s Performance
Get more website users, visitors, subscribers, and generate marketing qualified leads by improving your website performance. Learn how to rank your website or blog using SEO and other blog-boosting strategies. Use keywords in your marketing on blog pages, social media, and landing pages. Get to know the Google Search Console to help you understand your website visitors, traffic, and SEO performance.
Free website analytics tools –
Get Found by search engines
Google Search Console
SEM Rush – [free] Site Audit Tool

WordPress Website Administration (5) Quick-Tips
Update WordPress Plugins
Update wordpress Themes
Update Content on pages and posts
find and fix Broken Links
Test Integrations for external apps
*Complete these steps regularly for optimum WordPress website performance.
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Organization tips for small businesses & Freelancers
Organize receipts, invoices, and payment records in one place for easy access when filing your 2021 taxes. Keep in mind that there may be new tax rules and regulations going into effect next year. If your business received a stimulus payment or PPP loan under the CARES ACT, you may be subject to updated tax changes or additional deductions. Visit the IRS website to learn more about your individual situation.
Recommended Organization and Finance Apps:
- Quickbooks – Self-Employed
- FreshBooks
- Tax Act
- Chime
-Your 2021 Recipe for Success-
Include the following three ingredients in your daily schedule:
1. Exercise
2. Eat Healthier Foods
3. Take Better Care of Your Mental Health
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Essentials Course + 30 Day Trial!
1. Exercise
Your body is your personal vehicle. In order to balance your physical health, mental health, and overall well-being, research has shown that we require at least a moderate amount of exercise. Adding a few minutes of exercise to your daily routine can boost your mood and shrink your waistline. Simple exercises to do at home – vibration therapy, walking, treadmill, elliptical.
Training apps: NIKE Training Club , Peloton, Daily Burn.
2. Eat healthier foods
As far as we know, we only get one body. The coronavirus has shown us the importance of taking good care of our physical health to ward off illness. Eating healthier foods is one of the best ways to prepare your body and mind to activate its natural defenses its natural defenses and ward off unwanted toxins and pollutants.
3. Take Better Care of Your Mental Health
Mental Health Awareness is not optional for any of us anymore. Learn how to take better care of your mental health by doing research online and consulting with mental health professionals like counselors and therapists.
Make Time for Downtime.
Mental Health Therapy Apps:
BetterHelp
TalkSpace
Doctor On Demand
Key Takeaways
Upgrade Business Applications and Tools
Update Software and Remove Outdated Programs
Use Customer Relationship Management Tools
Automate Social Media Marketing
Use Blog Marketing
Learn More About Website Hosting
Learn More About Content Management Systems
Related Free Resources
Mental Health Resource Guide
Small Business Resource Guide
coronavirus resource page
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