Does it feel like your business marketing efforts is a constant race to beat the clock? Are you overwhelmed by the seemingly never-ending
deadlines looming? Is there any hope for making your marketing effortless (or at least, manageable)?

The first step in getting off the marketing treadmill is tracking exactly how much time, energy, and money you’re spending on your various activities.

Next, for each of your activities, how are you specifically measuring the fruits of your efforts? “Fruits” can mean: more phone calls, more bookings, more appearance, more sales, more web traffic, more subscriptions to your newsletter, or more mentions in media. Calculate the ROI (return on investment) for your activities. If you enjoy going to a Chamber mixer, but you seldom get any fruits for your effort, factor in the “enjoyment factor” as a fruit.

Finally, realize that almost no one does well with the pressure of a ticking clock looming. If you’re a creative person, make sure that you have ample down time to let your creative thoughts “steep”. Focus on tasks that provide a multitude of benefits to your business. For example, if you regularly write a newsletter, repurpose the newsletter’s content as a: website blog posting, an article bank letter submission, or an audio or video podcast.

By aligning your tasks with your skills and ROI for past efforts, you’ll stop watching the clock and start enjoying your business more. Remember why you started your business in the first place – to share your skills with the world. By focusing on the ticking clock, you’ve denied yourself of critical energy you’ll need to take your business to the next level.