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BUSINESS5 T I P S T O B R I N G Y O U R B U S I N E S S T O L I F E

D O M O R E O F W H A T Y O U L O V E

@IDEALUSTLIFE // #IDEALUST5TIPS

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“If you want to thrive you must dedicate yourself to doing the

things that few people are willing to do. You need to go beyond hacks

and quick fixes, and instead develop practices . Practices not only

develop skills, they increase your capacity. They form the banks that

allow the river to run deep.”

todd henry

It's crucial to build a solidfoundation for your business.

It's pretty easy to bypass thinking about systems and core values, let alone implementing them. Sometimes, you just know the right people or fall into rad referrals. That won't last long. And if you get too far ahead of yourself skating by on happenstance, without a solid base, your business can quickly grow into a tall and wobbly Jenga tower.

Do it right. Start from square one. Discipline yourself to sit down and go through what others aren't making time for. It will pay off in confidence, know-how and eventually more business! Think you're too far gone? It's never too late to make things right. This isn't a one-and-done deal. You don't want your businesses to get stagnant. You want momentum and forward progress.

So, whether you’re just starting out or it’s time to rehash where you’re at, these five tips will get your business going in the right direction! Big breaks don’t happen over night. It takes patience and diligence and lots of reworking ideas. But don’t let the challenge get you down! If you’re making your business better all the time, good things WILL happen.

A n d h e r e ’ s t h e b e s t p l a c e t o s t a r t !

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Cre ate core values

I think it's safe to assume you've been asked why you started your business or how you got into your specific field. We all have our answers. "It's something I've just always done, so I thought I'd make some money doing it." Maybe you tell a story about a moment when you realized you wanted to start your own business and use your creativity to make something amazing. Whatever your reasons, that's where your core values start to take shape.

Some of you may be thinking, "But I'm just a designer. I just started my business to design stuff for people. That's a core value?" Well, no it's not. It goes so much deeper than that. It's not what you do. It's how and why you do it. Do you strive to design work that is always fresh and inspired? Do you try your hardest to give every client the best service possible, no matter the cost? Do you believe you should give back to your community or to those less fortunate? The answers to these kinds of questions are where you'll find your core values.

When we started Idealust, we knew we were passionate about helping others discover and pursue their dreams of starting their own business. We knew we wanted to help people be successful and sustainable doing what they love. We wanted to give people an honest look into entrepreneurship: the challenges and the rewards. Our core values started there. These things will never change, no matter what moves our competition makes, what an advertiser wants us to say or how much money we could make if we ditched our beliefs.

C o r e v a l u e s a r e t h e h e a r t a n d s o u l o f a b u s i n e s s .

t i po n e

“I think many people assume, wrongly, that a company exists simply to make money. While this is an important result of a company’s existence, we have to go deeper and find the real reasons for our being.” D a v i d P a c k a r d

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here’s a closer look at core values(This important info on core values comes from Built to Last by Jim Collins.)

Core values... Core values should NOT...

Are timeless guiding principles Stem from a market requirement

Require no external justification Come from a book you read

Have intrinsic value to those inside the company

Be swayed, even if they become a competitive disadvantage

Are based on inner beliefs Be dependent of the current environment and/or fads

Might be a competitive advantage, but that’s not why they exist

Be determined by what others have as their core values

Define what we stand for Change as your business grows

examples of core values(This doesn’t mean you have to include any of these as your core values!)

Customer service

Imagination

Quality

Adventure

Creativity

Respect for

the individual

Community

Humility

Teamwork

Integrity

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Why did you start your business?

Why do you want to grow your business?

What do you value in other businesses you use?

What is important about your company?

Why do people think your business is unique?

IDEA TIME!Forget about core values for a minute.

Pretend you're at the hippest brewery in town and you're hanging out with a new entrepreneur friend. He asks you these questions. And, of course, you answer passionately and with words that are true to you.

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What are some things you know you're NOT? (These might help you figure out what you DO value.)

Besides making money, why does your business exist?

You have a lot of good material here. Comb through it all and find words and themes that keep coming up. Now, take these answers (keep in mind the bullet points above), and create 5-6 core values for your business.

List them here:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Print them out. Or, have a calligrapher friend make them a beautiful piece of art for your office. Get familiar with these bad boys. Every business decision from here on out will line up

with your new and fabulous core values!

IDEA TIME!

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Our name gives it away: We have a thing for ideas. Ideas that move us. Ideas that inspire us to create a life we love. You know that realization moment, when everything around you dissolves into the background and all you can hear is your heart pumping, “I HAVE AN IDEA!” That’s the best, right?! Ideas are answers to our dreams. They are a means to achieve what we want to do. They get us to where we want to be. And sometimes they seem crazy or overwhelm us. But typically, they energize us and snap us out of a funk. They give us hope.

But ideas are worthless if they’re not given the attention they need. Our minds can be untamed beasts, ravaging through thoughts, numbers, emotions and systems. When ideas pop into that mess, their only hope of survival and success is if we give them a chance to breathe.

W e m u s t g e t i d e a s o u t o f o u r h e a d s a n d i n t o r e a l l i f e .

Ideas usually come to us when we’re on a road trip, whitewater rafting or having coffee with a friend. They rarely happen when we’re sitting at our desks with a computer in front of us. Good thing technology is on our side. There are so many apps (like Evernote) that can help keep our brains organized. It’s helpful to keep a notebook with you everywhere you go: in your glove compartment, laptop bag, purse, etc.

t i pt wo

“To be prolific means that you not only have great ideas, but that you actually do something with them.” t o d d h e n r y

t urn i d e as in to act io n i t e ms

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It might seem like a pain to write something down or add an action item to your Wunderlist while you’re out, but it’s a WAY bigger pain to forget brilliant ideas and waste time, energy and brain space trying to revive an idea. It’s also a bigger pain to use up brain power trying to remember what you need at the grocery store or Target, especially when those smarts could be used to give your business momentum. Get in the habit of writing things down as they come to you.

idealust suggestion:

use Wunderlist for action items

Here are a few of the different categories we use: personal (make dentist appointments,

etc.), groceries, Target (buy shampoo, etc.), Limelife Photography, Idealust and

books to read (order Die Empty). Organizing your mind will make you feel more alert

and alive when it comes to your business. It will also give brewing ideas the freedom

to show their pretty faces.

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Write down every little thing that’s in your head. Anything and

everything. Examples: I have to renew my vehicle registration. I want to start a newsletter. I would love to collaborate with Team X, Y, Z. I think I’d be really good at ______. I love that quote I just read (wait, who said it, what book was it in?) and think it would be great to use for my newsletter. Some of these things seem tiny and unimportant. But if you need to buy toothpaste and that’s all you can think about, actually going to buy the toothpaste (or adding a trip to Target to the calendar) will allow you to focus on ideas and projects much more relevant to your business. Go ahead, let it fly!

It’s time to prioritize. Skim your list above and start ranking your tasks/ideas. Also, write down how much time you think you’ll need to execute each item. Next, add realistic due dates, starting with your No. 1, 2, 3, etc. Doesn’t that feel better?! You can really think now. You’ve put your mind at ease and created space for creativity and big brainstorming.

Tips for turning ideas into action items:Make action items clear and concrete.

Start all action items with a verb.Keep action items short.

Be very specific with each action item.

IDEA TIME!

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Do you want to be a badass businessperson? Try setting goals and creating strategic plans. Sounds sexy, right?! Maybe not, but it’s empowering, and therefore, it will make you feel like a rockstar — and more importantly, your business will get better and better because of it.

Start small. Stay simple. Make sure the goals you set line up with helping your business grow and line up with your core values. In fact, building goals around your core values is a great place to start.

t i pt h r e e

“Often we get caught in the mental trap of seeing enormously successful people and thinking they are where they are because they have some special gift. Yet a closer look shows that the greatest gift that extraordinarily successful people have over the

average person is their ability to get themselves to take action.” t o n y r o b b i n s

s e t goa ls a nd m ak e a p l a n

building goals around core values:

limelife photography

One of our core values for our wedding photography business is giving our clients an

outstanding customer experience. We had been getting feedback from some wedding

planners about their couples’ frustration with receiving too little information upfront

from potential wedding photographers. We took this information and saw an opportunity

to better our customer service by bettering their experience. We set a goal to eliminate

frustration of potential clients by giving them all the information they wanted and more.

This goal is pretty specific. It very clearly states what needs to be achieved but doesn’t

include details about how it gets achieved.

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H o w c a n y o u d i f f e r e n t i a t e y o u r b u s i n e s s b y c r e a t i v e l y s o l v i n g t h i s a s p e c t o f y o u r b u s i n e s s t h a t n e e d s i m p r o v e m e n t ?

It’s time to brainstorm. We recommend getting out in the world. No idea is too crazy. You will work on this during IDEA TIME, but just to get your brain working in this direction: Once you have an idea, think about how it will affect your business on all levels. What will it take to execute it? Will it take away from any other part of your business? If so, how can you prepare for that ahead of time? Making a plan can take some time, and that’s okay. Just don’t get too carried away with the details that you never move on to execution.

G e t t i n g b a c k t o t h e e x a m p l e f r o m o u r p h o t o g r a p h y b u s i n e s s :

Potential clients wanted more information. And initially, we didn’t give out a ton of information up front because we wanted to get a face-to-face meeting before they made a decision. We wanted to give potential clients a chance to like us! We explored creating a super rad and branded PDF but ultimately felt it would lack personality. We tried getting our clients on the phone immediately after we received their inquiry. But we had less than a 50% success rate of actually getting people to pick up the call and way less called us back. However, when we did get them on the phone, it proved very valuable. We started exploring an idea to create a welcome website. It would contain short videos where we would answer virtually any question we’ve ever been asked at client meetings. It would include prices, packages and most importantly, our personality.

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This was not a small task and ended up taking us about two months. We weighed the work and cost of creating the welcome site against the possible value of it. We went back to wedding planners and asked them what they thought of the idea. We got good feedback, so we went for it. We worked on this project in our off-season so it didn’t take away from our workflow or customer service. We made sure we connected the welcome site to our analytics account so we could measure if it was actually being used, and see if it increased our lead responses and booking percentages.

B e i n g a b l e t o t r a c k t h e s u c c e s s o f y o u r s t r a t e g y i s v e r y i m p o r t a n t .

It not only helps you see if you have achieved your goal, but it helps you see (if it didn’t work) why it didn’t work and will give you insight into what you can do to adjust your strategy and try something new.

Maybe this example isn’t what you would expect from a tip including the words “set goals.” You might be used to coming up with monetary goals like, “I want to break six figures this year.” Or, “I want X amount of jobs/clients.” We set these types of goals, too. The problem is, it’s more difficult to make an action plan for something that feels so far away. And as you’re down in the trenches, trying to achieve that $100,000, if and when you get there, you might look back and have no idea what really got you there!

That’s why we suggest you break those big goals into smaller pieces that support your desired outcome. For example, instead of, “I want to make $100,000 this year,” you could make that a smaller goal like, “I want to make 15% more per client/transaction this year.” Or, “I want to sell my product/services to 15% more people this year.” Those smaller steps might produce the same result as that $100,000 goal, but it makes the planning much more manageable and specific.

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What aspect(s) of your business do you want to improve? List them all out here.

IDEA TIME!

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Pick one to start. Make sure your goal lines up with your core values.

Brainstorm every possible way, via every possible medium, you

could achieve that improvement.

How much time, money and resources do you need to

accomplish this goal?

How could time spent on this new goal take away from the

maintenance of your business? How can you prepare, so it

doesn’t negatively affect your business and current clients?

Is it best for you (and/or your team) to tackle this project, or is

it best to outsource it to someone with the specific skills needed to execute (designer, production

company, accountant, etc.)?

IDEA TIME!

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Who can you talk to that could help you expand and/or refine

your idea for improvement?

How can you track the success of this plan? If it’s something

that is web-based, you can use an analytics tool, such as Google

Analytics. Implement that system.

How often will you check in on this goal to track its successes

and failures?

It’s go time!

Get your calendar out and find/claim time slots in upcoming weeks/months for the execution of this

specific plan. Be realistic with yourself. Sometimes, the reality is, we won’t be able to start for one or two

weeks, sometimes even months! At the time, that may feel lame because we’re excited to rock and roll.

But, if you’re over ambitious, you might add, move and delete project work times so often that you end

up convincing yourself you don’t have the time for it. And that would be the lamest outcome of all.

You might have to prioritize things a bit differently in order to make this happen. But, if you want to

bring your business to life, you have to take action.

IDEA TIME!

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t i pfour

“The absence of structure breeds breakdown. Structure provides the relatively fixed points of reference we need.”

m i c h a e l e . g e r b e r

C r e ate systems

One of the most common places people realize they need a system is with their inbox. I think it’s safe to say we’ve all avoided our inbox because we’re afraid of what may be hiding inside. It can get scary and messy. Worst of all, the heavier our inboxes get, the more stress it weighs on us, depleting us of our precious brainpower.

But there’s good news: having systems in place for tasks like email sets us free! Not only does it help with productivity and efficiency, it frees up energy previously used to keep our tasks organized in our minds. When tasks become part of a system, we don’t have to think about if something needs to get done or even when it needs to

get done.

A syst e m i s a d e ta i l e d p l a n (o r wo r k f lo w ) o f h o w yo u wa n t t o d o

s o m e t h i ng t hat yo u d o r e p e t i t i v e ly.

Every possible step is included in that plan, which can make systems seem overwhelming to create. Don’t go there! I bet you already have a few systems in place that you use every day. For example, whenever I am leaving the house, a coffee shop, etc., I do the 3-Pat Check: one for my wallet, one for my phone and one for my keys. A system! You probably have a system for where you put your car keys when you get home or how you do the dishes. If you didn’t use those systems, you’d be looking for

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your keys every time you tried to leave the house and you’d go searching for forks because you couldn’t remember what drawer you put them in this time.

N o t a l l s y s t e m s a r e c r e a t e d e q u a l . Answering emails whenever you get the chance to open your inbox is not a good system. Good systems are intentionally designed and crafted. They take some tweaking from time to time. Good systems increase productivity and efficiency. They reduce the amount of time spent thinking about what tasks need to be done and let you focus on the actual task at hand (and help you decide which tasks to delegate).

If you don’t have business systems in place and written down, chances are you feel like you are drowning in everyday tasks, have extensive displays of Post-it notes and find that everything you do takes way longer than needed. You’ll also notice things start to fall through the cracks. You don’t have to and don’t want to live like this! The steps below will help you create systems for simple or general processes and workflows. Systems for more complex processes that span over more than a few days often require some additional steps and structure. There are some really great apps and industry-specific management software (like ShootQ, for photographers) to help you organize more complex systems and workflows, specifically those that help you stay on top of client relationships (like Basecamp, for project management).

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Make a list of all the repetitive processes you use.

turn it into a system:

1. Pick one process (start simple).

2. List every step of that process, in the order the tasks should be accomplished. There could be multiple “routes” you need to list out. Sometimes it’s easier to make a flow chart so that you can visually see the different routes with each step within that route.

3. Figure out how long every step takes. If you don’t know, guess, then start timing the steps when you do them. Add the time to the your worksheet.

4. Is there a way to make any of the steps or the whole process more efficient? Don’t be scared to re-order, combine or remove redundant tasks altogether.

5. Once you have the system put together, print it out and follow it every time you do that process.

let’s create some systems of your own!

Creating systems can be a

little overwhelming, so just

pick one to start. Then, as your

business changes and grows,

you can tweak your systems to

make things run as smoothly

and as efficiently as possible.

Systems will always be a work

in progress, but the important

thing is that you have them

and USE them!

IDEA TIME!

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process

steps time required

IDEA TIME!

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Even if you’re the most diligent self-starter that ever was, it’s important to figure out how to best manage your time and energy. We want to be efficient and productive. We need to feel energized and alive. Burnout, sluggishness, boredom, procrastination and feelings of “I just don’t know what to do right now!” will sneak up on you in a hurry. Implement pre-emptive strikes. Your clients, momentum and sanity will thank you.

A lot of the ideas below come from The Accidental Creative by Todd Henry. We

suggest you read it, too.

T i p s fo r m a n ag ing your t im e

• Create office hours and stick to them.

Be realistic. If Thursdays are bad days

to work, take Thursdays off completely.

Set yourself up for success.

• Get everything out of your head.

(See #2: Turn ideas into action items.)

• Schedule idea time, for about an hour

a week. Use this time to dream up new

ideas and possibilities for your business,

social media marketing, customer

service, etc. Do not use this time to

work on projects that already exist.

• Implement weekly, monthly and

quarterly checkpoints. How’d the week

go? What are your plans for next week? Is

it a good month for big changes, or not?

• Set up RescueTime on your computer.

t i pf i v e

“We say we waste time, but that is impossible. We waste ourselves.” a l i c e b l o c h

m anage t ime and energy

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• Set hours for certain tasks, every week.

For example, every Monday morning

at 9am, we have a weekly agenda

meeting; Wednesday afternoons are

spent devising marketing plans; Friday

afternoons are spent reading business

books.

• When you sit down to work, SIT DOWN

TO WORK.

• Break up your day, so you’re not sitting

at your desk for 6-8 hours straight.

• Exercise. Endorphins give you energy

and a positive outlook on menial tasks.

Plus, you’re more likely to sit and

concentrate after you’ve released some

stress and physical energy.

• Schedule time to improve your craft

and time to create just for fun.

• Schedule time to work on improving

your business, in addition to managing

and maintaining your business.

T i p s fo r m a n ag ing your e n e rgy

• Do heavy lifting when you’re at your

best. For example, morning people

should schedule work that requires

creative brainpower earlier in the day.

• Figure out which activities drain you

and which ones energize you. If you are

exhausted after every business meeting,

only schedule meetings on one or two

days a week, rather than having random

meetings on any old day.

• Get out in the world. Soak up sunshine.

Explore. Do something to make yourself

feel alive! And then, get back to work.

• Schedule days off. Perhaps even two in

a row?! That’s crazy talk, I know.

• Have coffee dates with other creative

entrepreneurs. Talk about business

struggles and triumphs.

• Balance work commitments with life

commitments. If it’s a busy month

for the family or there are big doctor

appointments coming up or out-of-town

guests staying with you, lighten the load

on the work front.

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What time of day do you do your best big/creative-thinking work?

What activities/tasks drain you?

What work related activities energize you?

What non-work related activities energize you?

Take a look at this year, as a whole. When are big things happening (vacations, surgeries, visitors, etc.)? Block out some time on either end of these dates to prep for and recover from them.

What time of day do you like to exercise?

Who energizes you? Set up some dates to hang out with these people.

It’s time to apply the above tips to your

life and business. This is where we figure out what works best for YOU and your schedule.

Now, look at your calendar for next week. And look at your answers to the questions above. Appropriately, fill in your time slots. You might have to shuffle things around a couple times to make everything work together. Give

this schedule a test run and tweak as needed. But once you find the right rhythm, stick to it!

IDEA TIME!

Final Thoughts

Way to go! We know that some of this can feel tedious and time consuming. But we know for a fact that all of these actions will energize your business. Please take into consideration that the above is just the tip of the iceberg on these topics. But the only place we can start is at the beginning, right? So, make the time for this stuff. If you do, you will be lightyears ahead of the competition. You will be more confident in the whys and hows of the business you created. You will make progress and be better because of it. That’s what we call success!

We want to hear what you think about these tips! We want to hear how you’re tackling each step and moving forward! When you post to social media, please tag us, so we can give you high fives along the way.

@ I D E A L U S T L I F E / # I D E A L U S T L I F E / # I D E A L U S T 5 T I P S

ResourcesBuilt to Last by Jim CollinsMaking Ideas Happen by Scott BelskyThe Accidental Creative by Todd Henry

Evernote RescueTime Wunderlist

Design by Phyllis Sa / www.phyllissadesign.com