Circa News

This week’s Small Business Roundup includes 2012 budgeting tips, productivity ideas, and getting your business ready for the holidays.

The One Marketing Thing That Has Made the Most Difference For Your Business – 31 marketing tips that have worked for real businesses. A lot of them you’ve probably heard before but as I’ve said previously it’s good to see a real-life example with the idea. I’m not so sure how broadly “Create Your Own Reality Show,” really works but it will for someone!

Is Your Budget Ready for Worst Case Scenario? – It’s getting to be that time of year again: budget time. Get ahead and work on your 2012 budget now. There are some really excellent suggestions in this article for your budget, including creating least likely, likely, and most likely scenarios. As a small business owner, if you only read one of these articles this week, read this one.

Two productivity articles with great tips for getting more done:
Microproductivity: Get More Done and Lower Your Work Stress Without a Second Wasted – This article has six 30-second suggestions. I don’t know about you, but I can’t sort my email in 30 seconds. Maybe that means I need a better system? One thing I’d like to add is that, sometimes, you just need to take that 30 seconds to stop and breathe. Enjoy your surroundings. Look at something beautiful. Taste your food or drink. Yes, it’s wonderful to be productive but you need a little “me” time, too.

Freelance Productivity: What’s Your Secret? – I’ve considered having “meeting” days and “office” days before but for some reason I just couldn’t justify it to myself. This article makes it sound so obvious! I love the idea of identifying what your prime work days are – we all have days where we are particularly productive and there is usually a pattern to them – and which days are less so and really working with that to get the most out of your time.

Black Friday Is Almost Here. If Your Web Site Is Not Ready, It’s Your Fault – The title of this article really says it all, but you should go read it to find out why. Making sure your website is ready for holiday shopping should be your number one priority right now. I know, you’re probably thinking it’s too early for holiday shopping. It may be too early for shopping but your website won’t magically be ready for shoppers on November 25 if you do nothing. You need to plan it out and get working on it now. And <teaser> keep an eye out for my upcoming special launching Monday, October 17. It’s just what you’ll need!

MOO Holiday Card Sale – I love MOO. They make amazing greeting cards, postcards, business cards, stickers, etc. They are currently having a sale on their holiday cards: 15% off if you use the code CARDSYAY at checkout. Now is a great time to stock up on holiday cards for your clients, family, & friends. Deal ends October 20.

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Tech news is up next. Have a great weekend!