Category Archives: Uncategorized

Soft vs. Hard Launch

When you want to market a new product, there are two approaches you can take: a soft launch or a hard launch. Each one offers unique benefits, and each one can be a great approach depending on the product, organization, and marketing goals. Understanding the differences between the marketing approaches allows you to be informed to choose the best fit for you given marketing strategy.

Soft Launch

A soft launch is a marketing effort that intentionally limits its scope to a smaller percentage of the target audience. The goal is to test the product among the small audience and tweak it as necessary before the product is available to everyone. The audience can be a small group within your target audience or a small group whose demographics are similar to your target audience (such as product testing in Canada, New Zealand, or Australia).

Hard Launch

A hard launch is a full force marketing effort that aims to reach your entire target audience. The goal is to persuade as many people as possible to try (and, if relevant, purchase) your product.

Differences Between a Soft Launch and a Hard Launch

1. The main focus: The purpose of a soft launch is to gather data to improve the product before it’s released to everyone. Staff members can really focus on finding changes that need to be made because they won’t be spending as much time focused on various marketing efforts. This is really still a testing phase. It allows you to work out some of the kinks before you go big!

The purpose of a hard launch is to spread awareness of the product to as many people as possible, ideally resulting in their trying and purchasing the product. While sales conversions are great benefits to reap during a soft launch, they are not the main focus.

2. Amount of time Since a soft launch is primarily focused on testing the product on a smaller scale, in the short term, it will take less time to complete than a hard launch targeting a larger audience. Usually a few weeks is all it takes to gather the data necessary from a soft launch.

An effective campaign for a hard launch, in contrast, could take several weeks or even months. On the flip side, the amount of time it takes to see results comes in much quicker with a hard launch due to the expanded marketing efforts. Of course, in the long run, a soft launch does take longer because it’s followed by a hard launch. But when comparing a soft launch to a hard launch, a soft launch is much shorter.

3. Amount of money: The amount of marketing funds needed for a soft launch is naturally less than the marketing funds needed for a hard launch due to the smaller audience. On the flip side, the amount of money gained is naturally higher in a hard launch due to the expanded marketing efforts. The effectiveness of money spent can be high in either marketing strategy. With a soft launch you may gain valuable insight on necessary changes, making the product more appealing once you do a hard launch which can translate into more sales. With a hard launch, you are maximizing the effectiveness of a marketing campaign by promoting across various strategies and various geographic areas.

4. Ease of making changes: While you can make changes to your product with either launch, changes are easier to make in a soft launch for two reasons. First, your primary focus during a soft launch is to find changes that need to be made (in contrast to the primary focus during a hard launch, which is to effectively reach as many people in your target audience as possible). Second, with a soft launch you can make changes before the majority of your target audience sees the product. You won’t need to spend marketing resources informing audiences of the changes like you would if you made the changes after a hard launch.

Which one should you use?

Different marketing needs will call for different strategies. For newer products, you will likely want to do a soft launch. This will allow you to gather valuable information on your target audience to better tailor the marketing efforts when you introduce the product. For products you are less confident in, a soft launch also works well. You’ll gain confidence after seeing how the product performed in the smaller audience and know you made the changes needed for it to be ready for a full audience launch. For a product that will be launched in a more competitive market, a hard launch will be better since it allows for a wide marketing effort.

If you want to utilize either a hard launch or a soft launch, Alpine Small Business Solutions can help! We are ready to help you with any aspect of business building, simply call or email us and we will help you implement a marketing strategy.

7 Success Benefits of Adding Facebook and LinkedIn Group to your Social Media Strategy

Social media groups are an untapped goldmine of potential for marketers, which is why I’m shocked when people reveal they seldom (or never) utilize them. Think about it — groups are a free avenue for people with similar interests to share relevant information to a hypertailored audience without newsfeed algorithms minimizing their reach. The last part of the sentence is huge. Make sure you hear it again. Share relevant information to a hypertailored audience without newsfeed algorithms minimizing their reach. It’s the content marketers dream!

The benefit of groups extend far beyond more efficient content marketing. Below are some benefits of consistent group involvement, followed by tips to finding the best groups and utilizing group engagement to your advantage.

Benefits of Social Media Groups

Establish yourself as an industry leader. By regularly posting insights and great content, you’ll be seen by your peers as an industry leader. And industry leaders see their business thrive.
Reach new audiences. Posting in groups can spread your company’s name and content to an audience otherwise unfamiliar with you.
Find new professionals to network with. With professional groups, you’ll be exposed to a wide range of professionals you otherwise might not come into contact with. When they interact with your post, you can send them a friendly message to connect and discuss the topic further. It’s a more personable way to acquire new connections across cyberspace.
Drive traffic to your website. You can post (relevant) pieces of content in groups. Members who click on the post will be directed to your website, giving you the opportunity to grow website visits.
Audience insight. Join groups tailored to your target audience and get a glimpse into their interests, needs, and common questions.
Learn from your experienced peers. Group members share insights, and you can learn a lot by reading through fellow members’ posts.
Access to job postings. In many LinkedIn groups, members post job openings relevant to the group’s demographics. These posting may not be highly visible elsewhere and the job poster may remember you from your insightful posts.

Finding Social Media Groups

When it comes to group engagement, quality is more important than quantity. It’s better to engage consistently with five or so groups than infrequently with several. You can find groups in several ways:

Use the discover function. For LinkedIn, click “interests” then “groups” then “discover” to bring up suggested groups. For Facebook, go to this link https://www.facebook.com/groups/ and click “discover”. You’ll see groups joined by your friends, local groups, and groups centered around a topic.
Search based on industry related keywords (like “social media marketing”).
Search based on groups you’re a part of in the offline world (university alumni organizations, professional organizations, etc.)
Search based on location (“small business groups in Seattle”).
Search based on your job position (“small business owners,” “graphic designers,” etc.).
Search for audience tailored groups. If you sell baby products, join parenting groups. If you sell backpacking tours, join backpacking enthusiast groups. Think about where your audience is, and make sure you are there too.
Search for post-event groups. After a large networking event, it’s common for a social media group to be created to connect participants together.
Ask your connections which groups they are a part of that they’d recommend.
Sort through the Linkedin group directory https://www.linkedin.com/directory/groups/

Group Best Practices

Before you post, get to know the group’s tone. Do people post in a formal or casual style? Are successful posts often questions or pieces of advice? Are post lengths typically short, medium, or long?
When posting in audience tailored groups, provide how-to articles, guides, and other pieces of information packed content. That’s the information they are looking for in these groups, and it will build your reputation in the groups as a leader.
Focus on providing value rather than self-promotion and sales. Strive to meet the needs of those in the group, which will translate into quality connections and awareness of your organization that can lead to sales.
If someone comments on your post, you can send them a message stating you appreciated their insight and would like to discuss the subject more. It’s a more personable way to network.
Ask thought-provoking questions and reply to people’s answers.
Once you get the feel of group posting, consider starting your own group. It’ll really show off your position as industry leader.

Engagement in groups is just one of the many tactics employed in successful social media marketing. If you want an engaged social media presence, but lack the time or expertise to make that a reality, reach out to Alpine Small Business Solutions today! We’d love to assist you with social media marketing or any aspect of small business building.

The 5 Barriers of Delegation and How to Overcome Them

As a leader and entrepreneur, you will find one of the biggest challenges to be delegating tasks. In 2013, Stanford University conducted a survey which exposed the fact that 37% of chief executives struggle and are working to improve on delegation skills. Outlined are five disadvantages that might be keeping you from reaching your delegation goals. To overcome these barriers, we must first identify them.

It Takes Time & Mentoring

We all know that time is money, and we are always looking for ways to save time and be more efficient in what we do. Those voices in your head are telling you that you don’t have the time to adequately explain or teach the skills for the task at hand to your team member. The good news is, delegating task actually saves time. It might take holding their hand and teaching them all the nitty gritty at first, but once they have it down, that is one less task on your plate in which you can focus your efforts on more important business goals.

Loss of Control

Admit it, we can all be a bit of a control freak at times. Many business owners have a long history of making things happen with their own skill and determination. Even though business owners think they can do the task better, your business will not be successful if there’s a leader micromanaging everything. A way to overcome this is by providing planned accountability amongst your team members, which will calm your anxiety. Besides, you may find out that one of your team members discovers a new, more efficient method of completing the task at hand!

Delegating Yourself Out of a Job or Losing Tasks You Enjoy

Another barrier business owners may come across is the fear that you are going to train yourself out of a job. Or maybe there’s a reoccurring task that you enjoy but you offloaded it to a team member. This is a great problem to have! Now that you have less on your plate you can move to a higher position, take on more challenging tasks, or focus on those business development plans you never had the time for. You will also be rewarded by seeing others succeed because of your coaching.

Lack of Confidence/Faith in Your Team

Leaders may be hesitant to delegate tasks because they don’t have confidence or faith in their team members. It’s okay to feel this way, but it’s something you must overcome for successful delegation. Start small, take small risks and set your team up for success. Successes early on will give you the courage to delegate more and more in which you can gradually increase the complexity of tasks assigned. Be sure to thoroughly prep your team because the more prepared they are, the less worried you will be! Additionally, your team may lack the confidence in themselves, or they are worried they won’t do well. By starting small together, you can inspire confidence and trust side by side.

Asking for Help is a Sign of Weakness

Asking for help sucks, and you might feel like it’s a sign of weakness, when really it is a sign of strength and trust. We are only human, and we can’t do everything by ourselves. Often it is fear that fuels this anxiety: Fear of over-stepping. Fear of appearing too needy. Fear of imposing. Fear of revealing our struggle and having people realize we don’t have it all together after all. When we support other people to be more successful, we discover opportunities for collaboration that ultimately enable us to be more successful ourselves. Besides, didn’t you hire a team of talented people? Leverage their capabilities, you will be surprised!

To tackle the fear and uncertainty associated with delegation, you need to lay the groundwork for success. Clarify the work that needs to be delegated. Which tasks can realistically be handled by other team members? Also determine the tasks that must be done by you, and only you. Be sure to communicate with your team the objectives and goals of each task so they know what is expected of them and how it fits in with the larger picture. Be sure to set deadlines and milestones and/or the frequency of checking up on their work. Be open with communication and make sure that your team understands they can turn to you and that it is ok to ask questions and further guidance.

Have some tasks you need to delegate-Let’s talk!

Small Steps, Big Changes -The “Magic” Formula to Success

There is no elevator to success; you have to take the stairs. I love that saying by Zig Ziglar. I get questions all the time about the “shortcuts” and “magic formula” or my “secret sauce” to success.

For example: “What is the quickest way to…” or “What is the one trick that will…” Here is the thing…there is no shortcut, no secret to success. Sorry, they don’t exist…not for your business, not for your relationships, not for anything that is worthwhile.

If you want to succeed at something stop focusing on why everyone else appears to be succeeding except for you. Don’t assume everyone that is successful knows some “secret” that you don’t.

I know it’s easier to look at others and think those who achieve high levels of success are simply more intelligent, received a hand up, or are simply luckier than the people in the second group. I get it, it makes people feel better to rationalize another person’s success. But let’s be real here, it is hard work that got somebody in a position to be offered an opportunity. And even then, it is not the opportunity that makes a person, it is what you do with those opportunities that make or break you.

Are you ready to be accountable and take one step at a time? I don’t have a “one thing” answer for you but I do have the general formula.

The “Magic” Formula

Decide

Decide what you want. Consider what you want to achieve. Set S.M.A.R.T goals that motivate you and write them down to make them feel tangible. By setting Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound goals you can measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals. You will be able to see the forward progress in what might otherwise feel like a long pointless grind.

Commit

Doing things carelessly is the mother of everything that can go wrong. When you want your project to succeed, you invest yourself in it fully. “The difference between ‘involvement’ and ‘commitment’ is like an eggs-and-ham breakfast: the chicken was ‘involved’ – the pig was ‘committed’.” You can’t afford to only be involved; being involved means you’re not committed enough, and if you’re not committed enough, that thing you’ve been working on, won’t see the light of day. Don’t chicken out.

Consistent

Be determined and most important, consistent. Fully dedicate yourself to your goal. Consistency is about building small empowering habits and rituals that you partake in every single day that keep you focused on your highest priorities and goals. It essentially comes down to your ability to hold yourself accountable for the daily choices you make, with no excuses and no complaints. You and you alone are accountable for what you do and what you fail to do. All responsibility lies solely in your hands. Do the work not for an hour, a day, a week or a month…but every day, every step, until you reach your goal.

Taking everything, we have discussed into account, it’s clear that the key to success is deciding, committing, and consistency-in-action.

When you commit yourself to performing an activity or task at the same time every day without fail, you are at that moment building an empowering habit that will over time blossom and help you get the desired outcomes you are after.

There is no elevator to success. You must take the stairs, to gain the strength and momentum to take that giant leap. Need more help finding that perfect magic formula to help you in your business? Contact me today…

3 Step Recipe to Building a Kick Ass Team That Matches your Core Values

Think of your ideal virtual business like a delicious brownie. You’ll need the right amount of different but complementary ingredients like flour and chocolate. These are the positions and skill sets of your employees. You’ll need the right cooking process, like the stirring and heating; these are the actions taken by you and your employees. And you’ll need a good recipe to guide you to the end result; this is an articulation of your core values for your organization to uphold. When the ingredients and process match the recipe, you get a delectable brownie. When your employees and their actions match your values, you get team authenticity and trust.

Why is cohesion of core values so important? First imagine what happens when conflicting values are at play. Employees who value efficiency over relationship building won’t engage authentically when a boss encourages small talk among the team. A company that values timeliness will encounter conflict with an employee who sees deadlines as suggestions. Employees utilizing different values when handling customer service issues will undermine company consistency, which will negatively impacts the company brand.

These issues can become even more common and even more impactful with a virtual team, which by its nature works apart as much as it works together. While employees collaborate on projects, the majority of the work and communication occurs online. A need for consistency and cohesion is stronger when employees are scattered across the earth.

Now imagine what happens when employees are in sync with the organization’s values. Everything becomes easier! There’s no conflict over clashing values. Employees all prioritize the same values when making decisions, creating cohesion and unity among the team. The common understanding of the organization’s values helps build a consistent brand. The end result? The delicious brownie.

So how do you get this delicious brownie? You need a recipe, the ingredients, and the process.

Step 1: Articulate Your Core Values

This is the writing the recipe stage, where you’re figuring out what you want the end result to look like. Explicitly stating the core values is the guiding direction to the authenticity and trust in a team, just like writing baking steps is the guiding direction to a delectable brownie.

For some inspiration, check out these core values from big organizations.

Starbucks “Contribute positively to our communities and our environment”
Procter and Gamble “We have a healthy dissatisfaction with the status quo”
Quicken Loans “Responding with a sense of urgency is the ante to play”
Wells Fargo “Exceed the expectations of internal and external customers-surprise and delight them”
Zappos “Embrace and drive change”
Google “It’s best to do one thing really really well”

Step 2: Find Team Members With Those Core Values

This is the ingredient gathering stage. Hire individuals who embody your core values. Granted it’s tough to know from an interview whether someone holds the same values. But there are some ways to find out. Question their references and ask for specific examples of values at play. In the interview ask the individual to articulate their top three values. Describe a scenario where values are at play, and see which the interviewee prioritizes.

Step 3: Establish and Reinforce Those Core Values

This is the stirring, mixing, pouring, and heating of the brownie batter stage. Here are several steps you can take to reinforce values in your organization:

Articulate in writing the organization’s core values and distribute to employees. Write out the top values and provide examples of them at play. If your company values time with family, for example, write out how employees should not hesitate requesting a day off to care for sick child.
Model the values you want your employees to adopt. Be sure to showcase through your own actions the core values. Whenever possible, explain the thought process behind your decisions. For example, saying reliability is a key aspect of our customer service so disciplinary action will be in place if too many deadlines are missed.
Be intentional with communication. When we lose nonverbals (like tone and posture) in online communication, we attribute more meaning to the nonverbals we are left with (like emoticons, punctuation, and phrasing). If you want to create a more relaxed atmosphere, throw in smiley faces to the emails. If you want a more professional atmosphere, keep conversation concise and formal. Let these expectations be known.
Focus on the process, not just the results. Bosses who narrowly focus on results don’t care how it gets done, just that it does get done. Employees internalize this mentality and will often lose sight of company values (learning and improving one’s work, positive collaboration with team members, etc.) while they work for the results. As much as possible, reinforce values in your employees’ process.
Praise examples of employees’ modeling the values. If you value timeliness and an employee consistently turns in work on or before the deadline, reference this work ethic in an employee of the month dedication or a “gold star” email.

A virtual team is a great opportunity to run a business with more efficiency and employee freedom, but it does come with challenges. We can enable you to tackle those hurdles through our many services, from online business management strategy and implementation to administrative services. Give a call or shoot us an email today!

Onboarding your First Virtual Assistant Client

Congratulations on landing that first client! Now what do you do with her? Good question. It is smart for a virtual assistant to have a systematic approach to how he or she handles clients. Make sure you have everything set up in a way you feel comfortable and can explain the process to a new client who may be working with a virtual assistant for the first time.

Get to know your client. I have a profile sheet that I have all my clients fill out. It helps me get to know what they like, how they communicate, and all the details I need to do my job. I need to really know their business. This profile sheet helps me get to know clients business, how to access their account (passwords and login info sheet)

Assess the client’s assets. One of the most critical parts of your onboarding process is assessing your new clients existing campaigns. You’ll be able to get a good understating of what they do and do not have in place. The more prospects you work with, the more you’ll realize every client is different. Despite if they are in the same area of work, each one is at a different point in their maturity continuum, and they each have a wide range of assets to work with. You will want to make sure you have ALL access necessary to review their assets. This gives you a great chance to test those passwords and access. Organization is going to be key, but making a list of everything you find, both positive and negative will lead to opportunities for improvement (think upsells in the future). When you are able to review your findings, look for opportunities to position yourself as an expert.

Schedule a kick-off call. This could be a great platform for you to give a good first impression. It is important for you and your team to come across as experts and confident. You want your clients do feel confident not only with you but with the team as well. This call is a great time to review whatever package or service they have purchased now that you have had a chance to really dive in to their assets. Make sure you have any clarifying questions answered and information available. Tell the client what to expect from you and what you expect from her.

Get to work. Usually now is when you can really start to dive in and show your client how awesome you are. Here is where I will remind you to under promise and over deliver. Do not over extend yourself, and deliver on what you promise.

Check in call. Working remotely can make a relationship a little harder to develop. This just means you have to put effort in to making sure the client is happy and loving what you do. This call is designed to be a one-on-one conversation between you as the VA and the primary decision maker. You want to make sure you are able to talk too and are comfortable and have established with the person who is cutting the checks. Schedule this call with the purpose to gather feedback on the engagement and relationship thus far. Make sure you stay connected.

Business is human. People want to do business with people. Having a system in place will give you confidence, knowing you have a strong foundation supporting you; this will help put your clients at ease and make them more comfortable. Remember, by setting aside time to work on your business and create documented systems and processes, you are not only improving your business, but you are growing and importing as a service provider.

5 Ways A Virtual Summit Can Increase Your Income in 90 Days or Less

Your small business has been going great: steady income, returning clients, your email list is now considerable, you have an interactive and large social media following. Great! However, in the last few months you noticed a decrease in growth. You’re not losing, but you’re not gaining either. Everything was growing rapidly. So, what gives?

It’s not uncommon for businesses to hit a plateau. The good news is, there’s a few things you can do to get out of this rut! One of the best ways I’ve found is to host a virtual summit. If you don’t know what a virtual summit is, it’s essentially an online conference. The host is the one who organizes and brings experts together for interviews. The catch, however, is that the summit is only broadcasted for a certain period for online attendees to watch and learn from.

Live streaming and limited-time broadcasting is a great tool to add to your marketing tool box. The limited aspect of these brings urgency amongst your potential attendees which make them more likely to act on it. Television has been using this tactic for ages! How often have you heard someone say, “I have to be home by 8pm to catch the season finale of -insert tv show here-!”

Here’s five ways you can use a virtual summit to increase your income in under 90 days!

#1 All-Access Pass

An all-access pass is to your virtual summit as Netflix is to tv shows. This is the most popular way you can increase your revenue via virtual summits. Some people will not able to attend your virtual summit during your limited broadcasting event due to a busy schedule, sickness, or anything else life throws their way. However, these customers still crave the information!

Free ticket holders can view the broadcast for a limited time, which in turn peaks interest in an all-access pass, which is a membership area containing all the video content, so that they do not miss a single interview! Another tip is to use price-increases for all-access passes. By increasing the price when your summit starts and when it ends, you can encourage more people to buy.

To further increase urgency and to encourage purchases, you can try offering a limited quantity of all-access passes.

#2 Order Add-Ons

An order add-on is an offer asking the customer if they would like to add an item to their cart prior to check-out. Another wonderful way to increase your income with virtual summits are add-ons. This can be a product you already have that is relevant to their interests, or a product exclusive to the virtual summit. You might want to consider offering a small discount for orders over a specified dollar amount to encourage order add-ons!

#3 Sponsorships

In essence, your virtual summit is an event. This is an amazing opportunity for companies to financially support you in exchange for publicity. There’s a few ways in which you can implement this, either by displaying their logo on your home page or making mention during your interviews.

#4 Physical Products

I can’t express enough how important branding is! Branding your virtual summit and producing and selling items like t-shirts, pens, hats, or other merchandise will help build brand awareness for both your business and virtual summit. Loyal customers will be happy to rock your swag which doubles as free advertisement!

#5 New Product/Service

After your summit is done broadcasting, you will have a shiny, new, email list of followers! They will be enthusiastic to learn more about your topic and seek more of the content you offer. This is absolutely a great opportunity to influence this email list and launch a new product or service for them. A great idea is to create your virtual summit around new products or services you wish to incorporate so that you continue to build interest and grow your audience!

Ready to try a summit? Give us a call and we will be happy to help.

5 Things to Do When You Feel Overwhelmed in Your Business and Life

As an entrepreneur, life can get overwhelming pretty fast. Projects pile up, crucial staff members call in sick, clients impose unreasonable deadlines…and that is just on the work end. Somehow you also need to find time to do a grocery run, take the dog to the groomers, shuttle the kids to soccer practice, all while dealing with being sleep deprived, of course.

It is common to have periods of time of being utterly overwhelmed in your business and life. Heck, it is almost a rite of passage for entrepreneurs to face…again and again. When you feel the stress and tension headache bubbling up, get into action with these five things to do when you get overwhelmed.

Get Rid of as Many Stressors as Possible

If you have too much on your plate right now, clear off the plate! As go-getter entrepreneurs, we can find ourselves overcommitted quickly. Maybe we hate saying no. Maybe we underestimated the time commitment when we said yes. Maybe when it rains it pours and you find yourself now drowning. Whatever the reason, you do not need to resign yourself to struggling to bear the weight of everything needing to get done.

Ask yourself if everything needs to be done. Then ask yourself again. Much of what we do can be automated or streamlined. Can you batch tasks to get them done more efficiently? Is there a low-cost service you can invest in to automate these repeating tasks? Is the output on a task really worth the time and effort cost? Ruthlessly evaluate everything on your to-do list and then eliminate, automate, and streamline.

Then look at what’s left and delegate everything you can. It can be tough to hand over the reins to someone else, but you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel once you do. It’s an immediate solution to getting more off your list. Sure, you may stress a bit wondering if the person will get everything done. But reassure yourself that they will (or worst case scenario someone else can pick up the slack).

Sit Down and Write It Down

When life gets overwhelming, we often find ourselves scurrying about trying to get it done. We feel we have no time to waste, so we resist taking the time to pause and create an effective plan of attack. We launch ourselves into tasks immediately, failing to stop and prioritize. This results in us mismanaging our time and energy.

Taking a few minutes to write everything down makes a world of difference. Seeing everything in black and white makes it instantly less stressful. A list can be tackled. A list has an end point. A list means we are no longer wasting precious mental energy trying to keep track of everything in our mind. Writing it down helps us “clear our heads” and see the full picture, allowing us to more effectively strategize.

Once you make your list, prioritize tasks and attach deadlines to everything. It will help you feel less like things are hanging over your head, which helps reduce feeling overwhelmed.

Get Up and Go Out

Now that you have eliminated everything possible from your list and articulated everything you need to do, step away from the chaos for a moment. But I don’t have the time you may think.

Here’s the thing. You do.

You can spare fifteen minutes to go for a walk outside and clear your head. Nature has a unique calming effect on our bodies and our brains. Study after study shows the near healing power of being outside. Spend a few minutes walking around in nature and do not obsess over your to-do list. Focus on the sights and sounds around you, your breathing pattern, a fun memory from a recent time with a loved one, whatever it takes to think about anything other than what you need to be doing next. Clearing your head will help stop your stressed-out fight or flight mode and return your body to a healthier state, allowing you to get started on your to-do list with a focused mind.

Be Proactive in Managing Your Stress

Now that you have returned to the grind, ready to tackle your projects, it is important to proactively manage your stress. It is not sustainable for your physical and mental wellbeing to go from overwhelmed, to workaholic mode, to feeling fine for a few days, only to return to feeling overwhelmed. When our projects pile up, it can be hard for us to justify taking breaks. But breaks help refuel our energy and help make us more productive. Breaks help us get more and better quality work done in less time.

It’s important to not wait until you feel overwhelmed to take a break. It will take longer to return to a state of calm than if you instead proactively take breaks before you feel overwhelmed. There are many break time strategies, with the Pomodoro method being a steady favorite. Work for 25 minutes. Take a 5-minute break. Repeat four times and then take a 30-minute break. Repeat until the work day is done. This proactive managing of your stress will help prevent future feelings of being overwhelmed.

Practice Daily Self Care

Caring for yourself is one of the most important things you can do, both for yourself and your business! To perform at your best capacity, you need quality sleep, a balanced diet, regular exercise, and time for yourself. Journal your feelings. Get massages. Read in the backyard. Find one or two habits designed just for your self-care, not for being productive, and engage in them every day. It will help you feel better overall and fight those feelings of being overwhelmed.

Alpine Small Business Solutions

Where do you want to go with your business? Do you have stacks and stacks of things you need to accomplish and time doesn’t seem to be on your side? If only there were more hours in a day to allow you to accomplish all the tasks you have been putting to the side for the last few weeks, or dare I say the tasks that you have been putting to the side for the last few months!

Let Alpine Small Business Solutions clean out your “in box” and help you build your business and grow in the right direction.

You’ve come to the place Where Your Success Matters.

Alpine Small Business Solutions has over 17 years experience. We offer a myriad of different services from administrative, to bookkeeping, to event management, to real estate assisting, and so much more. Every Alpine Small Business Solutions team member focuses on adding value to your business by listening to your needs, striving to meet and exceed expectations, achieving excellence and providing the highest level of service to keep your business on track. With Alpine Small Business Solutions you can rest assured that your projects will be handled and completed in a quick and professional manner. We listens to your needs and we get the job done right and to your satisfaction. We know that your time should be centered on promoting and creating revenue for your business and with our assistance, you can.