By Denise Michaels, Author, “Testosterone-Free Marketing”

Lately I’ve been busy. It’s better than being bored – but it’s also important to decide if your kind of busy is “smart, profitable busy” or is it “just keeping busy.” I try to be aware how much time I spend on marketing, servicing clients, long-range strategic planning and just daily maintenance stuff like catching up with emails, etc.

Don’t get stuck like many women do, “in the thick of thin things.” Or spin your wheels, wasting valuable time on work that’s of little consequence. No wonder you end up feeling like success is elusive and you’ll have to keep working harder and harder to achieve only marginal gains. It can do a number on your confidence level, too.

Though most of my clients come to me from online, this year I’ve focused a lot of attention on becoming more well-known in my local area of Las Vegas. That means online and offline networking. Traffic building online (I have four sites and this new blog) and building a “fan base” offline locally.

Most of my marketing mentoring clients come to me from online. Most of my book sales and workshop sales come from offline. Currently I have several projects I want to build up a head of steam with. Especially my Empower U Academy site – it’s brand new and time to implement my marketing plan. Also, I have a marketing workshop coming up Monday November 2nd to fill. That doesn’t include regular marketing and book mentoring clients, bringing in new clients, networking, writing for this blog. Going to the gym. And oh, once in awhile it’s nice to spend a little quality time with my husband, Ernie. There’s a lot on my plate.

One thing I’m working to improve in my business is systems. Because I’m a writer and a creative person it’s not where my energy naturally goes. However, I’m cognizant how important it is to have systems in place. So when business comes in you have a way of handling it without throwing your hands up in the air and falling into a blithering heap of overwhelm. Without systems in place this is a very real possibility.

So, how do you do it? Well, as I just said in the last paragraph this isn’t where my energy naturally goes so I’m not an expert. One great suggestion is to get one of Michael Gerber’s “E-Myth” books. Start with “The E-Myth Revisited.” Its a fast, easy read.

Here are a couple over-arching aims when it comes to systems. Think about the orderly process of a sale and what that process should be like for your customer. Then think about the experience of doing business with you. From start to finish. You want the experience to be fairly consistent and congruent from one customer to the next. And, if the person providing the experience isn’t necessarily you – how would you bring them up to speed? Systems are created from the place of what you want the experience to be like for your customers.

You know what it’s like when you refer a friend to a great restaurant. You tell them what a wonderful time you had. You share about the amazing food, the ambience and the stellar service. A few weeks later your friend says, “I don’t know what happened but that isn’t at ALL the experience we had.” Then she tells you about the undercooked food and the lackluster service. You feel bad you referred her and make a mental note not to refer anyone else. The experience you had is totally different from the experience she had.

Putting systems into place in your business sounds boring – but in reality it’s quite exciting. You can finally run your business with less overwhelm, happier customers or clients, more referrals and create more cashflow for yourself and all the people and things that matter in your life. Because it’s important to have a business you’re passionate about. But transforming your business from an expensive hobby to a real business must be about passion AND having the pieces in place to create real cashflow.