I began that way—thinking that I had to have everything in order before I ‘opened my doors.’ I attempted to get everything in order. I didn’t want to appear unprepared and unknowing. How could I know that once I actually became a consultant, there would be so many supportive people who’d work with me to gain the needed information? And the order of using those need-to-know facts cannot be predicted.

I’m in my eighth year of consulting. It’s fun and hard. Fun because I love what I do and there’s so much more I want to! Hard because there are all those things that need to be done on a routine basis to stay in business—like bookkeeping, taxes, marketing, and more.

My advice? Hire specialized support functions. Do that sooner rather than later. You don’t necessarily need to hire employees. You can hire consultants and contractors. Do only what you want to do in your business. Leave the rest of the work to someone who enjoys and specializes in those activities. It generally takes us longer to do those things that we’d rather not, anyway. It takes the stress off right away. I know; I waited. Many of us do.

One client recently remarked that her blog is not doing much for her business lately. At first there were some enthusiastic visitors to her blog. They were very interested in her tips, her products, and had questions about her topics. Unfortunately, we had moved on to a couple of additional activities that had hit the top of our priority list and the blog was left on the wayside for the moment. We try to not let that happen, but in real life, it does.

Each marketing activity needs to be part of an overall strategy. We can’t depend on any one activity or media to reach all of our target audience. They don’t all ‘hang out’ in the same place. Many read online and many still read hard copy publications. Even online there are a great number of locations to consider.

On the other hand, you don’t need to reach the whole world. That’s pretty expensive and not everyone’s interested in your offers, anyway. When you plan your marketing strategy, make sure each piece fits together with and supports the other pieces.

As well, frequency is critical. Most people see your information at least 15 times before they take action.

Together this client and I are implementing several new strategies. As each one is in place, our marketing strategy and schedule will provide the direction for all components of our marketing strategy.