Tips to Update Your Business

Is your business “Freshness dated”? In other words, when was the last time you updated different elements of your business or skills? From your software programs to your business plan to your marketing materials and corporate brand identity, companies can go stale. Products get aged, marketing materials grow old, media kits and promotional packages lack the latest clips and presentation materials.

Whether you’re a corporate teleworker or a home-based entrepreneur, staleness can seep into your home office and sap speed, efficiency and productivity. Freshness even includes going back to college for continuing education, or attending seminars on software, business and presentation skills, or even your industry's latest trends. Refreshing your business could even mean reading that trade journal or industry magazine that comes in every month, but gets tossed on a “To Be Read” pile. Staying atop trends is key to staying relevant to your clients or employer.

Speaking of refreshing your software, when was the last time you downloaded a patch, update or other critical new addition to your store-bought or downloaded program or application? Updating software keeps it current, catches potential security breaches – and ultimately makes your machine, and you, more powerful and efficient.

Now may be a good time to refresh your business, especially as the economy bounces back from its recent woes. Slow times are good times to make up for lost time not spent updating marketing materials and new product development. But the slow times may be over. In fact, a majority of small business owners (75%) were optimistic that the U.S. economy is in a turn-around phase from now through year-end, according to D&B’s (formerly Dun & Bradstreet) 21st Annual Small Business Survey. A whopping 87% of owners of companies with 25 or fewer employees were optimistic about their companies’ outlook through year-end. See the results at www.dnb.com/smallbusiness.

Got 10 minutes for a quick marketing makeover? Take the 10-minute To Do:

Do a Marketing Inventory. Gather all your marketing materials – business cards, a print out of your home page and print advertisements. Then, lay them on a table. Bring in a graphic designer or an ally versed in creating a good appearance. Together, look for inconsistencies in color, type face (fonts), wording, imagery or just the message you’re trying to convey. Next, if you have an eye for marketing and graphics, try to sketch out – in pictures as well as words – the image you’d like to portray. Then, execute it.

Jeff Zbar, the ChiefHomeOfficer.com, is a speaker, writer and expert on alternative officing. He is the author of Teleworking & Telecommuting: Strategies for Remote Workers and Their Managers (Made E-Z Products, 2002); Safe@Home: Seven Keys to Home Office Security (FirstPublish 2001) and Your Profitable Home Business (on CD-ROM from Made E-Z Products). Visit his Web site to subscribe to Home Office Success Stories, his free electronic magazine on home business and teleworking.