The Power Of Saying No In Business: Liberate Yourself By Turning Down The Projects Which Aren’t Working

When you first set up a company, funds are tight. You understandably feel the need to accept every project when your bank balance is low, you are trying to build up a client base and a portfolio.

But do not give into temptation. There are times when you have to turn down projects and clients. So when do you need to put your foot down? Look at this checklist:

1.       When The Effort Is Cutting Into Your Profit

Does the client's job requirements cost you more in time and effort than the money you are going to make out it, this is a sure sign that this is a loss-making project. You are well advised to turn it down and concentrate on the more profitable ones instead.

2.       When The Project Goes Against Your Business Vision And Mission

You may accept a project because you are temporarily short of funds, but there are some projects which go against your company’s mission. If you add them to your portfolio, they will only make you come across as a confused company which doesn't know what it's doing, and if you don't add them to your portfolio you will have nothing to show for all the time and effort you spent on it.

3.       When Your Clients Are Demanding The Impossible

You just can’t deliver a working website to a client overnight unless you cut corners. Be upfront with your client and say so. If they still want it done, you need to turn the project down without a second thought. If you take it on, you will never be able to deliver, and you'll risk your credibility.

4.       When The Project Is Taking Your Focus Away From More Important Projects

Do you have other more profitable or more valuable projects in the pipeline that you are unable to focus on? If that’s the case then this client or project is simply not worth it.

5.       When You Think Some Business Relationships Won't Work Out

Sometimes a business relationship isn't worth the headache. Some clients are just so hard to please and so unpleasant in general that going out of your way to complete their projects will not result in a relationship that you can cultivate. It is best to dump such clients and move on.

6.       When The Project Is Sucking Morale

Accepting the wrong projects can slowly but surely kill your as well as your employees' morale. An obvious sign is when you notice your employees feeling confused and overworked, and turnover is high especially among employees who have been working on "that" project.

You’re the best judge of whether or not a particular project will be a good fit for your company. But if you do choose to turn it down, do it in a way that helps you preserve your dignity and will leave a good impression on your client. Remain tactful at all times - who knows your prospective client may come up with another request that is right up your alley.

Make Your Content Writing A Piece Of Cake With These Tools For Content Marketers

You cannot deny that content marketing is key to moving your business forward, but at the same time you know it is time-consuming. Therefore the right tools should be key to your content marketing plan and will make a big difference to your strategy.

Here are some tools you should consider:

1.       BuzzSumo

Through BuzzSumo you can enter a website’s address and find out what kind of content is shared the most. You can even enter keywords and find the kind of content revolving around those keywords which are being shared the most.

2.       SEMRush

Enter your competitor’s website address in SEMRush to find out the keywords that are driving visitors there. You can then use this information to optimize your own website around those keywords to redirect traffic towards your own website.

3.       Canva

Content marketing can be made much more powerful with the use of the right images, and this is where Canva comes in handy. This tool can be used to create graphics without any complicated graphic designing tools.

4.       Edit Flow

An editorial calendar is critical to content marketing, and you can use Edit Flow to help you design calendars to determine the content you will be producing and the dates on which you will be producing it. It even includes project management capabilities, and allows you to assign tasks to each team member and get a very clear picture of who is doing what.

5.       Quill Engage

You cannot tell how successful your content marketing campaign has been unless and until you monitor the results and we all know that Google Analytics can be quite intimidating. With Quill Engage on the other hand, you get a weekly email with all the stats you need to know, in a very easy to understand way.

6.       Zapier

This app links to over 300 different apps in order to help you automate your task flows. For example, you can easily schedule Facebook sharing, Tweeting, syncing with Evernote and much more more.

7.       Grammarly

This grammar checker app is absolutely essential if you are responsible for text based content. This is simply an add on onto the Chrome browser that goes over the text you have written and determines any grammar mistakes you may have made. The best part is that it integrates with any website where you write content as well as your email client so that you can produce error free content every time.

8.       PiktoChart

Long columns of text can become overwhelming for your reader, resulting in the need for infographics. PiktoChart is especially designed to help those who struggle with graphic design software product impeccable graphics.

But remember that no tool can be a substitute for quality content. You may use all the tools in the world but it is only interesting content that will actually lure your client. These tools are only designed to make your job easier, not to actually do your job for you. So use them as an aid, not a replacement.