So it seems just as quickly as they come the festivities soon go, it doesn’t feel like we have been off work for almost 2 weeks however now were a week into the New Year and its nose to the grindstone time again. We’ve launched a new site in the UK and the US will follow shortly – check it out at www.click-convert.co.uk.

So I’m sat here, keyboard in hand and thinking about what 2015 will bring and what I really want from this Year. Just before we came back I had put up my New Years Aims and Goals (I think the word resolutions make it somehow easier to break) on Facebook and when I arrived in the office on Monday morning I was met with several comments of “blimey John, you’ve a busy year ahead”. Now I’m not one to shy away from a challenge and although I have got A LOT of things I want for this year they are all achievable the ones I’m most nervous of are some of the personal goals, learning Salsa being one of them. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for updates.

Anyway I want to share some of the more business related ones with you so here goes.

• Grow UK and US
• Let others do things they are better able than I to do at work.
• Seize new opportunities.
• Be more positive.
• Don’t put up with idiots – you can always find one, they’re everywhere.

Now many of them are fairly generic looking and I’m sure many of you will share some of the same premise and thoughts when it comes to your business however I would like to take a closer look at each one.

Firstly looking back at 2014, I decided to put to bed the ghosts of the fraud that we encountered in relation to a former business associate who stole from us in 2011. Long story short, this person stole from us and then used the proceeds to start a similar named business. A bloody cheek, but I had the last laugh. It occurred to me that instead of being rather angry about it, I could use the experience to my advantage. If one fraudster could start up with stolen assets and ropey service what could be achieved with my help but in a bigger market and brilliant service?   I took a great leap of faith and launched in the US with Jamison Hollister. Jamison has set the team up over there and deserves credit for believing in my idea and then taking that step off a cliff. Not everyone has faith in an idea or the balls to jump. It was something of a nose dive initially, but before long they found they actually could fly. In hindsight there were times I thought we may have bitten off more than we could chew however with some hard work and perseverance we are winning and we are expecting the US to become highly successful. Whilst not being able to completely stick to my 2014 resolution of not working in the business having to work hard on the US I have been able to take a small step back from the UK business and this has worked whilst the US was beginning to take off, my UK team continued to build on the success of the previous year and have steadily grown our client base and this year I am looking for both countries to perform even better. The lesson is to remember to work on the business and not just in it. Equally applies to marketing as well.

This leads nicely onto goal no.2, being a little bit of a control freak I usually find it very hard to let others do work that I feel I can do myself. However I have had to let some of the responsibilities for the UK business be taken on by my managers. Although obviously I am wonderful at EVERYTHING! I have to admit that even though I am wonderful, there are things that my guys are a bit more wonderful at. I don’t mind admitting that my major weaknesses are organisation, time management, man management and selling to new potential customers. From a sales point of view I am very good at explaining what we can do for you and sharing the passion we have to help people but I fall flat when it comes to the important part which is discussing cost??? Weird I know but this year has helped me learn a little about myself and a lot about the people around me. My question to you is, are you sometimes guilty of the same thing? Many of our clients before we speak with them are confident that they have everything in hand and are doing it well. Our job is to challenge that and make you question yourself on the possibilities that although you are very good at what you do are there people out there with other skill sets that may improve your business and actually be better at it than you? If that’s the case why not get them to do what they’re best at and you now have more time to work on other things your great at. So are you really good at search marketing and PPC? Should you delegate it to another?

By freeing yourself up and letting others take responsibility for what they’re best at we can then concentrate on point 3. Having taken the leap this year with the US office I am beginning to see the benefits of taking this opportunity. However looking back there have been so many missed opportunities. I do not regret missing these however this year I am making sure that any opportunities that arise I grab with both hands, sometimes this may be a risk however there will be successes and failures but it’s better to try and fail than to not have the chance of success. Do you seize all opportunities that come your way? Do you even know all the opportunities that exist with paid search?

I think you can tell from the feel of this blog so far that point 4. Be more positive has began to take effect. It comes from the old saying “positivity breeds positivity”. Jim Carrey recently explained how he uses positive visualisation to achieve all that he wants in life. Whether its mumbo jumbo or not what’s the harm in trying? He is one of the most successful actors of recent times after all? What is the worst that can happen if it doesn’t work well at least it’s a better place to work. Plus I do love the film ‘Yes Man’.

My final point for this year may be a little controversial, don’t put up with idiots or those that just seem to attract bad luck. The number of businesses owners that have been bitten by those they try to help is alarming. You go the extra mile, you help staff who are having issues and yet they too often can’t help themselves or rather they do help themselves at your expense either bringing chaos or cause harm to the business.  Far better to stay with those who come to work, do the job and return home without trouble. Some people are just unlucky – stay clear of them.

The controversial part is that throughout the past 12 months I have come across several clients who could well be tarred with the idiot brush. No matter what you do to help, no matter how much their online marketing improves they just make poor decisions. It’s as if they can’t help themselves.  It’s far easier to help those who really want to help themselves. It’s the 80:20 rule – 20% of clients are responsible for 80% of sales.  I may be being a bit harsh but we as a company want to help those who help themselves. If you want to improve your AdWords, Bing or Facebook this year, give us a call. After all we’re the market leader for small business mentoring and account management – over 1700 business can’t be wrong.

So here’s to 2015 a year of Success for Our Clients and Us.

If you want to see how we can work together this year then please contact us and we can have a chat and see how Click Convert can work for your business.