End of the Month

Today is June 30, the last day of June 2012. It means that we have officially had ten days of summer, that July is coming very soon, and in business circles, that end of the month activities are due. For my business, VMT, the last business day of the month is when I send billing out to my clients.

This activity happens every thirty days or so and is a ritual I love to get finished. However, this year, it has gone faster and faster every month. Not because I'm becoming more proficient at it, although possible, or because I'm using some new software, no, it's going faster because there is less to do. January started out the year very busy, but ever since then I have had a gradual decline in work so that hardly any existed this past month.

In some ways, I have been decreasing the work load through my own actions. A couple clients started using a Content Management System (CMS) this year. These systems don't require much, if anything, of web coding knowledge, so they are fast to update. Both clients still have me do their work, but the time needed has dropped. I have also made a custom CMS for another client that they will soon be using to do their own work. Finally, I'm too easy on some companies. When two different updates total 12 minutes, I can't see charging 30 (two 0.25 hour updates) to a non-profit. Therefore, I combined the two times into one.

To help end this cycle of declining sales, I purchased access to a marketing strategy course to get further skills in selling. The premise of this class is to five figure deals from new business, I don't expect that to happen, but the information is still relevant. One item the instructor says is to build a strong core, or home network, of people that know what you do as this tends to be a great source for week. That I completely agree with, the majority of the work I do has come through referrals from friends and those who know me due to SCI.

He also said to blog often, so that people can get to know your work skills, and to use email marketing for consistent reminders to clients. These sound good, and I've heard them before, but I guess it's down to doing everything in increasing numbers.

Therefore, it's maybe time to start a business related blog, and try to think of things to write, and keep trying to be social, and make sure people know what I do.  It is something to pray about and see where God leads me with this reinvigorated skill.