How To Do Small Business Project Management Better

Small Business Project Management Doesn’t Have to be Overwhelming!

Do you have a project management system? I’m sure you have a great one for customer service and sales, but what about your marketing?

When you first open your business, you have to wear multiple hats. But if you’ve had your local business for 5 or 10 years and still aren’t using teamwork everywhere, then now is your chance.

I could talk about so many different areas, but today I’m sticking with marketing and creating better processes to make your life easier and more relaxing. I’ll even walk you through the exact workflow we use to launch a new website, so you can see what a good process looks like in action.

Do You Have a Project Management System?

If you don’t, then think through your process for:

• Customer Service
• Sales
• Content Creation
  • Blogging
  • Social Media
  • Podcasting
• Advertising
• Marketing
• HR
• Operations
• Accounting

Jot down the 3-5 major steps in each area and expand on each point with more bullet points. Once you finish, you shouldn’t have more than 1-5 pages on how to do the task.

If you want to grow in sales and marketing, you’ve got to have a plan. Before you try out someone else’s process, document your own.

In the book Traction, they do a great job teaching you how to do “The 3-Step Process Documenter.”

Many days I feel like I just do project management. Workflows like these help you stay on track, keep you from skipping important details, and help you not feel overwhelmed. A coach once challenged me to build workflows I could repeat 1,000 times with only 10% of the effort. That’s the goal.

Here Are Some Project Management Tools We’ve Used for Over 10 Years:

1. EOS
2. Basecamp

Pick your small business project management system and follow it 100% for 90 days yourself!

If you can’t follow a system, then how can you expect your staff to follow it? If you have a team, you are a leader. They follow your guidance.

Once you know you picked the right system for your local business, roll it out to your staff and have them follow it 100% for the next 90 days!

Project Management in Action: Our Workflow for Launching a Website That Works

Want a new website and trying to do it yourself? Here’s our project management workflow to help you stay sane and launch a website in 90 days that makes people take action.

Most small business owners skip one important step. They jump straight to building the website themselves or hiring someone to build it.

But you are a smart marketer, so don’t skip creating a clear message that gets your website visitors to take action.

If you skip the messaging and writing the copy for the wireframe, then most likely you will waste time and money building a website that won’t work. This is why so many people are frustrated that their website doesn’t work. Yes, this takes a little more time, but it’s worth it!

When a new client buys a website package from us, we take them through 3 phases:

1. Message
2. Wireframe
3. Web Design

12 Project Management Workflow Steps That Will Help You Create a Website That Works

1. Read the Building A StoryBrand book.
2. Go through the StoryBrand Messaging Framework course over at Business Made Simple University.
3. Schedule a BrandScript Review call with me. I’ll review your BrandScript to make sure you did it right.
4. Go through Modules 1 and 2 of the Marketing Made Simple course over at Business Made Simple University.
5. Grab the homepage wireframe template I give away at our Marketing Lab. It makes it easier to write your website copy and make sure you put everything in the best spots.
6. Do keyword research. I like to use KWFinder. When we work with a new client, we find 20 keywords for them to use for their first 20 blog posts or for their homepage and service pages. This is important for self-hosted WordPress websites.
7. Use Google Docs as you write your website copy.
8. Make a wireframe. We use Draftium. I copy and paste the words from the Google Doc into this software before I show the client.
9. Use the wireframe to help you build the website, or give it to your web developer so they get the layout right.
10. Go through Modules 3 and 4 of the Marketing Made Simple course over at Business Made Simple University.
11. Schedule a Discovery Call with me, and I’ll review your lead gen PDF ideas for your local business.
12. Create your lead gen PDF and write the emails.

There are a lot of steps, but doing them in this order makes sure you are using your time wisely. The whole process takes 90 days, the same 90-day commitment it takes to make any new system stick.

It’s That Simple, or Is It?

If your staff is really struggling to implement what you want, then reach out and get a coach. We’ve had multiple coaches who have helped us have breakthroughs in our company.

At your small business, who is the best at project management? Ask me your question about small business project management. I’m excited to see what you create!