“Stop saying yes”. This is often an unpopular statement when people first hear me say it, but it needs to be said. I have seen too many business women struggle and too many businesses suffer because the owner is incapable of saying no.

Many business owners follow the ideology of “say yes to everything and work it out as you go”. It makes sense on the surface: if you are trying to grow your business, you don’t have time to be picky, right? Wrong.

Being in the media feels out of reach for many small business women. They like the idea of it but dread the thought of putting themselves out there or simply don’t know how to get their foot in the door. Sound familiar?

Running an event that actually makes you money instead of leaving you in the red is all about strategy. Make sure you plan ahead well in advance. A last minute event can work but it is a lot more stress and you run the risk of not having all the moving pieces line up properly, so the longer the planning stage the better the result. Here are a few tips to help you plan out each aspect of your event and boost your profitability.

In small business every sale or new customer is its own little victory. However, just because you are making sales or signing clients doesn’t mean you are making a profit. In fact, it doesn’t even mean you're breaking even!

Trust Your Instincts – Your gut is a battle-hardened warrior. When it whispers, “Hey, something’s fishy here,” listen up! That “icky” feeling? It’s your business’s smoke alarm blaring. Don’t ignore it; grab your fire extinguisher and investigate. Trust that “gut feeling” like you trust your morning coffee (or whatever every you rely on in the morning) - fiercely and without hesitation.

A common approach to establishing a marketing budget is to allocate a percentage of your revenue. While this can vary depending on your industry and business type, a general rule of thumb is to allocate between 2%-5% for B2B companies and 5%-10% for B2C companies.

Many small business women started out with a hobby that they turned (or tried to turn) into a small business. It is important however to be very clear on whether it is a hobby OR a business. It can’t be both.

Internet marketing wisdom has long held that content is king — and it is. But there are roughly a billion blogs out there producing content. That’s one for every seven people across the globe. So there’s no point in producing content (even brilliant content) if it’s not getting in front of people.

It’s easy to build — or enjoy the benefits of — a community when things are going well. But it’s when things are going badly that genuinely strong leaders show what they’re made of.

Selling may be easier for some than others but there are strategies you can implement over time to perfect your selling skill set.