Meditate— The worst thing you can do for your business is start each day in a race. I am strong believer in thinking about your day before you jump into it. I start each day in prayer before I leave my bed. I find that I am able to keep a positive disposition throughout my day regardless of what happens as a result. Years ago, Oprah Winfrey featured a book on her show called Simple Abundance; A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach. In it, she provides daily lessons about the concept of peace, joy and gratitude. This is a great book that I have used over 10 years to stay centered. If you start your day thinking about what you are grateful for it’s much easier to keep perspective when things go wrong. Running a small business involves 10 or more jobs at one time. Do yourself a favor, slow down and mediate on something before each day starts.
Know your cash flow situation– Cash is King! You have to know what your cash flow is, every single day, or you could lose your business. You should run your business based on a 30-day cash flow projection. You need to know how much money is coming in and what money needs to go out daily. You also need to stay on top of what invoices need to go out, and what the payment procedure is for each of your clients. Start collections procedures the first day after your money is past due. Never hesitate to call your client or the bank to get clarity about your cash flow situation. No matter what accounting software you use or what bookkeeper you hire, as the owner of the business you must know your cash flow situation every day.
Set aside 1 hour a day for business development– Work on getting in front of someone who may buy your product or service every day. Sales is the life’s blood of your business. Each day you must conduct business development activities in order to stay ahead of the competition. You can make calls, write emails, send thank you notes, Connect with new connections on LinkedIn, search for conferences and trade shows to attend, develop signature content, use social media to build relationships as lead generating activities. You need to make it a priority each day to spend at least one hour generating new business.
Follow-up with 3 three existing connections– People do business with people they like, know and trust, but you must nurture those relationships. Reach out to existing customers you haven’t spoken too in a while. Give three recommendations on LinkedIn. Send a lengthy personal note on Facebook. Make three calls or send follow-up notes with an article your read in the New York Times or Washington Post over the weekend. You will spend a longer time on these contacts, but they are further down your sales funnel, so they are worth it.
Get your plan together for the next day– One of my other favorite books is the 7 Minute Difference by Allyson Lewis. In this book, she says you need to do 5 things before 11am each day and anything else is a bonus. I love this and I do this every day. I make my list of the five things at the end of each day so I have a game plan for my day each morning. This, by the way, is also how I sleep well at night.
Do you have any suggestions for the daily priorities of a small business owner?
For more tips on how start or grow your small business subscribe to Melinda Emerson’s blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com.
Melinda F. Emerson, known to many as SmallBizLady is one of America’s leading small business experts. As a seasoned entrepreneur, professional speaker, and small business coach, she develops audio, video and written content to fulfill her mission to end small business failure. As CEO of Quintessence Multimedia, Melinda educates entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies on subjects including small business start-up, business development and social media marketing. Forbes Magazine named her #1 woman for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. She hosts #SmallBizChat Wednesdays on Twitter 8-9pm ET for emerging entrepreneurs. She also publishes a resource blog http://www.succeedasyourownboss.com Melinda is also bestselling author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 months; A Month-by-Month Guide to a Business That Works.
I recently had the opportunity to do a live Q & A call with a group called Under30CEO.com. They were a terrific bunch of young people many of whom were still college students. I wanted to share with all of you the advice I shared with them, because I think it could be useful for some of us over 30 entrepreneurs. Here are the 6 business lessons I shared with the Under 30 entrepreneurs, most of which can be found in my book Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months. 
For those of you who follow this blog, you know that I love books. One of the most important things you must be as a small business owner is a lifelong learner. Reading a key way to learn more to run your business better. You may be counting down to your family vacation, (even if it’s a staycation) I wanted to provide you with some suggestions for great reading material for the beach. These book will all help you start or run your business, and that could make all the difference in your business in the last half of this year. Here are my picks for SmallBizLady’s Summer Reading List 2011.
Summer is here! Now that the kids are out of school, you might be thinking about how to reduce your work schedule, but that’s the worst thing you could do. It’s time to turn up the heat in your business. Third and fourth quarters are critical times in business. You may have customers who are in budget planning cycles, or have excess budget to spend. Now is the right time reach out to your existing customers and get your house in order to make your revenue goals for the rest of the year.
Check out this quick video from the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference. Fellow blogger Jewel Figueras of 
