Three ways for business owners to get ahead while others are wasting time

"It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste", Henry Ford

This quote couldn’t be more true! While others are binge watching the latest Netflix series, vacationing or watching sports, you can be engaging in more productive activities that will help your business prosper. Of course these fun things should be included in your life in moderation but replacing some of that time with activities that will help your business grow will pay off in the long run. Here are three ways for you to get ahead while others are wasting time:

1. Educate yourself
   In this new age of information overload there is no shortage of great information that can help us all prosper. Gone are the days where we have to sit in a lecture hall or go to the library to look up articles or read great books. Now we have something called “Google” that leads us to everything and anything we will ever need to get smarter and all in the comfort of your own mobile device! Get in the habit of watching youtube videos, read articles in your industry or books on running a business or being an entrepreneur.  Watch the countless free webinars on the internet that interview successful business owners and how they “made it”. Identify what you are not good at and find information that will bring you up to speed. We all have weaknesses as business owners, so own it and get better at it. Online courses are super popular right now and there is so much valuable information on social media, especially platforms like LinkedIn. So make it a habit to learn something new everyday and see how you will grow as a business owner in a short amount of time.
2. Create content 
   Growing a business isn’t easy. So instead of watching that addicting show on TV tonight, take a video with one of your products or talk about a service you offer. Write an article about how your business is outstanding from competitors. Create 10 social media posts that you can put on your marketing calendar. There are so many ways you can create content. If you are stuck on a topic or have writer’s block, read someone else's articles for ideas and use a keyword research tool like Ubersuggest that can help you look up the most trending topics for blogs or videos. And make sure to pull out the most popular keywords using the keyword research tools so you can maximize your SEO. Content is king (as Gary V puts it), and the more quality content you have out there, the higher you will rank on search engines and the better it will be for your business. But remember, quality content is key and you will not obtain results overnight. This is a business lifestyle change when creating content and amazing marketers, like Niel Patel, even said for his business to take off it took him two years of great content marketing to get there. And he’s really good.  So be patient, consistent and persistent and the growth will come. 
3. Research your competitors 
   Stalking competitors to see what they are offering and how they are promoting themselves is one of the best things you can do with your free time. Not only will you know what you are up against but you may even get great ideas and can be even more creative than they are with your marketing. Growing your business can be easier than you think! Use their ideas and one-up them! If they are posting 3 times a week on social media you should be doing 5 to 10! If they are running contests or giving away free items, you should run better contests and give away more valuable items to your target market. Look at their products and compare them to yours. Competitors’ product knowledge is a beautiful thing when it comes to interacting with your customers. If you can talk to your customers and tell them why your product or service is better than the competitors’ using good examples that display your knowledge of the market, the customer is going to choose you.