We can all understand how easy it is to get accustomed to the way things are and get into following a routine. Sometimes, it takes a change in that routine to begin seeing things through a different perspective. I recently took a position, similar to my previous position, but with a different company. This change was enough for me to step back and analyze exactly what customer loyalty means. I noticed many differences between the way the two companies were run and it got me to thinking how this effects the customer.

Picture the average customer of your product or service: how old is he/she? What does he/she do on the weekends? Where does he/she work? If you can’t answer these questions, you probably don’t know who your customer is.

I recently started a blog called Twenty Set which is about personal and professional development for the millennial generation. In truth, I’m not actually writing for all the people in my generation, and on my About page I say exactly who my “customer” (in this case reader) is. Here’s the first paragraph:
“Twenty Set is for people in their twenties who are interested in living their own definitions of successful and fulfilling lives. The Twenty Set is the set of people between the ages of 20 and 29 who want to become their best selves. Members of the Twenty Set are unique and intelligent go-getters who enjoy learning, discussion, ideas, and self-improvement.” (Shameless plug: If this describes you, why not subscribe to my feed?)
As you can see from this description, I’m targeting a small segment of my generation with a technique called customer profiling. Customer profiles are by nature stereotypical descriptions. They don’t apply to every customer, but rather give an idea of who a target customer might be.

Benefits of Customer Profiling

Better targeted ad campaigns
Better targeted future products and/or services
Learning who your best customers are - they are the ones you should work hardest to sell to

Joey Pomerenke is a pet industry professional and a young internet entrepreneur. He is a member of the YoungGoGetter.com Board of Advisors and founder of PetEcommerce.com, an all-in-one e-commerce solution for pet industry professionals.

While studying business management and entrepreneurial studies at Iowa State University I knew that being an Internet entrepreneur was the only professional route for me. There was only one problem – I did not know a damn thing about web development, or programming, nor did I have the time to learn. I knew there was only one thing I could do if I wanted to succeed as an Internet entrepreneur. Outsource everything!

So in 2004, JP eTail Group LLC, a network of pet supply online stores, was formed and my outsourcing journey began. Outsourcing became the only profitable way for me to run an e-commerce business by myself that was doing 100+ orders a day. Below is some, but not all, of the major business development and day-to-day operations that I outsourced to have a smooth running e-commerce business.

Website Design and Development: I did not know anything about web development, design or shopping cart solutions. I needed someone that could develop “cheap”? high quality e-commerce sites and with ongoing support. We ended up selecting a Malaysian design firm that only charged us $250 per e-commerce store designed. Their design work was some of the best I had seen and their support was even better.

Monica O’Brien is a guest writer from Twenty Set, a blog about personal and professional development for millennials.

With the US and world pending an economic recession, smart business owners are looking to their own businesses to see how they are going to minimize its impact in 2008. Here are some things to consider in case of an economic recession:

Less Consumer Spending

Depending on your industry, your business may be hit when consumers spend less due to financial troubles. This doesn’t affect just expendable products, but also “nice-to-have” services that companies think they can go without, like marketing research or consulting services.

Tip: Make your products and services indispensible by solving problems with your products and services and by developing relationships with your customers.

Less Business Growth

Again, this depends on the industry, as some industries like the food industry will stay constant and a few industries, such as tourism in the US, will grow. Most businesses, however, will experience a loss of sales and have stagnate or declining business growth.

Tip: Prepare now just in case by reevaluating your business budget and cutting back as needed. Consider if you can grow your business by diversifying your customer base. Try moving some business to other industries or other countries that haven’t been hit by recession to make up for losses.

Aaron Kuroiwa is a Young Go Getter member and owner of a LeTranslator a business and legal language translation service that offers professional website translation services.

How to Get Things Done
One of the major factors of success is your ability to get things done. Billionaire Mark Cuban agrees. Recently he wrote a blog post about “Effort�. Now we all know that Mark can sometimes go on rants and be a little crazy but this time he is dead on. No matter what happens the one thing we can control is how much effort we dedicate to achieving our goals and creating success.
However, just exerting a lot of effort doesn’t mean that you are getting things done. You have to have focus and discipline to make sure that the efforts you are making are worthwhile and effective. Mark is right Effort is paramount but let’s take it a bit further and talk about getting things done. When I say things I mean important goals or even small seemingly insignificant tasks that we don’t like but ultimately lead to success.

Productivity Basics:
80/20 rule: 80% of our success comes from 20% of our efforts or clients. So identify that 20% that is making 80% of your success and focus on it. If the other areas show potential, great, make them a second tier priority and everything else 3rd or 4th tier.
Priorities: If you want to get things done you have to have priorities. Otherwise you’ve got a pile of things to do and no order. This comes back to the 80-20 rule. If you don’t know the priority of a work item then you could be doing all of the meaningless task first and the important ones are left neglected and still sitting in your to do list unfinished.

Application:
Alright so all of this theory is great but how do you put it into practice.
1. Identify: First you want to identify your responsibilities, goals and tasks.
2. Get organized: It doesn’t matter how or if you use a system. Simply find what works for you and stick to it. Have a system for keeping track of all of the things you have to do. I like to use index cards and just cross things off as they get done.
3. Plan: If you don’t plan succeed you plan to fail. I know it’s a corny old saying but it’s true. Prioritize and Plan your efforts. Look over your to do list and goals. Separate them into levels of priority based on 2 things. Time and Effectiveness.
a. Time: First, how soon does this task or goal need to be completed?
b. Effectiveness: Next does this task fall into my most important 20% or is it an 80% task?

Does this task need to get done today or can it wait until tomorrow, next week or a month from now? Alright now you’ve organized to days to do list and put off the things that are not immediately important. You start with your 20% tasks and work done. If you get through the 20% tasks then you start the 80% tasks. If you get through those then you start on the next days or any other extra projects you need to get done.