If what you have been doing isn’t working anymore and your profits are declining, it might be time to make some drastic changes. Instead of changing just small things, which often has little impact, try reinventing your whole business from scratch to shake things up and get a stale business moving again.

Change Your Industry

One reason profits might be down is if the entire industry has been hit. If everyone else in your industry is having a hard time as well, the answer is to change industries. Of course, you can’t very well switch to a completely unrelated industry and abandon all your contacts and clients. Instead, try switching to a related industry.

When the economy crashed in 2008, many of the “help men get dates” businesses took a huge hit. Many businesses that used to be bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars a month were suddenly struggling.

One successful entrepreneur moved into the “help women get dates” industry. The move turned out brilliantly and helped him save his business.

No matter what industry you are in, there are probably half a dozen side industries you could move into. If your main industry is having trouble, try expanding to a different, but related industry.

Launch a New Product

Nothing brings in new energy such as the launching of a new product. Apple had been struggling for some time before the iPod came out. The Apple 3 was a colossal failure, costing hundreds of millions of dollars. The drama of Steve Jobs leaving and then returning cost the company bad public relations, but the iPod, and eventually the iPhone, changed all that. The launch of a new product brought a lot of new excitement. The same applies to smaller businesses. What new products or projects can you announce that would get people excited?

Try New Marketing Channels

What are two or three kinds of marketing channels you have never tried before that are completely outside the scope of what you have done in the past? For example, if you have done search engine optimization and pay-per-click, why not try advertising in a college newspaper or buy remnant radio ad space? If you have only tried buying advertising in the past, why not try partnering for a big joint venture deal, or try guest blogging on a few big websites. One reason for declining profits might be that your marketing formula just isn’t working out right. Instead of making tweaks, try making big changes to see what works and what doesn’t.

Changing these three things — your industry, your product and your marketing — can really help get both the excitement and cash flow up again.

If your traffic, revenues or profits have been consistently going down for a few months, then what your business probably needs is a jump-start–an infusion of new energy, vision and drive. Follow these tips to take a stagnant business and revive it:

Bring on Someone New

If you can bring someone new on board, someone who is excited about re-kindling the new project, that can work wonders for your own sense of excitement. New ideas and new spirit are often easier to bring in when they come from the outside. Outsiders haven’t been exposed to the gradual stagnation of the business and will bring in a much fresher perspective. This new person doesn’t have to be an employee. They could be an investor (even if it is a minor stake), an advisor, a business partner or even a friend who has a vested interest in your success. The bottom line is, bring someone new on board. This alone can reignite an old project.

Increase Your Hours

Businesses that stagnate are often due to simple neglect. If you are running multiple projects and haven’t put the time into your old business, then now is the time to change that. Decide how much time you want to put into this business and put it on your calendar. Tell other people about your new commitment so you have an incentive to stick to it. Sometimes, all a business needs to flourish again is to be given more attention.

Set New, Ambitious Goals

It’s not good enough to just try and keep a dying business going. It is time to get back into the state of mind of the time when you were very excited about the business, when you used to dream about its success, and how exited you felt to set goals for its success. In order to give the business a jump-start, it needs an infusion of “moving forward” energy. Set a few new goals for the business, what you want to accomplish and why, and how it would it change your life if you succeeded. If you have a strong enough reason why to succeed, you probably will. Money is a good reason, but it also helps to have other motivators.

The most important aspect of jump-starting an old business is just committing to its success again. At some point in the past, you probably lost your commitment to your business’s success. Rekindle your commitment. Bring on someone new if possible, set new goals and increase your work hours. Pour new energy into the project and watch it flourish.

If you are like most internet entrepreneurs, you will probably notice you spend a disproportionate amount of time checking Facebook, Twitter, your email or your web statistics. How much productivity does this cost you and how can you cut down on this productivity loss?

The True Price of Socializing

If you check your Facebook for just five minutes, two or three times a day, plus your email another two or three times a day, that doesn’t seem to be than very normal online behavior, but in reality, the costs are huge.

Let’s say each time you decide to check Facebook, it interrupts your concentration and costs you momentum in a project. In addition, it takes you an additional ten minutes or so to get back in the groove of what you were working on. While you are on Facebook, you might see a cool link or video, or perhaps a comment on a friend’s wall that you want to discuss; you then get sidetracked and spend an additional five or ten minutes. When you add it all up, each distraction could easily cost you fifteen to thirty minutes of productivity.

You can just check your email once at the beginning of your work day and once at the end and still address all the important emails in a very reasonable time frame. And even with 1,000 friends, you can easily view all the posts that were posted in a day in about twenty minutes by checking Facebook just once a day. The cuts in productivity aren’t necessary. You aren’t missing out on anything by streamlining your online social networking.

What to Do about It

As mentioned above, one very effective system is to just check your email or Facebook once at the beginning of the workday and/or at the end of the workday. If the interruptions feel like an addition, consider getting a site blocker for a short period of time. Even if it is just for two weeks, it can help you get in the habit. Set up the site blocker so Facebook.com, Gmail.com, Twitter.com, etc. aren’t accessible during work hours. That way you won’t even be tempted to access those websites.

Also consider trying a productivity monitoring system. These are systems that will watch how much time you spend on email, on work and on websites such as Facebook and report it to you at the end of the day. You will probably be shocked at how much time social networking takes when you see the numbers.

You now know how much online social networking can be costing you in terms of productivity. You also know a number of ways to break this habit. Remember that adding just an hour or two to your daily productivity can mean a lot of real money added to your bottom line in a few months of time.

Your influence in your business circle can help you increase sales, bring in deals and meet the people you need to meet to take your business to the next level. Here are a few tips on how you can build influence and turn that influence from an intangible asset into cash:

Building Your Network of Contacts

Whether you are an entrepreneur or a high-end consultant, a Fortune 500 CEO or a programmer looking for a job, your contacts are everything. Be active about cultivating your network. Go to mingles, seminars and other such events in your area and get to know the players in the industry. Seek to build real relationships. It is not about building acquaintances, but rather about building real friendships with people.

Help Others First and Trust That It Will Come Back

Quite possibly no good will come of having lunch with someone you met to help them with their business, but it is also quite possible that he or she will know someone who can help you in your business, and their glowing testimonial for your character is just what you need to get your foot in the door. The business community is a cycle of give and take. Those who are generous about sharing their ideas, their time and their contacts often find the same kindness returned. Be the person who helps others in your community. You might not see the benefits right away, but the goodwill you build up will come back to help you.

Sell without Selling

Many people feel that selling damages and weakens their relationships. When done properly, however, selling can do just the opposite. If you view selling as trying to force someone into a decision on something they either don’t want or aren’t sure they want, then selling will indeed damage the relationship. However, if selling is done correctly, it should be a match of win-win situations.

A consultant sells a client on being able to help them solve a problem and as a result, they both make more money, or a headhunter sells his services to a CEO and helps him get his ideal job. The list goes on and on. If what the seller is offering and what the buyer wants is a match, then the sales process is easy and strengthens the relationship.

A good sales process should be more about discovering what the other person wants and creating a tailor-made product or service for them, than about trying old-fashioned, hard-closing techniques. This is especially true if you want to build your influence and bring in more sales in the future.

Build a reputation for helping people, not taking their money. Do this consistently, and your reputation and influence will increase accordingly.

A motivated employee or freelancer will often do more for less. They will put in more hours, pay more attention to details, speak up on your behalf and be an all-star for your business. Here is now to motivate your employees and/or freelancers:

Acknowledge Quality Work

When someone performs good work, acknowledge them. The more public the praise, the better. Always strive to praise in public and always criticize privately. Don’t praise performance unless it is really worthy, but also don’t pass up the opportunity to praise good work. Employees who feel valued are more likely to do valuable work in the future. Loyalty is usually not bought by money, but by recognition.

Interact with Integrity

In order for employees and freelancers to feel motivated by you, they need to truly respect you, which is earned in large part by integrity. Pay your freelancers when you say you will pay them. When you make a promise, make sure to hold up your end of the bargain. Hold a high bar of ethics and values for yourself. You also need to make it clear to your freelancers that you expect the same of them. Make it clear that lateness isn’t tolerated. Interact with your employees with a sense of value and integrity. This will contribute to creating both respect and motivation in the workplace.

Let Them Know What They Are a Part Of

Let your employees know what they are helping you to create. Engineers working at firms such as Google or Facebook aren’t motivated only because of the money. They are motivated because they believe they are helping to change the world. They stand for something, and that creates a huge sense of accomplishment.

Even if you are selling a mundane product, you are still solving problems for other people. If you are a dentist, you are helping others live pain-free lives. Stand for the impact you have in the world. Convey this pride to your employees and freelancers.

Be Positive!

People love to work for positive people. Smile and bring optimism to the workplace. Be positive about where your company is, about who you are working with, and about your company’s future prospects. Positivity is infectious. If you’re positive, chances are sooner or later it will catch on with your employees.

Do these four things and your organization’s overall motivation level will skyrocket.