Month: August 2009

Categories
Entrepreneurs

Business Success — When it’s okay to quit

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The other day when I was running/walking a 10K race, my knee started hurting. It had been troubling me off and on for about a month but I thought I had it under control.

My initial reaction was to grit my teeth and walk through the pain. That’s what I normally do, and it’s what I do when I walk marathons.

But then I reconsidered. I had just passed the 4K marker when it really started hurting so I had more than half the race ahead of me. And then I started thinking, why am I doing this?

Clearly I had an issue with my knee. And I could force the issue and hurt it worse. Or I could quit and work on healing it.

I opted to quit and live to walk another day (sooner rather than later).

So that got me thinking, when is it okay to quit and when should you muscle through it? How do you know if this is the time you should throw in the towel or is this just more of your demons popping up to torture you?

Here’s a little system you can follow to help you know the difference:

1. How important is this? Are you talking about the life of your business (i.e. quitting it all and getting a job) or are you talking about dumping a product that isn’t selling well (and to be honest, you never liked much anyway)? If it’s the product, then yeah — quitting might be the smart thing to do. If it’s your business, then it’s probably your demons doing a jig in your brain.
In my case, doing a 10K isn’t that big of a deal. I’ll do a 10K on a weekend. So to cut this race short wasn’t an issue. Not tearing my knee up was far more important than finishing the race. Which leads me to my next point:

2. How important is it for you to quit? Or what is the cost if you don’t quit? Is there someone you work with (like a customer or a vendor) who is toxic to you? (For example, they’re costing you tons of time and/or money and you’re getting very little in return. Or, worse yet, they’re involved in something unethical that could hurt your reputation, or worse, something illegal.) Depending on the severity of the issues, you probably want to dump that relationship. Or are you just feeling uncomfortable or discouraged or stuck with your business? Nope, not a good reason to quit your business.

In my case, not being able to walk for a month was way too high of a trade off then quitting the race early.

So, here’s how this works. When you’re faced with something you’re thinking about quitting, ask yourself both questions, then compare the answers. If the answer to number 1 is high, and the question to number 2 is low, then you shouldn’t be quitting. If the answer to number 1 is low and the question to number 2 is high, then you should be quitting.

Where it gets a little tough is if the answer to both questions is the same. Then, you need to dig a little deeper. One is got to be stronger than the other (for instance, if you’re looking at something that’s really important to you, is the cost not to quit as high as you’re really saying or are you just scared right now?)

My other rule of thumb is answer to the first question is probably the way you should go. If what you’re looking at is very important, then you probably shouldn’t be quitting. If what you’re looking at isn’t all that important then you probably should be quitting. (After all, why are you wasting your time with it if it isn’t that important?)

Categories
Online Business

Top 5 Automation Tools for Your Online Solo Service Business

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Part of running an efficient and organized business is making full use of the technology and resources available to you. It’s great to set up systems and processes and have them work for you, but in order to fully automate your business you also need to know which technologies are going to work best to support you in that.

Over the years I have worked with many different automation tools (either in my own business or for my clients) that have helped to support an online solo business owner, and today I’d like to share my top five favorite ones with you. All of these tools I use in my own business today – and they’re a huge timesaver as well as creating a more streamlined and automated business for me.

1. 1ShoppingCart – this is my shopping cart, autoresponder, broadcast, and database management systems all rolled into ONE system. I especially like this service because everything is done in one place which really does make for a more streamlined business. It is possible to use one service for your shopping cart activities (i.e. product sales) and another service for your autoresponder/broadcast (i.e. sending out your newsletter) but the danger with this is that you are running two different databases and at some point it will become cumbersome and may even start to become unmanageable.

2. TimeDriver – this is probably my favorite find and is such a huge timesaver for me; I’m so grateful to one of my clients for putting me onto this service. It’s a system whereby you can get your clients to self-schedule their appointments with you, avoiding the back and forth of emails that happens when you’re trying to arrangement appointments and, of course, the time spent doing this. You simply give your clients/colleagues the special link that’s generated by TimeDriver and they are able to see your availability (which you have pre-determined) and therefore schedule accordingly with you. It works with both Outlook and Google calendars.

3. Submit Your Article – this service is an article submission service (notice I said ‘service’ not ‘software’) that submits your articles to hundreds of different article directories and ezine publishers on your behalf. You simply upload your article to your account and they do the rest. It’s a really great way of getting your articles out to a lot of places in the shortest amount of time possible, and again is another huge timesaver.

4. BYOAudio – as well as using this service to record and host all my teleclass audios, I make full use of their Podcast feature. You can record your podcast episode directly into your podcast, and they will share and syndicate it with the top podcast directories – even iTunes – immediately it’s published! Those directories, in turn, come and get your podcast, index it, and make it available to their visitors. All this takes is about 10/15 minutes of my time to record my podcast episode and publish it to my podcast. Another great strategy for building my list that really takes no time at all to implement!

5. OnlyWire – this is the service I use to create social bookmarks for my blog entries – they even post to Twitter and Facebook. Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to store, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web pages. It works in two ways: i) When someone stores a bookmark to one of your blog posts they have an easy way to access your information again; and ii) because these bookmarks are stored on the website’s of the social bookmarking sites, i.e. Technorati, Digg, etc. etc. they provide backlinks to your blog/website. If you wanted your bookmarks to appear on each of these social bookmarking sites you could do it all manually, i.e. create an account, log in to your account, post your bookmark, and repeat this process for every social bookmarking site you have an account at. Where OnlyWire comes in is that you provide your account login details at the various social bookmarking sites, submit your blog post URL for bookmarking, and OnlyWire will do the publishing for you! One or two clicks and you’re done!

Categories
Business Ideas

3 Reasons Why You Aren’t Making Money From Multiple Streams of Income

Imagine — money flowing into your business from all sorts of places. That’s what it’s like to have multiple streams of income. Your business isn’t dependent on one stream of income but instead you can make money from a variety of places.

Is that what your business actually looks like? Or are your streams limited to one or two?

Especially for you service providers out there, I know it can feel a little daunting to think about creating other streams of income. But the reality is, if you don’t do it you’re really going to be limiting your growth.

So, with that said, if your multiple streams of income look more like trickles or maybe a ditch filled with water, you’re in the right place.

Below are 3 reasons why you aren’t making any money from multiple streams of income and what you can do to fix it.

1. Start selling something other than your services. Okay, this sounds really obvious but we got to start somewhere. And this might be the reason why your business doesn’t look the way you’d like it to.

So which category do you fit in? Are you working on the same info product or book for the last 6 years and are (almost!) done with it? Or do you create products the way you change your clothes but you never actually put a marketing system around them so you actually sell a few?

Regardless, you need to stop what you’re doing right now and take stock of what you have. If you’re still struggling to finish your first product, remember good is good enough, and you’re losing money every day you’re not selling that product. Ditto for the too many products and no way to sell them. Put a plan together to get them on your site so you can start getting some income in the door.

2. You have info products but they aren’t selling terribly well. There could be a number of things wrong, but here are some of the top problems:
* You don’t have a sales letter (or the sales letter you have isn’t very good)
* You don’t have anyone visiting your sales letter on your web site
* You don’t have the RIGHT people visiting your sales letter on your web site (i.e. those who would actually be interested in buying your product)
* You’re selling something your target market isn’t much interested in buying

You may need to hire an expert to help you pinpoint which one (or ones) is the problem.

3. You’re not thinking outside the box. There are more ways to get multiple streams of income then selling an info product. There are group programs, licensing, certifications, classes, events and more. Or maybe you need to vary your service offerings or offer a high-ticket program.

There are a lot of different ways you can package what you sell, and depending on your prospect, they might want something different than your usual offerings.

My guess is you have a bunch of loyal fans following you, but if you’re not packaging what you offer in a way that’s attractive to them, they won’t bite. They need to feel like what you’re offering is a fit for them.

So try mixing it up. Offer some out of the box things and see what happens. Who knows, you might discover a whole new product line out of it.

Categories
Entrepreneurs

How True Leaders Execute Plans Without Fail & Celebrate Their Victories

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Article Contributed by by Roxanne Emmerich
Execution is everything. Plan all you want, dream all you can, then turn that key or you’ve accomplished nothing. Execution is what separates those with lofty ideas from those who end up winning the game. It’s about taking strategies and making sure they are implemented with power.
Creating a culture of execution is a leadership issue. It combines creating a “no-excuses, get-it-done” culture with the systems, processes, and accountabilities that ensure things are done consistently and well. But it’s also more than a leadership issue.
Plan, execute, measure, celebrate
People at every level in an organization can get bogged down in planning and strategizing without ever getting off the pot.
It’s easy to guess which things in a company are measured and audited: It’s the things that people actually DO and do well. If you want something done with fairly strong consistency, set measurable benchmarks.
But don’t forget to put systems in place to see if the benchmarks are being met. If a standard is measured in the forest, and no on is there to audit it–does it make a difference? Not bloody likely. Why should it?
You can’t monitor and audit every facet of your business, or you won’t have time to run the business. So where does execution matter most? It matters most in the critical moments I call Moments of Truth–the moments where execution can mean the difference between success and failure.
Focus like a laser on Moments of Truth
Moments of Truth are those critical times when a customer forms an impression of you, deciding whether your offerings and their standards see eye-to-eye. Though they vary from industry to industry and business to business, every business has them. Define them, create measurable goals and a way to assess progress, and GO.
Use weekly planning meetings in which each attendee declares focused results following a clean process and you will create magic. These meetings create the engine to keep people focused on doing the right things and getting results in the areas that matter. It also reveals the “stealth slackers”–those who are otherwise masterful at hiding and looking busy. Got some of those?
Don’t let “busyness” get in the way of business
Top performers don’t just stay busy–they know how to get the RIGHT things accomplished. Top performing leaders also know how to get their people focused on doing the right things, especially those things intimately tied to the Moments of Truth that can make or break a company. They know that accepting no excuses from their team members means permitting no excuses from themselves as well.
In the end, execution boils down to three crucial ideas:
– Define your Moments of Truth and how you will measure progress.
– Put systems in place to instruct and assess, then hold people accountable (including yourself).
– Celebrate victories large and small at every step along the way.
Miracles are supposed to happen, but they require a steadfast, ironclad system of execution and a leader who is committed to making the miracle happen. So be the miracle!
About the Author
Roxanne Emmerich is renowned for her ability to transform “ho-hum” workplaces into massive results-oriented “bring-it-on” environments. To discover how you can create a motivate employees to execute plans without fail check out her new book – Thank God It’s Monday. Now, you can get a free sneak preview at: http://www.thankgoditsmonday.com/preview_the_book/

Categories
Work Life

7 Reasons Why You Might Not Be In The Flow

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1. Forgiveness Healing Work. 99.99 % of the time the person or situation we are the most upset with is US. Getting angry at ourselves or others is a common way we hold onto the past and drag it around. Forgiveness doesn’t mean excusing or forgetting what happened, it means coming to acceptance and peace with the past and our humanness so we can move forward. Being unforgiving blocks flow because it blocks love. Love magnetizes abundance and good flowing to us. Read my article on How Forgiving Are You?

2. Unconscious limiting beliefs. How you feel about yourself consciously and unconsciously is the energy operating at all times in what you are manifesting. The stronger the emotional charge, the faster we manifest either what we desire or what is undesired. And before we attract what we desire, we first attract its’ opposite. Read my post: The Law of Opposites.

Affirmations and declarations can be effective in working with the conscious mind but they don’t effectively create the shifts on the subconscious because our egos get in the way. Working with modalities that bypass the conscious mind such as Theta healing and hypnosis (there are many to choose) have helped many to transform and release beliefs, resolve the past, and open the flow of abundance.

3. Ego vs. Soul. Who are you listening to – your head or your heart? Are your choices and actions motivated by fear or are they Divinely inspired? Do you follow your intuition and instincts or do you override them? If you’ve grown up being taught to ignore your inner wisdom, cultivating a relationship with your soul will help you to make choices that align with heart.
We are spiritual beings in a physical form. When you align with your spirit to use your ego as a tool rather than identify with your mind as “who you are” and the expert to guide your choices and actions, your life experiences will take on a deeper meaning and fulfillment.

4. Clear the energy zappers. Where is your energy going? We put up with, accept, take on and are dragged down by people’s behavior, situations, unmet needs, crossed boundaries, in-completions, problems and even our own behavior. Examples: anything you are avoiding, anything is need of repair or replacement, unreturned phone calls correspondence, bills, debts, clutter, unspoken words (stuffing feelings), and boundaries. Some things take time to clear and can be handled is smaller steps. Energy zappers create clutter and block flow.

5. Fear. Anxiety, worry, fear.. is generated by the ego and reinforced by the messages we receive in our day to day life. Spiritual practices, walks, in nature, meditation, loving, healthy relationships, feed and nurture us body, mind and spirit. When you’re focused in fear, your attention is on the future. Coming back to the present, practicing sincere daily gratitude, being loving and generous with others, cultivating faith and trust, and conscious breathing are ways to shift from fear to a more centered, empowered space.

6. Resisting the healing and growth experience. Stop fighting against where you are. Stop judging where you are to be a bad or wrong place and asking, “How do I get rid of this feeling or situation I don’t like?” You are where you are! And there is a purpose to what you are experiencing even if you don’t like it. The more you fight your feelings and situations the more energy you give them to hang around. “What you resist, persists.” Instead, consider what the feeling or situation might be trying to tell you or teach you.

And, we become impatient when things don’t happen fast enough or the way we want especially when we are feeling fear and urgency. In addition to the Law of Attraction and other governing principles, another powerfull law is the Law of Divine Order and Timing. You timing for something to happen and the Universe’s timing may not be aligned. That’s where faith and trust comes in AND following your intuition.

Learning how to live in harmony with these universal principles and how to leverage your knowledge of the laws so you can align in thought, belief and behavior in respect of these laws, is both empowering and remarkably effective. (This is one of the steps we teach in Aligning with Destiny program)

7. Your Relationship with Money. Do you see money as a big monster who disappears and makes you suffer or a loving friend who wants you to have we everything you desire? Do you feel anger and blame towards the power money seems to have in your life and in the lives of others? Your attitude, beliefs and relationship with money affects how it shows up in your life. Check out Morgana Rae’s workbook and CD’s for insights and strategies to become a money magnet.

My final point: If you have been consistently investing time, energy, and money in growing yourself and you business, and you are feeling frustrated with your life, what’s missing that might help you break through?

We can get so close to our own stuff that we are unable to see what’s going on and help ourselves get through certain things especially if it means feeling pain or discomfort. One of the biggest reasons people don’t get the assistance they need is because they say, “I can’t afford it.” That message comes from your ego!

If you are continuing to get most of the same results, you can’t afford not to get the help you need. And I understand how prickly the money topic is for people today.

Every successful entrepreneur I know works with a team of people including coaches, mentors, accountability buddies, and mastermind groups. If you aspire to play a bigger game, you gotta stretch out of your comfort and surround yourself with the people and resources you need to succeed. Life is a journey of courage!

The bottom line is how badly you want something and whether you are really willing to do whatever it takes including making financial investments in yourself to have a more prosperous future.

These are incredible times to step into the next and highest version of who we are meant to be.

Are you in or out?