December 2011 – Page 5 – Getentrepreneurial.com: Resources for Small Business Entrepreneurs in 2024

Article Contributed by Lisa Cherney

I had no idea the twists and turns my business would take when I first left corporate America. When I started out, I thought I had it in the bag! I had worked for some of the biggest names out there, I knew how to market. But… something happened along my journey. I don’t like to use the word mistake, so I’ll call it a glitch. A glitch with a purpose.

When I started my business, I have to admit I thought it would be easy. After all, I had marketed for some of the biggest players out there! But I quickly learned that marketing for a major corporation and marketing for entrepreneurs require two very different approaches. Through this experience, I found my forte’: I had a way of asking just the right question to bring out someone’s brilliance and guide their marketing.

Working with entrepreneurs taught me how vital it is to be conscious about your marketing. It’s the core strategy behind what I teach. It’s why I named my business Conscious Marketing! But here’s where my head got in the way of my heart: I had an extensive marketing background. I played hardball with some of the top advertising agencies. I thought I had it going on! I didn’t think I needed any help, coaching or mentoring.

I was wrong.

And this was the birth of my own conscious marketing. Here I was painting this beautiful marketing portrait for my clients, and it just wasn’t setting with them. The clients I was working with didn’t feel right bragging about themselves like my corporate clients did. That’s when I had a light-bulb moment: they didn’t see themselves the way I saw them! How the heck were they going to get “out there” and impact their sphere of influence if they didn’t feel it for themselves?

I needed to find a way for people to find their own path to selling in a genuine, authentic manner. The glitch – I was not having success with my own marketing. But this glitch had a purpose, which was to show me that all of the marketing strategies and techniques that I had learned from top marketing and ad agencies didn’t work for entrepreneurs, and they didn’t work for me!

As entrepreneurs, we have to be clear in our marketing message. What you say or don’t say will impact your results, and in a huge way. You have to be real. Working through this concept allowed me to pass this transformational power of the message on to my clients. It took me a year to pay attention, and joining a mastermind group and allowing myself to be coached was a key part of the journey. This struggle had a purpose, and it was the birth of my own conscious marketing.

Now, about the rabbit. The holidays are coming, and one of my favorite things to do during this season is to watch The Velveteen Rabbit with my daughter. I love the part when the little boy, who is the rabbit’s best friend and just saw him fly, says “How did you know you could do that?” The rabbit simply responds, “How did you know you couldn’t?” Imagine if we all felt this way and focused on what we can do rather than what we can’t.

What do you do and who is it for? This foundational piece must be in place for you to fly.

About the Author

Lisa Cherney, a.k.a. the Juicy Marketing Expert, founded Conscious Marketing 12 years ago to help small business owners find their authentic marketing voice, attract their ideal clients and increase their sales. Following her own Stand Out & Be Juicy program, which centers on owning your unique self and laser-focus marketing, Lisa has tripled her income while working part-time.

Prior to Conscious Marketing, Lisa worked with many Fortune 500 companies, including AT&T, Lipton, Nissan, Blue Cross and Equal. She is a highly sought after speaker and often shares the stage with experts such as Jack Assaraf (The Secret), Jack Canfield and Jill Lublin. Learn more about Lisa at www.consciousmarketing.com or call 887-771-0156.

Business and Relationships: Change Your Words, Change Your World

Article by Lynda-Ross Vega

I have several friends who send me interesting emails. You know the type, You Tube videos, jokes, stories – you probably get a few of these, too. Recently, I received one that got me to thinking about its message, which was “Change your words. Change your world.” It’s a message that really hit home for me, especially within the context of human Perceptual Styles.

How you perceive the world – how you make meaning out of what your senses experience – really does determine your world. This means that the words you choose to create meaning and share your experiences with others have a powerful impact on your life.

We’ve all experienced the positive effect of a few well-chosen words – the smile you get in return for a simple “Thank You”… the glow that accompanies a compliment.

But we’ve all also experienced a complete disconnect with one or more people over words that seem out of context, harsh, or “unnecessary.” The fascinating thing to me is that the value and impact of a word changes based on our view of the world, not just on our understanding of the word itself.

For example, I know what the words ‘always’ and ‘never’ actually mean – in fact, I doubt there’s much argument out there over the meanings of these two words. But I rarely use either of them and neither do most other people with the Vision Perceptual Style.

Why? Because to us, those words feel limiting, and people of the Vision style experience the world as a series of endless possibilities. In fact, Vision folks tend to find comments like “you never….” or “you always……” insulting or challenging when applied to them. That’s because they know that they don’t “never” or “always” anything – they respond to life as it unfolds before them, improvising as necessary to take advantage of opportunities.

But for people with the Methods Perceptual Style, “always” and “never” are simple statements of fact based on what is known from an individual’s past behavior – no future application is considered or implied. So from a Methods perspective, Vision people really overreact to a simple fact!

There are a million other examples of differences between Perceptual Styles when it comes to the ways we use language. Those differences have a profound impact on many aspects of our daily lives – such as what marketing appeals to us and what kind turns us away, and which leaders motivate us and which leave us shaking our heads- not to mention our relationships. As a coach with 30+ years of experience, let me assure you that a key source of conflict in our personal and work relationships is the disconnections that result from the words we use (in guidelines or memos, for example, or at home, during conflicts and arguments) and what they mean to all parties involved.

So the next time you get a reaction from someone over something you’ve said that surprises you, stop to ask what it might mean to them before you react. You’ll be amazed at the differences you’ll uncover and the conflicts you’ll avoid! When you change your words you really can you change your world.

About the Author:

Lynda-Ross Vega: A partner at Vega Behavioral Consulting, Ltd., Lynda-Ross specializes in helping entrepreneurs and coaches build dynamite teams and systems that WORK. She is co-creator of Perceptual Style Theory, a revolutionary psychological assessment system that teaches people how to unleash their deepest potentials for success. For free information on how to succeed as an entrepreneur or coach, create a thriving business and build your bottom line doing more of what you love, visit www.ACIforCoaches.com and www.ACIforEntrepreneurs.com.