Tag: Business success tips

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Sales & Marketing

Resultse21 3 Keys to Enjoying Summer AND Growing Your Biz

Who says you can’t do it at all?

Now that summer is here, the lure of playing hokey is warring with the responsibility of getting something done in your business.

But what if it didn’t have to be that way? What if you could do it ALL — make money, grow your business AND have time to play?

Here are 3 keys to having your cake and eating it t/o:

1. Plan your time off.

Now I’m sure you already have your vacations blocked off, but what about afternoons off? Long weekends? Go ahead and plan those as well and get them on the calendar (because you know if you don’t plan your time off it’s not going to happen). Plus if you have time blocked off in your calendar then you can relax and focus during work time because you know you have your “play” dates already accounted for.

Not sure how much time off to block off? Well, there are a couple of things you can do. Do you have a big launch coming up this summer? You may not be able to take as much time off as you’d like, but schedule what you can and see what happens. Have you decided you’re going to “coast” this summer? Then definitely block off more time.

Or just ask your gut. How much time is your gut telling you to take off? That might be the easiest and more reliable way to figure it out.

2. Plan to WORK on your work days.

No screwing around here. You have your time off planned, so on the days where you’re scheduled to get things done, get things done. Because if you don’t, you’re going to be tempted to not take your time off, which means you’ve in effect “lied” to yourself, the Universe, etc. And how much time off are you really going to end up with if the message you’re sending is you’re not honoring your time off?

3. Change up your energy if you’re really feeling stuck or sluggish.

I get it. Just because the calendar says you must work doesn’t mean you’ll actually feel like working. So what do you do on those days where you find that pure willpower isn’t enough?

On those days take a break. Go for a walk. Visit a Starbucks. Blast a song on your iPod and dance around the house. Go outside and lay in the sun for 10 minutes.

The best thing you can do is move your energy around, either by exercising or a change of location or both. It doesn’t have to last long — even 10 minutes is enough. Just do SOMETHING. Chances are when you sit back down you’ll be able to focus on your work.

Above all, keep in mind why you have a business in the first place. Yes there will be times you have to put in long hours but you also need to balance that with time off. Chances are you didn’t start a business so you could work all the time but so you could work when you CHOSE to. Summer is a great time to remind yourself you have the power to arrange your work schedule to suit yourself, your family and your life.

Categories
Business Ideas

What Dancing With the Stars Can Teach You About Business

In case dancing isn’t your thing, Donald Driver, wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers, won this year’s Dancing With the Stars.

 

Even if you’re not a Green Bay Packers fan, there are a lot of reasons to root for Donald. He’s the classic rags-to-riches story: Dad in jail when he was born, family was homeless during much of his childhood. He was a seventh round draft pick of the Packers and ended up becoming one of the most productive receivers in Packer history. (Plus he’s just an all-around really nice guy.)

 

But even though Donald is probably worth having an article devoted to him, that’s not why I’m doing it. Why I’m doing it is because the same strengths Donald brought to his career with the Packers is what ultimately was responsible for him winning Dancing with the Stars.

 

(Something for you to ponder: What strengths caused you to be successful in some other aspect of your life that you can draw upon for your business?)

 

What’s even more interesting is some of these strengths would also translate to the business world. Here are 3 of them:

 

1. Desire to win. By all accounts Donald is a really great, really nice guy. The first thing he did when he landed his first big contract with the Packers is buy his grandma a house and tell her she would never have to worry about money the rest of her life. He set up a foundation. He’s heavily involved in the Wisconsin community and volunteers his time as well as donating money for charity. He’s written 3 children’s books. His teammates love him.

 

But make no mistake — the man is a fierce competitor. That was on display front and center the entire dance competition. He was bound and determined to win and by God that was exactly what he did.

 

He wasn’t the best dancer — that was Katherine, the Welch Opera singer. If anything he was probably the most improved by the end of the season. But he was the most driven to win and if you could ever see someone will themselves to win something, this was it.

 

2. Know your strengths and assets and capitalize on them. Donald knew going in he had one GIANT asset — Green Bay Packer fans. You see, fan voting counts for half of his score. And he knew how loyal Packer fans are, and with no football to watch they would be watching (and voting) for him on Dancing With the Stars.

 

And speaking of fan voting…

 

3. Ask for the sale. Of all the dancers, Donald was the ONLY one who would mug for the camera, mouthing about he wanted their vote and making a phone gesture with his hand. It was really cute and very inoffensive how he did it (so yes it IS possible to ask for the sale in an inoffensive and cute way) but the point was made. Vote for Donald.

 

The other couples would simply stand there and smile for the camera. Donald actively asked for the vote over and over. And it was even bigger than that — he tweeted about it, he put it all over his website. He worked and worked that asset, and I suspect his efforts also got him some votes from non-Packer fans.

 

And it was a good thing he did this — according to people who watch the show more than me, this was the most competitive Dancing with the Stars ever. The 3 couples were virtually tied with the judges’ votes. It was up to the fans to make the decision.

 

And the one they voted for was the one who asked for it.

 

To grab your FREE “Ka-Ching! Business Kit” with a FREE CD visit http://www.MichelePW.com/freecd

 

 

 

Categories
Sales & Marketing

3 Steps to Crafting Your 2012 Marketing Plan

There’s no question you can start and grow a business without a marketing plan. However, I can tell you from personal experience, if you’re feeling stuck and can’t get to the next level, it’s probably because you never took the time to put a marketing plan together.

Having a marketing plan really is the key to growing and sustaining a successful, profitable business. Otherwise all you’re doing is winging it, and winging it only takes you so far.

So if you’re ready to craft your 2012 marketing plan but you’re not sure where to start, read on — I’m going to walk you through 3 steps to get you there.

1. Start with the end goal. If you don’t know where you’re going, then you really don’t need a plan. (And it’s impossible to plan without knowing where you want to end up anyway.)

It’s probably easiest to start with the money. How much do you want to make in 2012? Write that down. You probably also want to divide it up into monthly or quarterly goals so you know how much you need to make each month or quarter to reach that goal.

Now figure out how you’re going to make that monthly or quarterly figure. How many of your products/programs/books/service packages do you need to sell to hit that number? Write all that down too.

2. Put the big blocks in place. In order to meet your quotas are you going to need to do some launches? Put those in first. Or is there something else you need to do to get clients or customers? (Attend networking events, host teleclass, etc.) Make sure those are all accounted for before you do anything else.

Once you’ve put in the big blocks, take a moment and eyeball your calendar. Is it packed with launch after launch? Or do you have hardly anything in there? Check that it’s balanced — you want to have enough launches or big marketing events in there to generate some visibility and momentum for your business but you don’t want so many you feel exhausted and overwhelmed just looking at your calendar.

3. Fill in the details. Marketing is a dance — a dance between promoting and giving. Creating and building relationships then harvesting those relationships. You need to make sure you have all both things covered. (And if you’re wondering what I mean by marketing activities that create and build relationships, I’m talking about doing things like an ezine or answering people’s question on Facebook — content-rich activities that don’t obviously lead to a promotion.)

You may also want to take the time to actually fill in the actual launch steps. When are you doing the preview call? When do you want the emails to go out? When are you going to have all the copy written?

The more specific plan, the easier it’s going to be to execute. Not only will you know exactly what you’re supposed be doing at all times but your team will be able to help you a lot easier.

Categories
Business Ideas

3 Steps to Starting the New Year on The Right Foot for Your Business

There’s no better time to take stock of your business than the time between the end of one year and the beginning of the next. It’s “out with the old, in with the new” and that includes out with anything that isn’t serving you or your business at the highest level, and in with what you want your business to look like.

To help you get on track for the fresh New Year and all it’s possibilities, I thought I’d share 3 simple steps to get you and your business started on the right foot.

1. Start by cleaning out the old year. Are you surrounded by stacks of papers or old files? Now is the time to clean those up and make room for all the new business and opportunities that are bound to come your way (unless there’s no room for them).

What about old products or programs? Is everything you’re offering in your business still a good fit? Or maybe there’s something you’ve outgrown or doesn’t work with your brand anymore?

And don’t forget to look at your mindset or your habits. What are you still not doing you know you should be? What habits or blocks are you finally ready to ditch for good?

Get it all out there. Write everything down you want to throw out with the old year. Then you may want to destroy it — burn the paper or shred it. Remember, this is all about clearing away what you don’t want or don’t need anymore.

2. Be grateful for what you HAVE accomplished. Now that you’ve gotten rid of the old and worn out, don’t forget to take a moment and write down everything you’ve accomplished last year. What are you grateful for? What are you most proud of? It’s time to celebrate your accomplishments — take the time to do this. (If you’re anything like me, this is the first thing to go. It’s difficult for me to celebrate anything, I’m constantly looking at all the things I WANTED to do and didn’t.)

3. Now, get set up for the New Year. Some of the things I do include getting my new calendar in place and writing down my goals in it. Then I put together a marketing and promotional plan for the year so I can reach those goals.

You also may want to take some time to lay out a plan for getting rid of those blocks. Is there a program you need to buy? A coach you need to hire? Or maybe there’s something you need to implement. (Ditto for the changing those habits — what do you need to do to ditch those old habits that no longer serve you for good?)

Now, when you set up a plan, make sure you do what many people do when training their dogs — set yourself up for success. Create the plan with your success in mind. Don’t make it so overwhelming or paint yourself in a corner so there’s no way for you to succeed. Push yourself but be realistic too. There’s no shame in taking small steps toward your goal — the only shame is making yourself feel bad because you didn’t give yourself a realistic plan to meet your goals.

And, whatever you do, don’t forget to celebrate! You deserve it.

Categories
Planning & Management

What Do You Do When You Lose Your Mojo? 3 Tips

It happens. For many of us entrepreneurs, our business is built around us. So when we get tired, stressed, overwhelmed, burnt out or lose our mojo, our business suffers. And when that happens, it can impact us in all sorts of negative ways.

So when we do lose our mojo, what can we do to get it back? Here are 3 tips to help you out:

1. Take care of yourself so it doesn’t happen in the first place. Okay, I realize if you’re already suffering from burn  out and have lost your mojo this isn’t going to help you much, but for the rest of you (and once you’ve gotten your mojo back) this is where you need to start.

So, when I say take care of yourself, I mean more then eating well and getting enough sleep (although it can certainly mean that). What I mean is you have to do things that “fill the well.” That’s more of a creativity expression — if you don’t do things that feed your creativity and fill the well, the well of creativity will run dry and then you’ll be in a fix. But it’s the same concept for you as an entrepreneur.

Basically two things are going on as an entrepreneur — along with doing all those fun things that use up the well of creativity (or well of passion or whatever makes sense for you) you also end up doing things that aren’t your strengths. So, as an entrepreneur, you actually run the risk of burning out from two different sides — emptying the well and draining yourself from doing tasks you hate. (This is why so many entrepreneurs struggle with losing their mojo and burning out, because they don’t realize this is happening, they try and power through it and then it all blows up in their face.)

So what you need to do is take the time to do things that fill your well and feed your soul, plus try and eliminate the tasks you hate. (Honestly, there WILL come a time where you simply can’t do those tasks anymore and that’s a really bad place to be if you have no back up plan.) At the same time, you should do things that take care of your general health and well being — exercise, eat right, sleep more, go out with friends, read a good book, etc.

If you make a point of taking care of yourself and your needs, you should avoid this whole nasty business in the first place.

2. If you are stuck in burn out and have lost your mojo, be gentle with yourself. Look, you didn’t get here overnight and you’re not going to cure yourself overnight. So take a deep breath and know this is a process and you WILL recover, it just might take a little time. (Maybe more time than you want but it is what it is.) Beating yourself up and berating yourself is just going to make the healing process take that much longer.

3. Put together a plan. Start by taking some time off. Even if it’s a weekend. Or just one day. Try and get away from your office and your computer. If you can take a week off, better yet.

Now, if you only end up taking off a day or a weekend, you may still really not feel like being back when you open the door to your office, but remind yourself you’re being gentle and this is a process. I just want you to break the cycle you’re in and clear your head a bit. What you should do now is figure out what you need to be doing to feed your soul, fill the well AND take care of yourself. If you don’t know what those tasks would be, try a bunch of them out. (“The Artist Way” by Julia Cameron can really help fill the creative well if you want a place to start).

Also, take some time to start delegating those tasks you hate doing. Get them off your to-do list. The faster you can stop doing them, the faster you’re going to start feeling better.

And through it all, keep reminding yourself this is a process and it WILL get better, once you’re filled the well, feel better health-wise and get rid of the tasks that drain you.