Tag: Business success tips

Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of working with both very successful entrepreneurs and ones who aren’t so successful. What makes one entrepreneur successful while the other one not-so-much? Chances are they’re making one (or all three) of these mistakes. Read on to learn more.

1. Marketing their business is not a priority. This is probably the biggest reason why I see businesses fail or either get sucked into a stressful feast-or-famine model (either too many or too few clients). They don’t make marketing their business a priority.

If you want to have a full pipeline of clients at all times then it’s crucial you make marketing a priority.

So what do I mean exactly by marketing your business? Basically two things — you have one or more ways to bring new leads in the door and you have one or more ways to turn those leads into clients. One of the easiest ways to do this is to set up an opt-in box on your website so you can collect the names and email addresses of the people who visit your site, then have a follow up system in place once they give you their email address to start warming them up so they become clients. Ezines and teleclasses are two great tactics to use as follow up.

2. They don’t take action (or they don’t take action fast enough). Successful businesses are built on momentum. Momentum is built on taking action. Whether it’s creating information products, launching new programs or even getting your new website up (or your ezine out), it’s all about taking action.

Now there is a caveat here. It’s not enough just to take action. You need to take the RIGHT action at the RIGHT time in the RIGHT order. So how do you know if you’re doing that or not?

Well, one way to do that is to educate yourself about marketing and business-building. Or an easier (and faster) way is to find yourself a business/marketing coach or mentor who can quickly assess your situation and give you a plan of action. (Of course, once you have that, then you need to make sure you actually implement that plan.)

3. They give up too soon. Look, every successful business person and entrepreneur I know has had a few stinkers. The difference is they’ve been in a business long enough to know a failure or two every now and then is normal and they move on. Entrepreneurs who are new or a little unsure of themselves tend to create a story around their failures that are simply not true. They’ll instead think there’s a problem with the product or the industry or themselves or something else — you get the picture. When the reality could be they didn’t market enough or they didn’t take enough action or they skipped a couple of steps when they were marketing their product or a myriad other easily preventable mistakes.

Before you throw in the towel on something — whether it’s a product you just created or your entire business, stop and ask for some help. Find out if success is just a few tweaks away or you really do need to do something more drastic.

I was very excited about how I ended 2010. I finally hit a financial milestone.

However, I wasn’t an overnight success. I started this process in 2005 to transform my business from a one-woman freelance copywriter to president of a copywriting and marketing company.

I’m going through all the things I did so you can duplicate my success. Below are 5 things that worked for me:

1. Started attending events. Now, I’m not talking about becoming an event junkie. But I do believe going to events is key to taking your business to the next level.

There are so many benefits from attending events beyond what you’re going to learn from the speakers — networking, connecting with your “tribe,” getting out of your own little world so you can get some fresh ideas for your business, meeting the “movers and shakers” in your industry and more.

In addition to all of that, you also may discover your business starts to take off because you’re finally taking yourself and your business seriously.

2. Started regularly marketing. This one is tough if you don’t have a support system, but it’s crucial if you want to break the feast-famine cycle (either too much or too little business — when there’s too much you stop marketing because you’re crazy busy and when there’s too little you’re in “desperation marketing mode.”)

If you want to have a steady stream of clients and customers and a full pipeline of leads, the way to do that is by regularly marketing. It’s that simple…and that difficult.

But there are 2 things you can do to make this MUCH easier — change your mindset so you put as much emphasis on marketing as you do everything else in your business and implement a system to make it easier for you to follow through and your team to support you.

3. Got in alignment with what I teach. In my case, it meant making marketing my own business as important as marketing my clients’ businesses. In your case it may look different. But the reality is, you personally need to be in alignment with what you teach or how can you possibly stand tall and value your gifts and your brilliance?

Now, I have an important note about this — do NOT use this as an excuse to not move forward in your business. If you feel like you’re not in alignment, then get yourself in alignment. The only way you’re going to transform your business is if you do what you need to do to be an alignment and practice what you preach. (And if you can’t get yourself in alignment, maybe you need to take a hard look at what you’re providing. You might need to tweak your offering — this could be a message from the universe you’re not doing what you’re truly meant to do.)

4. Surrounded myself with the right people. You can’t do it all yourself. If you want to grow your business, you need to get a team in place to support you. Now this is something else that can feel scary — after all, hiring people is a big commitment. So what I would suggest is start small. Hire a VA (virtual assistant) for a few hours a month or a bookkeeper. Then make sure you use that time for revenue-producing activities.

Eventually, you’re going to reach a point where you have a big team working for you. The only problem with that is then you suddenly find yourself spending a bunch of time managing them. That’s when you want to look into getting a COO or a business manager for your business. I was lucky. My husband has joined the business as the COO and that has made a HUGE difference in being able to grow the business.

5. Did what I needed to do to work through my blocks. You may have heard the quote (and I’m paraphrasing) that the best self-development tool is having a business. ALL your obstacles and blocks will show up as you start and grow a business. And don’t be surprised if some of the biggest blocks show up when everything looks good on the surface.

I have 2 suggestions: First, know this is normal and be prepared for it. Second, don’t stop investing in yourself. Whatever you need to do to keep moving forward and busting through those blocks. Maybe you need a coach, a product, or something else. Or maybe you need to finally outsource something you’ve been reluctant to let go of (your copywriting for instance?)

Chances are you know what you need to do to keep moving forward, so what I want to encourage you to do is honor that feeling start taking action.

Which leads me to the last (bonus) tip:

6. Take action. Nothing happens if you don’t take action. The best advice I can give you (other than marketing yourself regularly) is take action. Get those to-do’s crossed off your to-do list and watch your business grow!

Over the years I’ve attended my share of live sporting events, but I must say there’s a lot to like about live NFL games. In fact, I’d like to share 3 of those lessons below that you too can use to build your business.

1. Know what business you’re REALLY in. Think the NFL is just about football? Think again. The NFL is in the entertainment business and yes the NFL is well aware of that.

At least for the Arizona Cardinals (it might be different at other stadiums) but along with the cheerleaders and a big red bird running around, they also have lots of scheduled little skits throughout the game. Considering how many commercial breaks you sit through when you watch a game on TV, it’s remarkable how little downtime there is during a live game.

So, what business are YOU really in? And chances are, you’re NOT in the business you think you’re in. For instance, you may think you’re a coach and you’re in the coaching business, but truly, do your clients really want a coach? No. They want the results they’re getting from your coaching. (Think about it, people are busy enough, do you think they really want to carve out the time each week or month to talk to you? They’re doing it because they see the value and are getting the results. They’re certainly not doing it because they have an extra hour laying around they don’t know what to do with.)

Focus on what business you’re really in, and you’ll have a much easier time attracting clients.

2. You can’t bore anyone into buying your products or services. Now, I agree the NFL has it a little easier since they’re in the entertainment business. But what about you?

I’m not saying you need to dress up in a red bird costume and run around acting silly. But you do need to be at the very least interesting to your ideal clients so they want to stick around and listen to what you have to say. If you bore them, they won’t be sticking around.

What can you do to more interesting (or, better yet, entertaining) in your marketing?

3. Pay attention to the little things. Again, this just might be Phoenix, but I must say this city has it together when it comes to moving large numbers of people around. (I also experienced this during my marathon participations.) I’m amazed at how fast you get in and out of the games and the parking lots. (They even set up a row of additional bathrooms next to the parking lot in case you didn’t want to wait in line inside the stadium.)

While that may seem like a small thing — after all, you’re not going to a game because it’s easy to park — it really does add to the whole experience. How nice it is to know you can attend a game without being stuck in traffic for hours having to go to the bathroom.

So what “little” things can you offer your clients? What intangibles can you give them that seem small but make a big difference? Maybe you have some great forms or templates you can gift them. Or maybe you attract a wonderful community and you allow your clients to network with each other.

Think about some things you can offer your clients that don’t cost you much in time or money but can really make a difference in how they feel about working with you.

There are few things more frustrating than being stuck at a plateau — whether it’s a losing-weight plateau, a business-growth plateau or any other plateaus.

So what do when you ARE stuck at a plateau, more specifically a business-growth one? Well the below 3 keys should put you on the right track to busting through.

1. Are you ready to grow? The first thing you need to look at is your mindset. A lot of times the reason why you’re stuck is because you’re just not ready to grow. It could be any number of things. You’re hiding out. You don’t want to be more successful than your spouse and/or parents. You’re afraid people won’t like you if you’re too successful. Only evil capitalist pigs are successful. You get the idea.

If you have a block like that standing in your way, it really doesn’t matter what you do or don’t do you’re not going to bust through your plateau.

So how do you know if you have a block? Well if you haven’t done any self growth work, I suspect you probably have a block or 2 lurking around. It’s nothing to feel ashamed about — it’s very common. In fact, I would venture to say every entrepreneur, even the most successful ones, encountered a block or 2 in their business growth. It’s just the successful ones had a way to get around it.

One place to start is by doing a little journaling. Take a piece a paper and draw a line down the middle so you have 2 columns. In one column, write down all the reasons why you want to break through this plateau and reach your goal. Then in the second column, write down all the reasons why you DON’T want to reach your goal. Yes, something will bubble to the surface if you don’t brush this off as being silly. And whatever bubbles to the surface will give you the next clue as to what you have to do to get rid of the obstacle.

The other thing you can do (which is my fave) is to hire a coach. Coaches are great for helping you get past your blocks.

2. Do you know what you need to do to grow? You can get past all the blocks you have, but if you have no idea what you need to be doing to be successful, then you’re not going to get very far.

Some of my most successful partnerships are with clients who have their mindset in order and they’re looking for copywriting and marketing expertise. When that happens, look out! Their businesses end up taking off in a really big way.

So how can you tell if you’re in this camp or if your mindset is blocking you? Well, I agree, it can be a little tough to do on your own — there are clues (which I can spot when I’m talking to people but it’s more difficult to explain). One clue is you’re ready to do what it takes to make your investment back. You might be really worried or scared about making this investment in yourself, but you feel confident you’re going to follow through and do what needs to be done. If you feel like you won’t do it, or it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re only going to get X people buying because that’s all you ever get, then you have a mindset block.

Another way to know is if you feel like you’re ready to step out in a big way and this is the next step.

3. You’re in that “uncomfortable” space right before you’re going to breakthrough your plateau and you just need to go a little further. What happens to water at 212 degrees F? It’s turning to steam. What happens at 211 degrees? It’s still liquid.

If you know you’re doing what you need to do to be successful and you haven’t broken through your business plateau yet, it could be you’re about to and you just have to keep doing what you’re doing. You’re at 211 degrees and you just need a little more umph to make it to 212.  (This one is probably the most frustrating of all. I was here so I know what you’re going through. It’s like you’re at Mile 23 of a marathon — which is 26.2 miles — you’ve done all this work to get to mile 23, you just need to walk 3.2 more miles and it’s some of the hardest miles you’ll ever walk. But keep going, you really are almost there.)

If you’ve been on an airplane, you’ve probably heard the airline stewardess give you the little safety spiel. How you buckle your seatbelt. What to do in case of a water landing. And what happens if those little oxygen masks drop down.

What you’re supposed to do is put your mask on first then put the masks on your children. That order. You, then your kids.

Why? Because if you pass out while trying to help your kids, you’ll help no one, least of all yourself and your kids.

Which is the point of my article today. Are you putting your clients’ needs above your own?

Now good customer care does require us to go above and beyond the call of duty. And sometimes we do have to work late or on weekends to help a good client out. That’s not what this is about. What this is about is if you’re consistently doing everything for your clients and nothing for yourself.

Let me give you some examples —

1. You’re never not available. Clients or prospects can call you anytime of the day or night and you’ll answer.

2. You don’t take a vacation (a real vacation) again because you want your clients to be able to get in touch with whenever they want.

3. You don’t spend anytime growing your business — the only time you do any sort of marketing is when your business is down. Otherwise you put your client work first. (Note — this can extend to other business tasks as well, such as getting your invoices out or doing your filing.)

This last one probably doesn’t seem so bad. “But I’m working on my clients’ projects, I can’t possibly spend time on my business when they’re paying me to work on stuff for them.” While on one hand that sounds good, it really isn’t.

Think about it. If your business is a mess because you never spend anytime on it — you’re late collecting on your invoices because you don’t send out billing, you’re stressed about cash flow and where your next client is coming from, etc. how can you possibly be taking care of your clients at the highest level possible? Only when you have your own house in order can you fully take care of your clients’ needs. (In other words, you have your oxygen mask on instead of being on the brink of passing out.)

And it’s the same with the first two as well. You need to take care of yourself first, and the only way to take care of yourself it to give yourself a breather every now and then. You need some time off to take care of you — else what good will you be? Do you think your clients really want to be working with an exhausted, stressed out version of yourself or do they want to work with someone who is excited and passionate about what they’re doing, even if it means they can’t reach them 24/7 and have to give them some unplugged time every now and again?

Look if this is you, don’t feel bad. I made all these mistakes myself when I was first starting out as a freelance copywriter. But over the years I realized the better I took care of myself and my business, the better I took care of my clients. That sounds counterintuitive but it’s true. Because I take time off, I’m healthier and have more energy. Because I treat my business like I would my one of my clients, I feel like I’m in integrity with the marketing principles I teach, plus I can share with my students and my clients what is working RIGHT NOW. I teach real-world tactics because I’m right there in the trenches with them.

I invite all of you to take a look at your relationship with your clients. Is there something you’re doing for them you’re not doing for yourself? Do you think it may be time to change that?