Tag: strategic internet marketing

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Business Ideas

Results! Is Your Business Built on a Solid Foundation or Are You on Shaky Ground? 3 Ways to Tell

January 2005 was a turning point in my business. It was the month I incorporated my business.

Before then, I had operated as a sole proprietor. I started my business in 1998 as a freelance copywriter.

However, in 2003 I started getting that restless feeling. I knew I was destined for bigger and better things. I started researching how to take my freelance copywriting business to the next level. And part of that research included me looking into how my business was structured.

Even though my local CPA thought it was a waste of time and money for me to incorporate, the rest of my research told me otherwise, so I went ahead with it.

That was the year I finally broke 6 figures. Once I did that I never looked back.

Now, I’m not going to say that was the sole reason why I broke 6 figures nor am I going to claim all you need to do is incorporate and it will happen to you. But what I WILL tell you is when I incorporated, it caused a huge mental shift around how I viewed my business. Suddenly I was a serious business owner, not just a freelancer. And as such I started making decisions from a different place, a place that would ultimately cause my income to significantly jump.

(Also, there is a school of thought that your business will only grow as far as your foundation will take it. In other words, if your business only has the legal, financial, tax and insurance structure for a $50,000 year business, that’s all you’ll end up with. If your business can handle 7-figures and beyond, that’s what you’ll end up with.)

So what about you? If you’re anything like me, you started your business because you were “good” at something and/or you had a big message or dream to change the world. You didn’t start a business because you were in love with owning your own business. You may have been drawn to certain aspects of owning your own business, like being your own boss, calling the shots, working when and where you wanted, etc. But you weren’t driven by the “business” part of it.

The problem with that is it only takes you so far. You may be making money but you probably aren’t doing it very smartly. You don’t know how to plan or map out your finances so you tend to live in a very stressed out money place. You may be paying WAY too much in taxes with how you’re structured (I certainly was). And you may not have protected yourself or your business adequately so there’s always the chance you could lose everything you worked so hard for.

So what do you do? Well, it’s time to take a good hard look at your business and make a decision once and for all how serious you want to be about it. Here are 3 questions to get you started:

1. What are your goals for your business? Both long- and short-term?

2. Is your business currently set up to support your goals? And when I mean set up, I mean more than just your business structure. What about insurance, finances, taxes? Also are you taken care of legally (i.e. you have contracts where you need them)?

3. If the answer is no or you’re not sure, then take a deep breath and see this as an opportunity. Look, unless you ARE a lawyer or CPA, you probably find this as enjoyable as marketing your business. (Hey, I get it. Not everyone is a marketing geek like me.) But you have a chance here to put a solid foundation under your business so it can be supported as you build it.

Take this opportunity to do your own research on what you need. Interview business advisors to see if the ones you’re currently relying on are still the right ones for you or if you need new ones. Put together a plan and then execute that plan. You may be pleasantly surprised on how your business responds.

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Sales & Marketing

3 Ways To Get Your Inner Critic Off Your Biz’s Board of Directors

So you know about your Inner Critic and you think he or she is residing on your biz’s board of directors, which is impacting your business.

 

So the REAL question is how do you do you get him or her OFF your board of directors?

 

Well, here are 3 keys to get you started:

 

1. Turn the voice down of your Inner Mean Girl or Bully. Sounds easier said than done, eh? Well, the way to get started is to identify their voice (which is NOT your voice) so you can stop listening to them.

 

At first you’ll probably find the voice getting louder, but that’s okay. It means you’re on the right track. Eventually you’ll be able to start turning the volume down.

 

2. Give your Inner Mean Girl or Bully another job. Although it usually doesn’t feel like it, your Inner Mean Girl or Bully came into existence to protect you. Yes it’s a misguided protection and yes at this point she or he is hurting you more than helping you, but nonetheless his or her original job was to help.

 

So now that the job has got completely twisted up, it’s time to give her or him a new job. A job that really WILL help and not hurt.

 

For instance, does your Inner Mean Girl like to compare you to others? Well maybe her new job should be as a talent scout — to find other talented people to hire or partner up with — rather than compare you to them.

 

See how this can work?

 

3. Start listening to your intuition or Inner Wisdom. Probably the biggest problem with your Inner Mean Girl or Bully is their voice is so darn loud it drowns out the voice of your intuition. How can you possibly figure out what your next step is supposed to be in your business if your Inner Wisdom is engaged in a shouting match with your Inner Mean Girl? (And unfortunately Inner Wisdom really isn’t all that talented at shouting — unlike your Inner Mean Girl who excels at throwing fits.)

 

So how can you hear your Inner Wisdom? A good place to start is to get quiet. Inner Wisdom can’t hear herself or himself think when there’s all this noise around. (Hence why your Inner Mean Girl or Bully have gotten so darn good at being noisy.) Give yourself room to just sit and breathe and keep telling your Inner Mean Girl or Bully to hush. Eventually you’ll start to “hear” your Inner Wisdom.

 

(And you’ll know it’s your Inner Wisdom because your Inner Wisdom will NEVER lie to you, where your Inner Mean Girl or Bully often lie and are in fact very good liars.)

 

Now this might not be easy at first but don’t give up. The more you do it the easier it will be. And wouldn’t it be wonderful to stop having that darn Inner Mean Girl or Bully yapping in your ear and instead be able to truly follow your Inner Wisdom?

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Is Your Inner Critic on Your Biz’s Board of Directors? 3 Ways to Tell

You know that voice. The one that berates you and criticizes you.

 

“So-and-so has a successful business, what’s wrong with you?”

 

“Your mother (or spouse or friend) was right — you’re not cut out to have a business.”

 

“You only have 6 months left of 2012 and you STILL haven’t accomplished anything on your to-do list.”

 

And on and on. You get the picture.

 

This voice is your Inner Mean Girl or Inner Mean Bully, which I prefer to call Inner Critic (mostly because Inner Critic sounds way too nice for that nasty voice).

 

Now, while your Inner Mean Girl/Bully can show up in all sorts of instances (i.e. in your love life, as a parent) this is about when she/he decides to put herself on your business’s board of directors.

 

We all have one — a board of directors residing in your head. This is the place where you make business decisions such as:

 

* Should I invest in the program or not?

* Should I hire this person or not? (Or should I hire someone period?)

* Is this an opportunity I should take advantage of or not?

* Is this someone I should partner with or not?

* Should I create this product or not?

* Should I complete this marketing task today or not? (Or should I write my ezine or not?)

 

You see where I’m going. Pretty much any decision you make with your business traces back to your business’s board of directors.

 

Now the problem comes in when your Inner Mean Girl/Bully is sitting on the board (or worse, president of the board). Because if this is the case, you’re making decisions from a place of weakness instead of strength. Consider:

 

* You don’t hire someone because you’re afraid you won’t be able to pay for it, even though you’ve reached a point you can’t grow without putting a team in place.

 

* OR you spend WAY too much (on a program or multiple programs, on a big team, etc.) and your business can’t support that yet.

 

* You find yourself choosing partners or opportunities that turn into disasters.

 

* You procrastinate when it comes to completing marketing tasks even though you know it would help stabilize your cash flow.

 

* You always have “one more edit” or “one more thing” to do with your product or book (which means you never actually start selling it.)

 

* You can never relax — you’re constantly “doing” yet you’re still not moving forward in your business the way you think you ought to be.

 

* And so on.

 

To top it off, (as if making poor decisions wasn’t punishment enough) your Inner Mean Girl/Bully will beat you up when things go wrong.

 

There’s just no way to win.

 

So how can you tell if your Inner Mean Girl/Bully is in charge or not? Here are 3 signs:

 

1. How are you feeling? Do you find yourself suffering from burnout, exhaustion, overwhelm? You probably have an Inner Mean Girl/Bully problem.

 

2. Do you find yourself procrastinating or maybe you’re unfocused? Or maybe you have writer’s block or are creativity stuck? This is another Inner Mean Girl/Bully sign.

 

3. Do you have a history of making bad business decisions? Again, tell-tale sign of an Inner Mean Girl/Bully on your board of directors.

 

These are just the tip of the iceberg but I think the key is this: if you are unhappy with any part of your business, then it’s worth it to see if there is an Inner Mean Girl/Bully lurking about and sabotaging you.

 

 

 

Categories
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.

 

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