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Do You Have The Right Focus To Make Your Dream A Business Instead Of A Hobby? We'd all love to make a fabulous living doing what we love to do. What are the four things you need to focus on to turn your dream into a business, instead of a hobby? Business in the Days of Awe: Connection How to truly connect with your prospects. Business in the Days of Awe: How to never hear a prospect objection again. Prospect objections can feel like a kick in the stomach. Your spiritual heart holds the key to avoiding getting kicked, and closing the sale. Why Poverty Consciousness Is More Effective Than Abundance Thinking. It's always painful to me watching folks trying to reeeaaaacccchhhhh for an "abundance consciousness" and repeatedly fall short of it. If that's your experience, I urge you to leave 'abundance consciousness' in the dustbin, and settle back into the only thing that I've seen work consistently: cultivating a healthy poverty consciousness. When To Raise Your Prices, Without Feeling Evil About It. There are many legitimate reasons to raise your prices. But, you need to think about more than just yourself here. That's right, raising your prices can actually be an unselfish act, done in deep service to your cusotmers. Marketing And Copyright Lessons From The Dead No matter how much inventory you have, or how large your customer base, the viability of your business depends on the flow of your thinking, your creativity, your presence. What do you do when someone steals your hard work? Send a thank-you note. Why Marketing Often Feels Sleazy (and How to Avoid It) "How do you create marketing that can possibly explain spiritual healing in a way that will attract people in?" It's a good question. But...The truth is: you can't. But that's okay, because your marketing language isn't there to attract people in. So forget about trying to attract people with your words. I'll tell you what you will be doing with your words, in just a minute. Is Your Athenticity Creating Growth Or Stagnation? Authenticity, being yourself, is the foundation of your health, and the health of your business. But, it can also be a source of stagnation, and, eventually, your death. It has to do primarily with how many of us learn. How to Keep Big Opportunities from Tearing Down Your Business It's the dream come true: "I love what you do. I want you to do project X, so we can reach a 1,000,000 people (or build that retreat center, or, etc., etc.)" Pretend for a moment that I'm your mother, on email, and allow me to warn you about THOSE kinds of strangers. ;-) How To Deal With 'Freeloaders' In Your Business 'Can you give me your (class/product/offer) for free, or reduced cost? I'm in a tough situation, and need the help.' Have you ever had anyone ask you this in your business? If you haven't, it's either because you're invisible, you've only been in business for five minutes, or because you look mean. :-) Are these people really freeloaders? How To Get Fear Off Your Business' Back You want to know a secret? My clients and class participants all trust me to hold confidentiality with the most intimate details of their business, but I'm going to go public with one detail I know. I'm going to tell you the straight-up fact, the one that no one tells anyone else. They all get scared. Gut-clenching scared. Scared witless. (And me, too.) How To Create An Overnight Success In Your Business A person I admire has a very successful business. He's sharp, personable, funny, smart, and helpful. And, the products and services he provides are top-notch. He's sold thousands of them, and his business is operating at a level much higher than mine. Then he announced that he was celebrating three years in business. What! Only three years? How'd he get so far, so fast? How To Avoid Burning Money On Advertising Advertising. Curse? Money hole? Or powerful venue? It seems so obvious: where else, for a few hundred dollars, could you get in front of thousands of people? And it's true that many of them are really wanting what you're offering. Unfortunately, the vast majority of advertising ends up being good to wrap fish in, and not much else. Profitability: How To Get From Just Enough To Extra Why is scraping by the norm, and it's hard to come by having extra money? How can you pay yourself first if you don't have enough to pay your all your expenses? The reason there isn't ever any extra, is because the concept of "extra" is a human idea, and doesn't exist anywhere except in our minds. Look around you. Is there "extra" in nature? How To Win Compassionately Play to win? Isn't that attitude for heedless, heartless business people? Well, it depends on how you define 'winning.' Why You Should Sell Something Before It Exists I don't know if you've noticed, but there seems to be an awfully loooooooong lag time between thinking of a new offer, creating the offer, and then finally having it in your grateful customers' hands. Most major corporations take, on average, 18 months to think of a new product and get it out into the marketplace. But it takes most small business owners between 30 and 40 years. Why Dreaming Big Can Keep You Small I've read numerous times where small business owners are encouraged to "dream big." To come up with huge mission statements that include dominating your industry, or becoming the premier or best-known at whatever you do. These mission statements are killing your heart and your business. Writing Articles That Get Read, Remembered And Recommended You already know that writing articles will help your business. But, maybe you still have a question. How do you write a great article for your business? When Being Pushy Is The Best Thing To Do It takes a lot more effort and energy to gain a new customer, than it does to continue to serve a customer that already loves and trusts you. Have you avoided being pushy, and abandoned your customers when they need you most? Why Your High Prices May Really Be Too Low It may never have dawned on you the true difference between being an employee, and running a business. There are a lot of miniscule tasks that need to be done. Do I pay myself, or someone else, for all of these details? How To Deal With Freeloaders In Your Business 'Can you give me your (class/product/offer) for free, or reduced cost? I'm in a tough situation, and need the help.' Have you ever had anyone ask you this in your business? If you haven't, it's either because you're invisible, you've only been in business for five minutes, or because you look mean. :-) Are these people really freeloaders? Why You Don't Want Michelangelo Working On Your Website If you aren't being commissioned to paint the ceiling of your website by a fabulously wealthy Pope, and if you aren't trying to stun your visitors with beauty, I suggest you relax, just a little bit, any attachment you might have to beauty and uniqueness around your website. Repeat after me: I have only one business Imagine you're ten years old, and there are huge stacks of cardboard boxes towering over you. It's a maze. It's a fortress. And you're allowed to climb all over them. Inside every single one of those boxes is a dozen bottles. Fine wines, liquor, you name it. It may sound like a caterer's dream, but I was just hanging out in the warehouse of my grandfather's wine store. My parents worked with him, How being outnumbered will gain you raving fans You're sitting in class, and the teacher at the front has just said something that doesn't entirely make sense to you. "You see, the world is flat. It's always been flat. And it always will be flat. Flat, flat, flat." The year is 1400 A.D., and you're thinking, "But, what if it isn't flat? What if it's round?" Do you stick your hand up and tell the teacher? The true measure of money in your business Shiny new cars. Big mansions. The good life. Even if you're not a particularly material person, it's easy to be caught by those images, and to wonder: "Why don't I have that? Is there something wrong with me?" How your friends destroy your marketing message. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears goes into crafting your 'elevator speech' (I hate that term). You've probably agonized over it, striving to catch just the right tone and wording. Finally, you're (hopefully) finished. For the final blessing, you turn to your friends and colleagues, and test it out. They respond: "That's great! I love it. Go for it." They've just killed you with kindness. The one project missing from your strategic plan It's a given for your business: you want next year to be different than this year. And so all kinds of projects and tasks end up on your to-do list. Marketing, office structures, product/offer creation, client care, technology. Very important, this doing of things. Without action, very little manifests, no matter how clear your intentions are. And yet, will next year look different? What gives? Is Why less passion is better for business I just googled 'Passion in Business' and came up with 82,900,000 hits. And, according to the first several pages of hits, everyone says that you must have passion to succeed in business. 'Fuel your passion' is the watchword. Why this quest for passion? Of course, passion can feel wonderful, but do you really need it to succeed in business? What happens when you don't have it? What Moses knew about getting ready to teach There's a class you've been thinking about offering for some time now. But, you're not quite ready. A little more research, a little more thinking, and you're sure you'll finally be ready. But, despite your passion, it's flat. Even practicing it in front of a friend or colleague, it still feels flat. Oh no! When will you ever be ready to offer this to people? There is a missing ingredient, and M How to avoid the funeral after a big breakthrough Okay, forget all this organic growth stuff. Let's say you hit the big time, and suddenly dozens, hundreds, even thousands of people are flooding towards your business. Exciting, isn't it? Sure, exciting as a funeral. If your business isn't ready, this could be The End. It's easy to want to hit it big. But, the truth is, rapid expansion is the most dangerous time for any business. How to use systems without turning into a heartless zombie You can tell as soon as you pick up the phone before the other person has even said anything. That little silence, the clattering in the background, tells you that it's a telemarketer on the other end of the line, and there is nothing they have to say that is worth your precious time. With those experiences, it's easy to have strong opinions about using systems, and to avoid them like the plague When you feel so pressured to make money you can't think Your marriage falls apart, you or your partner is laid-off, or your spouse gets ill and you lose half your household income. The financial pressures sweep in like a sudden high tide, and as one of my clients wrote me, "I feel so pressured to make money I can't think." What do you do in a situation like this? "Forget about the bladdy-blah-blah of patience and organic growth, man! I need to make t Giving the awkward news that you're raising your prices The time has come- you've been waiting for it and dreading it at the same time. The time when you must, absolutely must, can't avoid it. You've got to raise your prices. You're sure about it, 100%, and it feels good when you think about it all on your own. Except... How DO you tell your current clients that your prices are going up, up and away? Your belly is flip-flopping, and your palms get co If you resist marketing, then you can be great "I've tried to market myself for years. I've worked with coaches, counselors and healers of all stripes. They all tell me I need to work through my resistance to marketing, and yet I still hate it." My heart was breaking. I was speaking with someone who had the seeds of an amazing business, one that had been limping along for years, never expanding beyond a small handful of dedicated and raving fa How to be Consistently, Creatively Productive our business depends on your creativity. Your creativity in your marketing, in your product and service creation, and just in how you show up for your customers and clients. Without creativity, everything grows stagnant, you are unable to produce to meet deadlines, yours and others, and you begin to feel lifeless. And so does your business. And so do your profits. Is it okay not to give all your profit back to your clients? You finally made the leap and are getting paid a price that feels good. Except that it's itching the back of your neck, the back of your heart. You're uncomfortable. Next thing you know, you're working twice as hard, putting in extra hours, doing all kinds of extras for your clients. You're exhausted. And you only raised your prices 20%-- why is it that you feel like you're working -harder- than y How to punish assistants for catastrophic mistakes You finally did it. You decided to hire an assistant, or a virtual assistant, or even a full-on employee, with payroll and everything. Yahooey! You've hit the big time now. You're business is sure to take off. And then your new assistant sends you an email, or leaves a voicemail, or comes to your office. "Uh... I made a bit of a mistake. I hope it's not too bad." But it is. It's a big mistake. Losing business for want of "The Nudge." Our friend Erica called my wife and me to invite us to a holiday dinner. We couldn't go, because we already had plans that evening. But, when we hung up, we remembered that weeks and weeks ago we had decided to go to a show that her husband was involved in producing, but had never bought the tickets. We went online right then and bought 'em. This was an example of "The Nudge" even if it was inad How to Keep Big Opportunities from Tearing Down Your Business. "I love what you do. I want you to do project X, so we can reach a 1,000,000 people (or build that retreat center, etc.)" A few days ago I was reminded of this dynamic, when one of the current participants, using his newly-developed marketing message, started getting some pretty amazing results saying it to people. One of those results was a successful entrepreneur who shared his dream, and wanted How to stop being a piranha when you really need clients In a recent Opening the Moneyflow class, we were discussing the balance between working on foundations and systems, and the need to get clients, like, now. As in 'now' thank you very much. Now, please? Clients? The need for cashflow in your business through having enough clients is profound. Paying the bills, keeping food on the table, and a roof over your head is no joking matter. When networking events feel like a drag Going to networking events is kinda one of those things you are 'supposed' to do for your business. Some people love'em, some people hate'em. But, the truth is, especially for a new business, making face-to-face and heart-to-heart contact with people is incredibly powerful. Unfortunately, networking events can seem like pretty gross, low-energy, artificial affairs, with people glad-handing left a How to avoid being trapped in a niche Bang! Bang! Bang! The hammer comes down again and again, nailing those wooden planks in place. Finally, it's done: you're trapped. No windows, and the only door nailed shut. Those business gurus told you to pick a niche, and so you did. And now you're stuck there, for the rest of your days. G'bye creativity. G'bye freedom. G'bye. Why giving clients more choices means they'll never buy You're really wanting to be thoughtful and accommodating. You want to make your clients and customers comfortable, so they can have things the way they like it. So you start making up offers, each with different options and flavors. Eventually you have a menu of ten options. And no one's buying. Is it your marketing? Or your menu? How to avoid reader fatigue in your subscribers There's some buzz I've been reading about in forums and on blogs about what's known as 'reader fatigue.' This is the condition that happens when you, as an individual, are confronted with sixteen hundred gazillion blogs, email newsletters, forums, and pdf downloads and you just get fed up with it. I can relate. Unfortunately, when you switch hats to being a business owner, suddenly you don't want How productivity contributes to global warming and debt There was an edge to my voice as I asked the question: "And so why haven't you finished what you promised to do?" I meant for it to come out nicer, more reasonable. But, it didn't. This is so often where we land, kerthunk, in business: are you getting it done, or aren't you? In the western world, we call this 'productivity' and we think it's a good thing. Handling complaints without making things worse The email comes, or the phone rings, and there's an absolute flood pouring right at you. "Hey, you didn't do what you said you would do. This didn't work as advertised. You goofed!" Yup, a complaint. Ahhh! A complaint?! But you poured your heart and soul into it, how could they complain? Then you take a breath, and you read what they're asking for, and you realize... they were right. You DID make Does the cutting edge of social media really pay? So someone asks you: "What's your Twitter name?" And you look at them like they are a loony. Twitter? Huh? And then the next person asks you, "You blog, right? What's the URL?" Hold it. What happened? In the seeming blink of an eye, suddenly there's all this new so-called 'social media' on the web, and you know nothing about it. What's worse, is that everyone else seems to be there already. Why you make some business mistakes over and over Why do you make certain mistakes over and over again? No matter how hard you try to fix or control the situation, they seem beyond your control. For instance, I was working with a client recently who has a number of staff working under him, and wanted to delegate to them efficiently. And the same problem showed up in employee after employee. Smoothing cashflow when your business is small or new A participant in the Opening the Moneyflow Course has a fairly minimal email list of potential clients, about 80 or so. It's enough to bring in a few clients, but not enough to keep her pipeline full. While she's ramping up to increase the list, which is growing every week, she's still facing that cashflow issue: how can you keep a steady cashflow with just a handful of clients, before your market Why Attraction is a Mistake in Marketing. Coffee shop. The background beat of some silly pop music. Buzz of conversation. The glow of laptop screens. And then, one near the counter, the other in a window seat, they both look up, and their eyes meet. Attraction! Next thing you know, they're picking out paint colors, and sharing chores in some nice little house in the neighborhood. It's a cozy picture, isn't it? If only your clients would
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