It’s my birthday – again!

February 8th, 2010

I’ve just finished a meeting with my team and Brandon, my customer service representative has informed me that many of you are ‘chomping at the bit’ to hear a replay of my ‘Virtual Birthday Party’ call I did last Saturday.

We know this call struck a chord with many of you who attended live. It got pretty ‘raw’ in places as I pulled back the curtain and revealed exactly how transformative the past 12 months have been for me.

Well the queen has two birthdays, so I can too! And the good news is we’re offering a one time replay of that call, this Tuesday 9 February.

Amazingly, many of the requests came from people who already attended the live call and simply want to hear it all over again. That’s what tells me this was a special call, because in all the years I’ve been offering teleseminars, I’ve never heard that request.

Here a just a few of the comments received:
‘I got off the phone feeling empowered for the first time in months.  So a HEARTY THANK YOU for all that you have been through, for sharing your story, for being a champion, and for giving me hope that I, too, will create a new reality for my life.  God bless you richly for your faith. You have truly inspired me today.’

‘Quick thanks for telling me about Bernadette and her Stepping Up programme. I participated in her teleseminar that she did this past Sat (on her birthday!) and a) felt a connection with her,  just like I did with you, b) was v. impressed by what she was offering and c) felt like she had read my mind (re: my goals for my business and myself) and was speaking directly to me!’

‘I want to congratulate for the call today , it was  – for me – 300% more valuable and the way you presented it gave me the confidence to be in the right place. I could relate to many things you said. And it is  – again — one of these amazing things of synchronicity that I came across your program ….’

Here’s where to register so you can get all the details of the call.
Click here for details and to register http://www.clientmagnets.com/steppingup/

This call was truly LIFE-CHANGING for those that heard it, so make sure you join us for the replay.

It’s my birthday – again!

NOW Is The Perfect Time To Build Your Business

February 7th, 2010

Have you heard the joke about the tourist who is driving around Ireland and stops to ask a farmer for directions? The farmer leans into the car and says, “Well, you know sir, I wouldn’t start from here.”

Like all good jokes, there’s an element of truth about human psychology in his answer. Most of us wish that we were starting from somewhere other than the place that we’re actually starting from.

When you think about starting your business, have you said any of these things?

If only I had more experience.
If only I was younger.
If only I got started earlier.
If only I had more money.
If only I was self-employed.
If only I had more time.
If only I wasn’t committed to this other project.

Always remember that where you’re starting from is a lot less important than the direction you’re heading.

Everyone who is running their own business had to start somewhere. And a lot of them started in much more challenging situations than yours. Whether you have situations, reasons or excuses, they all boil down to the same thing. They are stopping you from moving forward.

So, if you’re in a successful business, but tired of trading your time for money; if you’re pressed for time and want to break free of your existing revenue model; if you want to learn to earn revenue through products and passive streams – you’ve got to begin somewhere.

Stop finding reasons why right now is not a good time for you to start. Stop using your current circumstances as reasons to justify staying where you are. Right now is the perfect time to start to improve, grow and expand your business. Right now is the time to stop procrastinating and stop making excuses.

You can start your information empire from any point. Yes, where you start will influence the steps you take and the order in which you take them. But, the point is that you can start right now, from right where you are.

You may be familiar with Jim Edwards, an online information marketer. He sells e-books, among many additional things, in his information product funnel.

Jim started his information empire from probably the most challenging situation a person can be in. He was bankrupt, worked full-time, lived in a trailer, and had precious little free time to build his own business. But, he carved out time every day to come up with marketing ideas, write sales copy and work on the mechanical nuts and bolts of his business.

Because he couldn’t afford resources, he worked a lot of long hours by himself – 16-hour days or even longer.

You probably aren’t starting from a situation as dire as Jim’s. His is an extreme example that even when the situation is really tough and challenging, you can still take the steps and get started.

The only difference between you and someone who is running a successful information empire is that they decided to start, no matter what their circumstances were. You can learn from their examples.

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com

NOW Is The Perfect Time To Build Your Business

Increase Opt-In Conversions with Teleseminars

February 6th, 2010

The conventional wisdom for online businesses has usually involved offering some type of free report on your web page. The advice that expert marketers tend to give is for companies to have a squeeze page. This is where you would offer your free report. When potential customers land on your page, they’ll sign up for that free report. Now they’re on your list, and you have the means to follow up with auto-responders. You can now market and sell to them because they have given you their contact information.

Offering a free report is generally good advice because it gets the people who are truly interested to take the step forward and make themselves known to you. It means that you are marketing to people who have given you permission to market to them. So, on that basis, it is a sound practice.

The trouble is that when everybody does it, it starts to lose its effectiveness. How often have you personally had the experience of browsing online and landing on a site where something is being offered for free? Maybe this would have tempted you four or five years ago, but now you are wiser. And so are your prospects. They will think twice about handing over their email address to you now, because they know these free offers are a marketing approach.

What can you offer instead that would have a higher perceived value and almost compel people to give you their email address?

I am a huge proponent of teleseminars. They offer tremendous value for you and your business for a couple of reasons.

Think about how much great content you can give clients in a one-hour-long teleseminar. And, they can really get to know you, up close and personal.

Even if someone does download that free report on your web site, it may just sit in their inbox or on their computer. They might not ever get around to looking at it. You know how many things we all download and never actually read. It’s like the stack of magazines that sit unread on the end table, but without the actual clutter. Or, they might actually print it out, put it to the side to read later, and, well, later never comes.

But a teleseminar offers actual human connection. People are getting a lot more than just information from you. They are getting to know you.

A teleseminar allows your personality, sense of humor, and everything about you that is the reason for your business, to come across. It shows who you are, and that’s what’s important.

At the end of the day, people buy people. The beauty of the teleseminar is that it gives people a live experience of you.

And because it’s an hour long – certainly not any shorter than that – it’s an opportunity to pack in a lot of content. You can really convey a lot of knowledge and build up an intimacy with your audience in this amount of time.

Here’s another major advantage about teleseminars. They are time-limited.

If you are offering potential clients the opportunity to sign up for a teleseminar next Tuesday via your web page, they know they have to make a decision. If they click away from the opportunity, they miss out for good. So, they are less likely to hesitate than they would be with signing up for a free report. They know they can always come back for that later.

There are many people who get between 30%-40% opt-in rates from the free reports on their squeeze pages. If you get 100 visitors to that page, 30 – 40 of them will give you their email addresses. Many people are very satisfied with that. And that’s fine.

But if you offer a teleseminar instead, your opt-in rate could increase to 70%. Mine did. Just by switching one little piece of the lead generation process, and offering a teleseminar instead of a free report, you can double the number of leads you’re generating with no extra traffic.

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Increase Opt-In Conversions with Teleseminars

Using Twitter To Build Your List

February 5th, 2010

Many of you have heard me talk about using Twitter to drive people who follow your tweets to your web page.  But how do you even find followers to lead?  There are a few strategies that you can use to build a Twitter following and it works quickly for fast results.  In fact, two of my VIP clients, went from just 27 followers to over 700 in just a matter of weeks!  Here’s a few of those strategies …

1. Follow the leaders – When you build a Twitter following, your goal is to find followers who are receptive to your message.  Follow one of the leaders in your particular industry and you can open the way to access their thousands, even tens of thousands of followers.  Here are somes ways to get your name in front of those followers:

• Tweet success stories – If you have a success story to share involving this person – tweet them.  Let them know about it.  They’re certainly not going to keep it to themselves, they’ll usually re-tweet it to their followers.

• Re-tweet their message – You’ll receive a thank you from them, another step in getting your name out there.

• Remember, you need to give before you get.  It’s a two way street – or perhaps a two way tweet in this case.  Put together a list of five to ten people that you’d like to build a relationship with and start building on that relationship.

2.  Follow the followers – If you follow someone on Twitter, there’s a 50% chance that they are going to follow you back.  With Twitter, you are able to follow 10% more of the people who are following you (if you have 1,000 followers, you are able to follow 1,100 people).  Use software to follow the followers of

3.  Automate and systemise – If you decide to go through and manually add followers, you’re likely to have some very tired fingers.  There is software that can automate the process for you.  I use Tweet Adder, a software program that costs $55 and has been a huge help (www.tweetadder.com).  Not only does it automate the process, but it allows you to find the right type of followers for your product or service.  You can use keywords and locations to target potential followers.

While Twitter isn’t the only list building tool available to you, it’s very effective in leading followers to your web site and squeeze page.  Twitter has the ability to multiply your following quickly.  It’s a fast tool and easily automated.

Be sure to start Twittering and use this tool to your advantage.

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Using Twitter To Build Your List

True Success Starts With Your Vision

February 4th, 2010

Vision is a powerful thing.

It’s one of the most important tools you have to move you from where your business currently is, to where you want it to be. If you have a picture in your mind of what you want your business to look like, you’ll find that it’s much easier to bring this vision into being.

If you don’t know where you want to go, how will you know what to do? You don’t jump into your car and start driving, with no destination in mind. Before you start the engine, you have in your mind where you want to go so you know whether to turn left or right at the bottom of the driveway. The same principle applies to your business.

So what I would like to ask you to do today is to imagine for yourself another version of you.

Imagine yourself running a more successful business. You’re happier with how your business is progressing. Maybe you have more clients. Maybe you’re working fewer hours. Maybe you’ve expanded into new markets. Your vision will be unique to you and to your business.

Imagine what this business would be like, what your experience of a typical working day would be like. Start imagining it now, because it’s available to you.

It’s so important to recognise that this starts with YOU.  Your business has to be built around your vision. You are driving your business, so it’s based on what you want. You need to ask yourself: if I could have my business set up any way I want it to be, how would it be?

Bear in mind that the perfect solution for you may not be the perfect solution for the next person. And that’s fine – every business is unique, because your talents are unique. But regardless of what your perfect solution is, it starts in your mind.

There’s one common step that every business owner can take to achieve their vision, and that’s outsourcing.

If you’re really serious about expanding your business, you need to identify the routine or basic administrative tasks that can be given to someone whose hourly rate is a lot less than yours. Next, you need to develop the ability to find the right people at the right price who can help you. These people will be able to get things done quickly for you to allow you to spend more time envisioning the future and bringing it into being.

The purpose of having a vision is to imagine what you’re trying to achieve and to act as though it’s already in place so that you’re moving toward it. This is what Dan Kennedy calls “behavioural congruency”, which is essentially acting as if you already have the outcome you desire.

If you want to make, for example, £250,000 over the next 12 months, the more you act in alignment with that outcome the faster you’ll get there. So if you’re already running a £250,000 business, chances are you wouldn’t be doing your own expenses, but would instead have someone handling routine bookkeeping tasks. So you need to start acting as though that has happened already.

Something happens when you make a conscious decision that you’re ready to change and you want to do it differently.

If you don’t make this a priority, you’re still going to be in exactly the same situation three months from now, six months from now, a year from now.

So start creating your vision today – I know whatever vision you have for yourself can come true!

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com

True Success Starts With Your Vision

Time Blocking – The Secret to Greater Productivity

February 3rd, 2010

There’s nothing worse than staring blankly at your computer screen, with no idea how to finish a big project. Did you know there’s actually an effective way to prevent that from happening? It’s called “time blocking” and it’s one of the best tools for making sure the time you spend working is productive.

It’s All About Cycles
Tony Schwartz, author of The Power of Full Engagement, talks about people as being “oscillatory beings in an oscillatory universe.” What he means by that is that our energy flows in natural cycles of about ninety to one-hundred-twenty minutes.

Eben Pagan, an enormously successful entrepreneur, carries this concept further in his “Wake Up Productive” products. He teaches his clients the art of time blocking in order to get more done.

What these men have learned is that the secret to getting things done is to capture that cycle of energy. Does that simply mean working as hard as we can for a couple of hours at a stretch? No, there’s actually a more productive way to get things done. Here’s how to harness your energy effectively:

• Use a timer. To help stay focused on the task at hand, set a timer for forty-five minutes. That’s a reasonable block of time to work productively.

• No distractions. During that block of time, turn off the distractions. No television, email, cell phone or chatting with friends. Give what you’re working on your total focus until the timer sounds.

• Take a break. Break up the blocks of time in which you’re focusing with short breaks. After forty-five minutes, get up and walk around for five minutes. Get something to drink. But don’t jump into another task or project, and stay away from those distractions we mentioned!

• Jump back in. After a short break, set the timer for another forty-five minutes. This allows you to capture that optimum ninety minute cycle of productive energy. Work straight through until the timer sounds again, then get up and walk away.

• Rest. After focusing completely on the task at hand for a full oscillatory cycle, it’s time to rest a bit. Take a walk outside, lie down for a nap or eat a snack. A twenty minute break will refresh your mind and body and prepare you for another ninety minute block of productive work.

• Repeat. You’ll have to decide how many hour and a half to two hour time blocks you can manage in a day. Commit yourself to focusing completely on work, with appropriate breaks, for that many blocks of time, then stop working. Really. There’s no point in staring at a computer screen or trying to be creative when you’ve moved beyond your natural energy cycle.

Working Less, Doing More
It may seem contradictory, but you really will accomplish more in two or three ninety minute blocks of totally focused time than you used to accomplish in a full work day. Here’s the paradox: working less time with complete focus nets more productivity than hours of unfocused struggling.

You may be saying to yourself, “But aren’t we supposed to be able to multitask?” It may sound ideal, being able to do a dozen things at once, but the truth is that when you focus on one thing, you do it well, in less time.

And this doesn’t just apply to big projects. Use time blocking to get emails answered, phone calls returned or proposals written. Anything that needs to be done can be done better with your complete focus for short blocks of time.

So, are you ready to work less and accomplish more? Incorporate time blocking into your schedule and see for yourself how much more productive you become.

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Time Blocking – The Secret to Greater Productivity

Turn Your Passions and Talents Into Money

February 2nd, 2010

Do you wonder just what it is you’re supposed to do with your unique combination of skills and interests? Are you overlooking the commercial value of your passions and talents?

You would be surprised at the backgrounds and interests of some of the people I know who are running information empires.

Have you ever heard of Feng Shui? It’s the Chinese art which believes that how you set up your environment, and where you place certain things in your home, affects the energy around you.

A lot of people use Feng Shui to enhance their luck and even their relationships. So, now that you’re more familiar with the art, have you ever heard of a Feng Shui expert? You’ll be intrigued to learn that someone who started out using Feng Shui for herself has actually managed to build an information empire around it. She has created products and programs to support her clients in using Feng Shui.

Another woman I’ve met has built an information empire around her ability to do handwriting analysis.
If these two women can have information empires based on their individual talents, you can too. Both of them are turning over about £250,000 a year in their businesses. And both of them are working part time – fewer than 30 hours a week.

If they can do that, what’s possible for you?

Another example is a man I met who used to sell men’s clothing. Then he started teaching. He had been very successful using direct mail to promote his clothing store, so he combined his skills and started teaching other men’s wear retailers how to build their business in the same way.

Your expertise was given to you for a reason. What you know matches up with the corresponding need of someone else, somewhere else in the world.

And if that need exists, then what you know has commercial value. That’s for sure. Someone, somewhere, is willing to pay for what you know.

You may not be quite sure yet about where you want to place your focus. You may find that you have a number of choices, that there is almost too much opportunity for you!

But look at your skills and your interests from the point of view of someone who doesn’t have them. How can you turn them into information and products that give you the greatest return for your efforts? The answer to that question will be the first step in laying the foundation of your information empire.

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Turn Your Passions and Talents Into Money

There is Value In Documenting Your Processes

February 1st, 2010

A lot of people have a favourite meal that they like to cook. Because you’ve made it so many times before, when you’re standing in front of the stove stirring the saucepan your mind switches on to autopilot.

But if someone was to ask you how to actually go about making this meal, it might take a little while for you to put into words exactly how to serve up the dish.

The same probably applies to your business. While you know what it takes to operate your business, explaining this to someone else can take some effort.

Many small business owners make the decision to outsource, which is great, but then don’t know where to go from there. Finding the right people to outsource to can be one of those things that can quickly fall into the ‘important but not urgent’ category. It’s so easy to keep putting it off, especially when you’re on lots of short term, pending deadlines. You tell yourself that next week, next month, next year you’ll get around to doing it. It’s just easier to say, “It’s quicker for me to get on with it myself, because it would take me longer to find someone, train them and explain how my business works.”

And actually, I completely agree. It’s very labour-intensive to find and train someone the first time you do it. You need to set up a system, make sure that someone knows how to operate the system and how to complete a task the way that you want it done. It definitely takes time.

One of the challenges for me in starting to find people and outsource work was that there was so much that I just did automatically. It was frustrating even for me to start to put that into a process, to explain all the steps to another person. In my mind, I knew how to do things but it was a different matter trying to articulate this to someone outside the business.

And each business does things their own way, so no matter how experienced your assistant is, they won’t ever have worked for a business like yours before.

To assist with getting external help, what you should be doing is starting to document your processes from day one. This way, when you hire external help you can easily refer them to this document.

And you’ll be surprised when you do this. The first time I did this, I developed a process map for how I sent out a newsletter broadcast, I got such a shock when I realised how many separate activities there were that led to the successful outcome of sending a newsletter, and it helped me identify how much time I was spending on this activity.

I’d like you to think about the systems that you’ve currently got in place in your business. Chances are you don’t have any systems. But don’t worry, that’s okay. You don’t have to have all your systems in place. That’s part of why you’re asking for help. In fact, you might be looking for someone who can help you set up those systems.

One of my team members spent several months working on an operations manual for my business. This means that if something should happen and she couldn’t work for me tomorrow, I now have a manual that documents all the systems in place in my business. I could find someone else and slot them right in where she was. I can also give this manual to new virtual assistants, and they’ll be able to understand how my business operates without needing me to explain it to them. It wouldn’t take hours of my time to train someone else, and I wouldn’t have to be physically doing the work myself while training them.

It can take time and it can take a lot of effort. But once you put that effort in, the benefits are amazing. Your business will grow in ways that you had never anticipated.

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com

There is Value In Documenting Your Processes

Take Credit for Your Past – Add Value to Your Future

January 31st, 2010

You have a lot more skills and experience than you give yourself credit for. I’ll lay odds that you don’t even realize the full extent of your assets and resources. There’s a good chance that you are discounting or undervaluing them. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that all your other talents and other events from your past are irrelevant to what you are doing now.

I recently did an exercise where I had to reflect on all of my past work experience. I realized that one of the jobs I had completely forgotten about was actually very relevant to what I am doing now.

During the gap year before I went to university, I worked on a car sales lot on an American military base in Germany.  I was 18 and was uncomfortable about selling, so I teamed up with one of the sales guys there. We worked together, but I was more like his assistant.

He collected the names of everyone who came in and expressed an interest in a car. These were our leads. I loaded their information into the computer, which was unusual back in the late 80’s -  a lot of companies weren’t even using computers much in business.

We used that information to do direct mailings to those people, letting them know about special offers and things that were happening on the car lot. I basically assisted him in getting more people to come to the dealership.

The net result was that we won a competition that year for the highest number of cars sold at the American bases in Germany.  We won an all expenses paid holiday to the Caribbean.

I had completely blanked that experience as being relevant. But when you think about it, I’ve really been using direct mail to promote business and promote sales for a long, long time.  And those skills and experiences I gained back then, are very much relevant today.

My point is, it doesn’t matter whether you’re 25, 45, or 65. You have had many different life experiences and you possess a multitude of assets that could be useful and relevant in helping you to build your online business.

You’ve likely put together some type of resume in your past to submit to an employer with a job application. On it, you surely included your education background and previous work experience, any recognitions or awards and maybe a couple of references.

There is a lot more to you than that, though.

Have you ever done a resume of your life experiences? Have you ever taken inventory of your existing assets and resources?

I am certain that if you sit down and list out all the things you’ve ever done, there are jobs that you’ve performed in the past that somehow contribute to what you’re doing now.

And, I’m pretty sure that there are skills you’ve learned along the way that you apply in some way to the growth of your business. It could be something that you were just doing as a past hobby.

But I’m positive that you have a lot more relevant experience than you are giving yourself credit for right now.

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Take Credit for Your Past – Add Value to Your Future

Outsourcing – Know when it is time to say goodbye

January 30th, 2010

What if you’re not completely happy with someone you’ve hired to help with your business?

Should you keep them on to see if things improve? And, how long do you wait for that to happen? Is the problem really this person? Is it your system? Is it you?

Here’s what to consider:

• A good rule of thumb is to trust your gut.

Really trust your gut. Chances are that if you’ve been thinking for awhile about letting someone go, you probably had an inkling within the first week that something wasn’t going to work out.

If an employee, assistant, vendor or supplier takes up more time and energy than they are worth, you need to let them go. Dan Kennedy, a marketer who has influenced me quite a bit, has very strong beliefs about running your business autonomously and doing business on your own terms. He says, “If I wake up three mornings in a row thinking about you and I’m not sleeping with you, you’ve got to go.”

As much as you’d like to see the good in everybody and give people a chance, don’t drag things on longer than necessary. Be decisive about pulling the plug when things clearly aren’t working. There’s really no point in continuing down the wrong path.

• Check their attitude.

There will always be an element of human error. If you’ve hired a person who has the right attitude – where they’re proactive, they’re willing, they’re trying – and they’ve just made a mistake, be willing and able to overlook that. The fact is that whenever you’re dealing with people, there’s going to be an element of human error. That’s just a fact of life.

• Evaluate your communication and training systems.

85% of problems can be solved by communication. Evaluate the training you’ve provided. Be clear about your needs, and have a good system for communication in place.

• Examine your own attitudes and beliefs.

Determine your own role before you make your decision to keep someone on or let them go. Ask yourself, “At what level am I creating this?” And be honest with your answer. Have you created an insurmountable barrier in your own mind that they can never break through? If you’ve already written off someone who’s working for you – thinking “they’re no good” – you’re going to get that mirrored back to you. You need to take responsibility for that as well.

• Are they an investment or expense?

The right people will ultimately make and save you more money than they cost you. The wrong people will just cost you. If your time or energy is being drained by an individual, then you may very well need to just cut your losses and move on.  Remember, if it’s not working, it’s not working. The best thing you can do is to set  free. Let them go so they can find where they’re meant to be.

Use these tips to evaluate your team and make the right decision as to when it’s time to say goodbye.

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Outsourcing – Know when it is time to say goodbye