If you’ve answered this question with a round number, like, $100,000, or $1,000,000, or an, “I don’t know,” you don’t have a goal, you have a wish.  It’s imperative that you know your goal income numbers, specifically.  You must know how much you have to net today, this week, and this month in order to land the yearly salary that will support the lifestyle that you desire.

Here are some get-specific Millionaire Mindset methods:

• What would you like to do in the next year? Move?  Take your dream vacation?  Send a child to college?  Hire someone to manage all of that stuff for you?  Or make it possible for your spouse to leave his or her job to come to work for you?

Don’t forget the smaller costs that go along with each large goal, like the cost of providing your newest employee with a company car and fringe benefits, travel costs, tuition, and your existing lifestyle costs.  Don’t estimate.  Make phone calls.  Get current pricing on airfare, college tuition, health care, or whatever bills you’ll have to foot.  Write it down…you’re going to need it.

• Now that you’ve done the addition, do the division. Break out the calculator and find out how much you’ll need to net in a month, a week, and a day.  This will give you a manageable and reachable goal path.

Lots of people say they want to be millionaires.  But if you ask them how much they need to make this afternoon to stay on track for that wish, you’ll likely be met with a dumbfounded look.  Once this step is completed, you will be distinctly separate from those with a wishing frame of mind.

• Challenge yourself in the pursuit of your income goal. If that means working an extra 30 minutes to meet your daily income goal, do it.  If that means negotiating on a deal, even if you’re not comfortable with negotiation, then do it.

When you know how much money you need to earn this week, in pursuit of the big goal, you’ll be encouraged to do the things that aren’t so desirable.  Every time you challenge the boundaries of your comfort zone, those boundaries will soften, and your comfort zone will grow.

A goal like, “I want to make a million bucks this year,” will never incite you to rewrite an email or to hold firm on your retail price for an item.  But if your goal is, “I need to clear another $50 today to stay on track,” you’ll push right through, because you will connect those little tasks with your big goals for yourself, your family, and your lifestyle.

• Successful business people always know their numbers. They rifle off their conversion rates, costs, costs of sale, and precise percentage profits.  Businesspeople who don’t know are probably losing money.

• If the thought of calculating, relating to, or speaking about numbers frightens you, then hire a business manager to do it for you.  Investing all of your energy in working in your business, without working on your business, will be detrimental to your income goal.

• The numbers might be simple now, but if your goal is to make a million dollars, or any other impressive number, you’ll have to expect the money flow, in both directions, to become more complicated.  Adopt a know-your-numbers attitude now, rather than jumping into a sea of number soup when your chances of drowning are high.

In short, know how much money you need to make.  Then know how much money you need to make this week in order to reach that goal.  Name it, and then claim it!

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

One of the boys rushes around frantically with a net trying to catch the birds. Every time he gets close, the birds fly away. There’s lots of squawking, and feathers flying. The other boy stands quietly, holding out some birdseed.

One boy is trying very hard, and is probably exhausted, while the other hardly seems to be working at all.

Which one will get the results he’s looking for?

Instinctively you know it’s the boy with the birdseed who will be more effective, and a lot less sweaty.

When it comes to marketing and trying to attract clients, you want to act more like that second boy. Unfortunately, though, most people tend to act more like the first.

A lot of the things you might be doing, that are considered to be traditional marketing techniques, might actually be counterproductive. You could well be chasing people away.

Effective marketing techniques used on the wrong market will only provoke resistance, and build defensiveness. You could be running after people, figuratively speaking, with barrages of email, rounds of cold calls and direct mailings, and quite possibly be achieving the exact opposite of what you want.

For example, no matter how effective cold-calling may be for me or someone else, if you detest doing it, your negativity will prevent it from being effective for you.

Even if you are using marketing techniques that are proven to attract clients, if you do them with the negative energy of chasing – if you give off the sense that you are giving simply in order to get – you will end up like the boy who is chasing the birds. Tired and without any bird in the hand.

You want to break down the barriers between you and your prospective clients, not create more of them.

Make sure that the things you are doing marketing-wise, both online and offline, will attract clients to your business. Doing what everyone says is the right thing, but doing it with the wrong energy, won’t produce results.  Do the things that feel right to you. That will bring the positive energy into your marketing, and your clients will feel it.

You’ll know when you’re being a client magnet because it will feel easy. It should feel enjoyable, and you will have an abundance of clients.

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

You are the only person on earth who can answer that question. But, the catch is, you have to answer honestly. There is no point in trying to fool yourself.

Somewhere inside of you, do you know that you could be playing a bigger game, reaching more people, raising your bar, thinking bigger, and getting bigger results? If these feelings resonate with you, you have to be honest with yourself about whether or not you’ve been playing small.

I had to do this myself some time ago. I realized that I had achieved a good deal of business success by most people’s standards.  But, I also knew that I had been playing it safe, that I hadn’t been putting it all on the line as I had in earlier years of my business. I had become a little bit complacent.

So, I made the decision to step up.

If you discover that you have indeed been playing it safe, the first thing you must do is make a decision. Make the decision to step up.

If you want to reap the huge rewards, you need to take the big risks. You need to make that leap of faith.

I highly recommend that you read Napoleon Hill’s book, Think and Grow Rich, to help you make this decision to step up. It will give you the insight and inspiration to help you recapture that feeling of burning desire.

How long has it been since you’ve really felt a burning desire to do anything? Not just a desire, but a burning desire.

Last year, that feeling inspired me to set a goal for myself – to make a half million dollars from a single project. I knew how to make that much money working all year, but I had never made that much from a single project before.

I ended up exceeding my goal by $130,000.

Focus on the aspects of your business that truly excite and inspire you.  Think about the goals you’d most like to achieve – the ones that might seem more like wishful thinking to someone else – but that you have a burning desire to accomplish. If you’re willing to set those big goals, then you must be willing to step up and do what it takes to achieve them.

The results you want to achieve are within your reach. In order for you to reach the fruit of the tree, you’ve got to make the decision to step up and go out on a limb.

—–

Bernadette Doyle is a marketing specialist who helps entrepreneurs become client magnets and attract a steady stream of their ideal clients. Read about her amazing new programme, Stepping Up! http://www.clientmagnets.com/steppingup

Do you have as much time off as you want? Again, be honest. You either do or you don’t.

Are you having as much fun as you want? Are you doing big, bold things that really excite you?

Are you living the lifestyle you want?

If you’ve answered “no” to any of these questions, don’t be disheartened. Just decide to do what you need to do to change your answers to “yes.”

Decide is the key word.

The very first thing you need to do is make your decision. Achieving your goals – making the money you want, having the time off you want, living the lifestyle you want – everything starts with the decisions that you make right here and now.

Decide what your goals are. Name and define them, so that you are clear about what you’re going after. If you want to spend more time with your family, hire a nanny, get a housekeeper, or bring on a personal assistant so you can have more free time, make the decision to make these things happen.

Once you decide to name your goals, your next decision is how to achieve them. The means and methods you implement to grow your business are external decisions. They are obvious and noticeable. Deciding to create a product, do a promotion to your mailing list or conduct a teleseminar are examples of outward decisions you can make to help you accomplish your goals.

But, even before you can decide how to go about achieving your goals, you have a bigger decision to make, one that is much less noticeable.

This is an inward or internal decision, and it’s an equally big part of achieving your goals.  It’s about daring to dream the things that you once believed you didn’t deserve.

You have to make the decision that you do deserve them.

Give yourself permission to be daring; to dream bigger and think bigger. Decide that you deserve to respond “yes” to every one of those earlier questions.

You are entitled to make as much money as you want. You are at liberty to take as much time off and have as much fun as you want.

You have to decide that you deserve to live the lifestyle you want.

Decision is the key.

Once you clearly decide to make your business and your life what you want them to be, you will take the first big step toward achieving your dreams.

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

I love this quote. It’s true that all of the knowledge, skill and expertise in the world won’t make you money and turn your vision into reality unless you have an actual plan for how to use them.

Before you can formulate your plan, however, you need to start first with your vision. You have to really see where you want your business to go.

The following questions will help you to plan to reach your business goals by first giving you a clear mental image of what those goals are.

How much money do you want to make?

Name your revenue goal for this year. You have to put a figure on it. When you voice that goal, don’t phrase it in the form of a question. You’re not asking someone’s permission to make that money. State, out loud, what you want to make.

If that figure is in your head, if it’s in your heart, and if it’s something you’ve been dreaming of, it’s absolutely achievable. Doreen Virtue says that God doesn’t give us our dreams without the ability to make them real.

So whatever the figure is, you have to name it to claim it.

Rather than naming a general, round figure – 100,000, a quarter-of-a million, or a million -  be more specific.  Round figures aren’t real enough for you.  Calculate what your dream life would cost you, and then cost it out. It’s rarely going to be a round number. So, get really clear on your revenue goals.

What kind of lifestyle do you want to live?

Think about your lifestyle goals. How much do you want to be working? For example, do you want to take extended vacations and not work for a couple of months?

I decided last year that I didn’t want to work more than three days a week. And now, I don’t. There are plenty of things that will test your decision. You have to decide what’s right for you, and get it down on paper. Remember, the point is to visualize how you want things to be.

Will your business make a significant impact?

Finally, your vision is probably not solely about serving yourself. I’m willing to bet that it’s not only about money and a nice lifestyle, although these are great to have.

I believe that all of us are here to make a difference.

What are your impact goals? Know who the people are that you want to serve and what contribution you want to make. What do you want to be remembered for?

Mapping out your vision of your business, in your mind’s eye and on paper, will give you a good idea of what you want your business to look like.

The mental image and visual reinforcement will help you to develop a plan for making your vision a reality.

Bernadette Doyle is a marketing specialist who helps entrepreneurs become client magnets and attract a steady stream of their ideal clients. She publishes a free, weekly newsletter for trainers, speakers, coaches, consultants, complementary therapists and solo professionals. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Have you ever heard the saying that games are won and lost in the dressing room? Any sports coach can tell you, it doesn’t always boil down to the performance on the field; it’s about that critical time in the dressing room before the game or even during the opening plays. It’s about attitude and what it means going forward.

Well, we’re in the dressing room now, and it’s time to hit the field. Are you ready, or have you set yourself up for a loss before the first play?

It’s easy to get discouraged about your prospects when you’re listening to the news or reading the newspaper articles on today’s economic climate. But is that news causing you to forfeit the game? Certainly we can’t ignore the news, but don’t use it as justification to stop investing in yourself, to stop growing and developing or to stop taking risks in business.

My bet for the upcoming game is that there is a gap forming. Those who are giving up and those who are determined to succeed. And with each passing day, that gap is widening. So you need to determine which side you prefer. Those who are giving up before the game starts or those who are determined to win.

If you go forward with a winning attitude, one where you say “Yes, the game is changing, but I’ll stay alert, adjust my strategy and win” you’re going to be fine. That’s the game changer – your attitude.

We are all facing challenges. Some businesses may fail, others flourish and others may just fail to flourish. You need to take stock of your situation and decide now if you’re going to flourish. And when you do that, when you make that decision, you’re going to set yourself up so that you play the best darn game that you have played in years.

When you take this step, this decision to succeed – do it with a goal in my mind. Give yourself a specific point spread to win the game. Don’t hold back and play it safe. It’s one thing to say you’re going to win, but quite another to say you’re going to win the game by five goals.

Now, that goal may seem out of reach and may even seem scary. That’s not a bad thing, a goal should stretch you and create just a bit of uncertainty. It’s that uncertainty that will help you grow into your goal over the next year. It’s what is going to push you to succeed and create the path to success.

What’s stopping you from setting the goal? Is it the fear that you’re not going to reach it? What happens if you don’t make your goal, whether it is financial or the growth of your business or the number of clients you gain? Well, what’s happened is that you’ve come closer to success than you would have if you hadn’t set the goal in the first place! Don’t use this as an excuse to not reach your target or to set one that’s too safe. But set a goal that’s going to lead you to win, and win big.

So, we’re here, in the dressing room. Now’s the time – decide right here, right now that you’re going to win the game and decide by how much you’re going to win.

Bernadette Doyle publishes a free weekly Client Magnets newsletter. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, then get your free tips now at www.clientmagnets.com

Now consider your business – which area would make more sense to focus on for building the business?  The fertile ground or the shady spot?  Of course, it makes more sense to build sales on fertile ground, the area that’s ready, willing and able to take on your efforts.  But how do you find the fertile ground in business?

Building a list of potential clients, people who are open and receptive to buying your product or service, is simply identifying the fertile ground of your business.  But, just like the first steps toward planting a garden are the most labor intensive, so it goes for your business.  But of course, at the start is the most important time to start building the list.

Certainly if you’re just getting started in your business you need to focus on the activities that bring in the revenue, but this is an instance in which you need to think long term.  For those of us with smaller businesses, and for those of us flying solo, we tend to focus on the “time is money” issue.  This is one area in which at first it will seem like too much effort for too little return, but we need to think not only for the long term, but take a more multi-dimensional approach.

Think about who would be on your list.  Obviously someone who’s shown some interest in what you’re selling.  So, wouldn’t it be safe to assume that they’re going to be more receptive to a marketing effort if they’ve already shown a level of interest?  It would certainly make more sense to focus on the list rather than a more ‘shot in the dark’ approach of cold calling.

So, of course, list building is essential for focusing your selling efforts, but it’s also going to give you an insurance policy for your business.  Who among us hasn’t had a lean patch in their sales?  It happens to the best of us.  With your potential client list, you have the opportunity to reach out and make a quick sale to a whole group of people who you know, just by the fact that they’re on your list, are receptive to your product.  It’s nice to have that to fall back on in difficult times.

Not only can your list get you through a dry spell, but it offers the seeds for launching your next product or your next offer.  It’s what we call the low hanging fruit, in keeping with the planting theme of the day.  Which would you rather pick the fruit that’s easy to reach, or the fruit in which you’re going to have to put more effort into the task?  It’s the same fruit, mind you – just one happens to be less labor intensive.

If you’ve not yet started building a list, I suggest you begin immediately, and if you have a list, keep it growing.  Just like planting, it may not always pay off right away, but it will down the road.  And just like planting, you’ll wish you had started sooner!

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

If you’ve got all of that and you’re still not getting enough real business, enough paying clients, you need to focus more on your conversion process.

A prospective client is not going to magically convert into a paying client without your doing something to make that happen. There are actually quite a few things you need to be doing to help with that transformation.

Be more upfront about asking people for their business. Ask more people to give you money. Not a loan, not begging. Ask more people to spend money with you, whether directly in a conversation, through an email promotion, or by sending traffic to a page on your website where you’re selling something. If you’re only asking five or ten people a day for money, you can’t be surprised that you’re not getting the paying business that you want.

Maneuver yourself into a position where you’re seen as an expert; where people know about you, and your reputation precedes you. As a result, you will get people automatically seeking you out as an expert.

Have more conversations with more people. The simplest way to move someone from being an interested prospect to a paying playing client is to talk to them, either face-to-face or over the phone. Make time for those one-to-one conversations, especially in the beginning. It is in these one-to-one interactions that you can surface every type of objection, engage with clients and continue working with them.

Be willing to do whatever it takes to get your prospect to see the value. If you truly believe in the value of your service or your product, if you think it’s the best thing ever and that more people should be using it, what are you willing to do to help them use it?

Listen to what your prospect is saying. Before you go into your pitch, determine their current situation, their needs and their desired end result. Only then can you offer a solution that is of value to them. Once they know your value, they’ll be willing to pay for it.

Don’t let obstacles or excuses stand in your way. If the website isn’t ready or something else still needs to be done, you can still focus on talking with prospects and converting them to clients.  Do what you can, with what you’ve got, from where you are.

Have a strong follow-up system in place. Know what your process for following up with prospects is.

Vary the media you use in your follow-up process. Use combinations of email, phone calls, cards and text messaging to keep contact with clients fresh.

Add one more step to your follow-up process. If you’ve tried every medium to follow-up with a prospect, try one more thing, one more time, before you give up. Don’t think you’re being a pest, either. Most qualified, serious prospects won’t feel that way about you if you follow up the right way.

Think of your webpage or print sales material as your personal 24/7 salesperson. Make sure all the information is in place to help prospects make the decision to do business with you.

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

Sounds simple enough, but the truth is that people often miss opportunities because they just don’t see them. And, one of the reasons they don’t see them is that they’ve become stagnant in their business. They are stuck in some type of rut.

And they’ll remain in that rut until they get to the point of near desperation. The point where they need to find opportunities to grow their business now because the cash flow has already dried up.

I want you to see those new opportunities to expand your business and make more money before you are at the point where you are struggling.

If you feel stagnant, like things are drying up around you, it’s time to get creative and think outside the box. If you’re stuck in a pattern of behavior where you’re just doing the same thing over and over and getting the same old results – results that you don’t want – you need to refocus.

Maybe all you really need to do is just get out of your office. If you’re stuck in the office doing drudge tasks that someone said you need to do, but all the while you’re thinking of the other things that you ought to be doing, you are not getting anywhere. You’re not giving the things you are doing their due attention. So, just stop doing them. It’s like that old saying – If you find yourself in a hole just stop digging.

Once you stop, you will have created enough space to see the opportunity for the growth you want to achieve. And, it will be right in front of you. You simply need to stop doing what is no longer effective.

You also need to have a certain mindset to make this work. I know that there are moments when you are open to suggestion and absorb new information like a sponge. There are also moments when you think, “I can’t do that. That won’t work. That doesn’t apply to me.”

It’s so critical that you recognize “that-won’t-work” thinking.

If you find that you are often saying, “That won’t work. That won’t work,”
recognize that this is a type of a rut that you’re in. Say to yourself instead, “I can’t see how to make this work right now. But I trust that it does work. How can I make this work?”

Another great way to refocus and think outside the box to see opportunities is to belong to mastermind groups. Odds are that many of the members will have had the same questions or problems that you do, and have already found answers that they are more than happy to share with you. Being surrounded by like-minded people who want to succeed is a great way for you to stay aware of the greater potential that you know you are capable of.

I encourage you to use interactive elements like these groups and the online forums to open up your eyes to new ideas and ways of thinking.

Sometimes asking for help can make you feel a little bit defensive or lacking in confidence. But forums and mastermind groups provide a tremendous spirit of support and sharing. No one is going to knock you there.

If you recast your approach, you’ll increase your confidence in your ability to create new opportunities and recognize the opportunities that are already there:

*Refocus your attention

*Effect a change in your habits

*Change your mindset

*Ask questions

*Stop doing the things that are no longer effective

*Think outside the box

Even if things are going great in your business, always keep your eyes and mind open to new opportunities. If you do, growth and cash flow will never again be a problem.

A Great List is a Long-Term Asset
You may have already made the mistake many entrepreneurs do of being short-sighted about your list. You may say to yourself, “Yes, I have thousands of names on my list now, but only the ones who bought this month are important.”

Developing and working with a list of prospects is a long-term process. Someone may raise their hand today and say, “Tell me more” but not buy until later. That interest they’ve expressed is still a valuable asset for your business.

You’ll continue to work with them and they’ll buy. By doing so, you’re building a structure that will sustain your business long-term. That business, stretched out over time, is what allows you to grow.

Here’s how it can be for you, once you’ve invested the time and effort to build your list:  Suppose you develop a seminar to serve a specific need. Over time, your hard work growing your list and continuing to offer them your product pays off. Each seminar gains a little more interest from your list until, finally, you announce a seminar and it sells out immediately.

Wouldn’t that be a fantastic place to be? That type of customer response takes time to develop, but it’s well worth it. A loyal base of customers who look forward to your next product is a fabulous asset.

When you’ve built trust with your list, and they’re eager to hear what you’ve got to offer, you can return again and again to the same people to sell products. You’ve taken the time to learn what the people on your list need, and you’ve developed products to meet that need. That’s when growth really becomes automatic.

What Are You Willing to Invest?
And so, we return to our original question: “What are you willing to invest to build your list?” Are you willing to put in the hard work, even when it seems as though no one is paying attention? Do you have a long-term view of what your list can bring to your business?

If you’re discouraged now because it doesn’t seem as though the people on your list are responding, dig deeper. If your list is too small, it may take a financial investment to grow your list by buying someone else’s.

If you’re not in a financial situation to do that, you must invest the time to find ways to increase your list. The investment you make, whether in time or money, will pay off if you keep at it. What feels like spade work now is going to reap big rewards. The secret is to keep at it.

It takes time to communicate effectively with the people who need your products.  It’s hard work to find ways to break into new markets and to develop new products. Learning what the people on your list need and creating those solutions isn’t always easy.

There’s nothing, however, quite like knowing there are people waiting for your next product. You can be in that position by deciding to invest whatever it takes to build the kind of list that will sustain your business long-term.