Getting out of the Starting Blocks

Often business owners have great new ideas that they want to implement but just don’t know how to start the project. It may be a new product you want to add, a new website that you want to create or it could be an entirely new business venture. It may be that you are working at capacity and don’t have the time to find and train up new team members.

A few years ago this was my experience. I knew I needed to start doing more online but I didn’t know where to start. It was in the days before facebook and twitter. I was wondering if I should be focusing on my newsletter. Should I be writing more on my blog? Should I be creating new programs to attract new customers or focus on reselling to my existing customer base?

The more I thought about it the longer the list became. I sat at my computer and did some research into different options. The more I read the more confusing it all became. Each person had a different opinion on what to do and how to do it. All I wanted was a clear answer, where was I supposed to start? I knew that all of these things were important and that they were all great ideas, but what was going to make the biggest difference in my business now?

Back to Business Basics

As I pondered on these various strategies I knew there must be a way to simplify things. So I went back to the basics. I remembered there are three primary ways to grow a business. You can attract more leads, you can improve your sales conversions, or you can increase the average value of each order. Suddenly I knew where to start. Here are a few of the steps I followed that you can apply to your business:

• Take the 3 ways of growing your business and see how you feature in each category. Using sales statistics is one of the best ways to measure your level of success in each area. For me I was strong on leads but weak on conversions.

• Look at the areas where you are strong and see if you can pinpoint reasons why you have success in those areas. You could use similar tactics to improve on other areas where you are weak.

• Your weakest rating is where you should focus your attention first. Use this category to formulate your goals and objectives. For example: If your conversion rate is only 10% then make it your goal that you want to increase your conversion rate to at least 20% in the next month.

• Once you have your objective in mind then you can start looking at the tools and tactics you have at your disposal. You can ask yourself: How is my newsletter going to help me convert more leads, how will my blog posts help me convert more leads?

• Focus on just one or two things that will help you improve in that area. Don’t try to do everything at once. Keep it simple and keep your objectives in the forefront of your mind.

With this approach you can be out of the starting blocks in no time. You start off with the big picture of what you want to achieve. When you have that in place then sorting through what will be useful or not becomes much easier.  You are no longer bombarded with a whole bunch of random ideas. Rather you can place each one into a category where it will help you move one step closer to achieving your goals.

Bernadette Doyle created Client Magnets to help self-employed people solve one of their biggest business problems: attract a steady stream of clients www.clientmagnets.com. Register FREE for access to her Stepping Up teleseminar series

I say that for your business journey to reach a successful destination in the most efficient and effective manner possible, it’s all about taking a shortcut. The whole idea is to save yourself valuable time on the way to realizing your goals.

Learning all you can from the resources available to you and investing in the right mentors, the right education and the right products is like taking a shortcut to your business success. Rather than randomly trying this and implementing that, you will save time and make more money by learning from those who already have the information you’re looking for.

Why recreate the wheel when someone else has already invented it?

One of the best shortcuts you can take is to connect yourself with successful business people who are already getting the results you want to achieve. They’ve been there, done that and know what works and what doesn’t. They are a vault of valuable information and resources that can swiftly propel you down that road to success.

A wise person once told me that the road to success is like a combination lock. If you don’t have the combination, that road can be long – and expensive. All you need is the combination that unlocks that vault.

Those people who already know how to do something you want to do have the combination. They can unlock all the information you need access to. It makes more sense for you to pay them to give you the shortcuts than to spend months or years trying to figure it out on your own.

Time and time again, I invest in getting the combination secrets from the people who know them. I defy you to show me one successful person who doesn’t continually invest in themselves and their education.

Taking a shortcut isn’t cheating; you still need to pay to find out what the secrets are. This will require you to step up a bit and make both psychological and financial commitments and investments.

I had to do this a number of  years ago, when I invested $1,000 – which I thought an exorbitant amount of money at the time – to learn a special technique for launching new products.  Six months later I launched a product following the techniques I learned from that investment, and made more than $49,000 in sales.

Stepping up and paying for that shortcut really does pay off.

You simply need to get yourself through the psychological barriers that stop you from going down that path. You have to convince yourself that there is a shortcut to your goals, but that like everything that is worthwhile, it comes with a price.

You will discover that you will earn so much more revenue as a direct result of paying for that shortcut.

Bernadette Doyle created Client Magnets to help self-employed people solve one of their biggest business problems: attract a steady stream of clients www.clientmagnets.com. Register FREE for access to her Stepping Up teleseminar series

Whether you’re thinking of starting a high-end coaching program, marketing a new product or putting together a conference, the most valuable thing you can do for yourself is to give yourself permission to succeed. The people who achieve the most in life aren’t stronger than you, or smarter than you; they succeed because they give themselves permission to try.

Self-Doubt is Common, and Deadly To Your Success
Self-doubt isn’t an unusual problem to face when we begin new projects, or undertake new endeavors. When we try something for the first time, there’s always the question of failure. Sometimes people even wonder if they have a right to try what they’re trying, as though only other people can undertake massive projects.

One of the best things you can do for yourself is give yourself permission to try the big things you want to try. Most people know a lot more than they think they know, and have a great position from which to strike forth and begin a new endeavor.

For example, if you’ve been in your business for ten years and have built your business from the ground up, you’re absolutely qualified to talk to people about how to build a business like yours, or how to operate in your niche. The accumulated experience of those years is your qualification. You don’t have to be a coach or a guru to offer something valuable; in many cases, your personal experience is the most valuable thing you can share.

Successful People are Ordinary People Too
It’s important to understand that successful people aren’t magical, or special in some way that you’re not. Successful people are ordinary people, too. Successful people typically have talent and know-how, but the key factor that sets them apart is a willingness to actually do the things they do; not a unique qualification or special asset that other people don’t possess.

For me, joining Yanik Silver’s mastermind group was extremely valuable, because it quickly became clear that Yanik, one of the most successful people in his field, is just an ordinary person. He’s got a lot of talent and know-how, but he’s still a flesh-and-blood human like the rest of us. Getting to know Yanik was the key to realizing that an ordinary person can do wildly successful things, such as starting a high-end coaching program or organizing huge events.

Don’t make excuses to avoid starting your new projects. Don’t wait until tomorrow, or next week; don’t wait until you’ve taken that class or landed that big client.

These are all excuses that self-doubt uses to prevent you from succeeding. Do yourself the biggest favor of all: give yourself permission to try the important things. It doesn’t matter if you’re just an ‘ordinary person.’ We’re all ordinary people. It’s time for you to really start creating your own success!

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

Marketing Mastermind Call:

Boost Your Speaking Sales with “The Invisible Close”

Tuesday, 27th July, 2010

8:00pm UK Time (3pm EASTERN, 12 noon PACIFIC)

It’s a disservice to let interested consumers walk away without securing the benefit of your fabulous products or services. They came to buy from you. Give them what they need to say “YES!”

Join me and my guest Lisa Sasevich, the “The Queen of Sales Conversion, for this action-packed call where we will be covering…

• Exponentially grow your platform sales using Irresistible Offers

• Get massive results without being “salesy”

• Maximize your profits with no marketing budget!

• Simple, no-cost things you can do to instantly double or triple your sales conversion.

• The secrets to inspiring someone to act now…without being pushy or “salesy”!

• How to craft your “Irresistible Offer” to support Big Sales and your Big Life!

• And most important, how to share the wealth of your wonderful and unique talents and receive wealth in return!

This call is FREE for my hundreds of Marketing Mastermind and Stepping UP! members. They also get the CD and transcript of this call at no extra charge, plus a tonne of other member benefits – such as access to our online members forum.

Not a member?  Then click here to join the Marketing Mastermind Group today so you can take advantage of this call and all the other member goodies each and every month.

I look forward to “meeting” you on our call.

Best Wishes
Bernadette Doyle
www.clientmagnets.com

PS – Even if you can’t make the call, all Mastermind members receive a FREE CD of the call as well as a digital version of the audio and transcript! Take advantage now.

There’s a very big difference between those two. If you’re only setting your goals according to what you think you should get, you are probably missing out on so much potential for your business.

Here’s one way you can figure out if you’re setting your goals too low. If I were to sit down with you in a coaching session and ask, “Tell me how much money you want to make this year,” how would you respond?

If your answer is vague or your answer is more in the form of a question, your goals are more in line with what you think you should get rather than what you want to make.

When you set a vision for your business, get this kind of thinking completely out of your head. The potential for your business is so far greater than you could perceive if you’re only looking at it from what you think you can do or what you think you have to do.

One way to avoid getting caught up in this mess is to do projects that you want to do; not projects that you think you should do because they might be the right way to launch a program or sell something.

Doing business this way will afford you the life you think you should have – living in a moderate home, making good money while working 6 days a week, always thinking about but rarely going on a real vacation.

Your goals have to be based around what you truly want. When you truly want something, you have what is referred to in Think and Grow Rich as a burning desire. If you don’t have a burning desire to achieve your goals, it is not going to be enough.

Here’s why that burning desire is so important. When you’re setting after something that you haven’t had previously – something that is a big, daring goal for you – you’re going to hit challenges. You’re going to hit obstacles because anything you want and don’t have is outside of your comfort zone.

On your way to achieving the things that are outside of your comfort zone, you’re going to be stretched. That’s the moment when you will be most tempted to give up, unless you have a really strong burning desire.

This desire, that yearning for something more, is like your higher mind calling you to your true potential.

So, when you’re setting your goals – both revenue goals and lifestyle goals – consider what it is that you truly want.

The bigger house? The 3-day work-week? The 3-month dream vacation?

If these are the goals you truly want, set them. Once you name what you want to achieve, once you know what is your burning desire, we can figure out a way for you to achieve 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

They had to take a step forward before any light went on.

This is quite the opposite of how people really want to move forward. Most of us prefer to “see the light” before we take the next step. We want to know where we are going, and see all the steps illuminated and lined up, so that we can go from point A to point B, B to C, C to D, D to E and so on.

But the truth is, that is not really how we move forward. The truth is that often, only the first step you take will be visible. The only way to see the second step is for you to be one- hundred percent wholly committed to taking step one.

That is truly what change is like. There’s no denying that change is uncomfortable, but if you want to accomplish your goals, you’re going to have to step up, move forward and make changes as you go along. The more comfortable you get at doing that, the more stepping up will be a constant experience in your life.

So, if you are serious about doubling or tripling your income, for example, you could go to Vegas or play the lottery, but the real way to accomplish your goal involves doing some things that up until now, you’ve been resisting.

You may not even realize that you’ve been unwilling or unable to make changes. It’s amazing how creative people can be at avoiding change.

But, whether you want to make ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million, or ten million, whatever the level or the goal, the process is exactly the same

In order to affect any kind of change, in your life or in your business, you have to take the first step without being one-hundred percent certain about where your foot is going to land.

That takes courage, and it takes faith. That is what change requires.

Commit one-hundred percent to taking step one. You don’t need to know what’s going to happen after step one if you never get there. You will only know what happens next when you take that step. You won’t ever get there if you keep asking questions.

You’ve got to act, and jump right in with both feet, even when you don’t know where that jump will land you.

Once you master this process of change, and just keep stepping through it, you will find yourself more and more comfortable with moving forward without knowing where the next step leads.

As you find the courage to take one step after another, I promise, things are going to change for you.

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

Your support is like scaffolding. It’s the first thing that’s needed when a building is going up. And it’s the first thing you need to help you grow your business.

There are several different types of support structures that you can put in place. These are the things that will protect you and help you to focus on your business.  With these 5 support structures in place, you will be ready to grow your business to new heights.

1.  Set Boundaries… It can be very useful to set boundaries in your client relationships.

Do clients ring you whenever they like and expect you to drop everything for them? If that’s the case, you can’t have the time and energy you need to focus on working on your business. You need to have some boundaries in place, where you allot certain times for responding to clients’ calls.

2.  Manage Your Time On Your Terms … You can be so much more productive if you set definite times for when you are working and when you are not working.

For example, I work three days a week. Everyone in my house knows when I’m working, so they don’t interrupt me. People don’t ring me during those hours. If they do, I won’t answer the phone And when I’m in my time off, I’m not working. These are really clear structures that I adhere to.

3.  Work With A Schedule… This is be a great way to stay on track and focused on getting things done.

Put everything that you need to accomplish on your calendar. Make sure to block out enough time for the task, and stick to it. Whether it’s a meeting, a phone call, working on your blog – include it in your schedule. When you see that each item has its own set block of time, you will be able to focus more clearly. This is amazingly helpful in keeping from feeling overwhelmed.

4.  Build A Team… If you are mired down in day-to-day tasks that keep you from working on your business, consider hiring an administrative assistant or virtual assistant.

You may think of this as an expense that you can’t afford. Reverse that line of thought and consider it as an investment instead. By delegating the routine tasks to an assistant, you will free yourself to do the work that will bring in clients and grow your business.

5.  Get Emotional Support… Encouragement and support from the people in your personal life goes a long way toward keeping you motivated in your business.

Perhaps your partner is busy, or your family doesn’t understand what you are doing. If the people close to you don’t offer enough inspiration and support, you may begin to feel frustrated and become less productive.

Should this happen to you, look to other sources for the motivation and encouragement that you need. A mastermind group or other similar group of like-minded people will boost your confidence and help you in countless ways. In addition to emotional support, they can offer specific business knowledge and advice.

So consider all of the structures that can support you as your business grows. It’s critical to have these in place so that you can be productive and concentrate on your talents and expertise.

In other articles, I’ve discussed ways to reach your ideal client abundance, including aligning your product with the market, targeting those prospects who have raised their hands with interest, and converting those raised hands to incoming cash.

Once you have mastered all of these principles, you’ll probably find the next step to be a welcome one.

Once the clients are rolling in, you might find yourself becoming haggard, stretched too thin, stressed, and wondering if you really wanted what you were wishing for.  This is not your signal to back off.  It’s your signal to systematize.

Systematizing involves delegation and outsourcing, but more importantly, it requires using your creative skills and resources to design a method for getting things done.  All aspects of your business should not be dependent on you.  If they are, something is certain to suffer.

I know the benefits of systemizing first hand.  I once wrote, formatted, and emailed my newsletter all on my own.  I didn’t enjoy it as much as other tasks necessary to my business, but I had to do it.  That’s what I had convinced myself, until…

I realized that I could be spending my time in different facets of my business – ones that I would enjoy more, and that would better showcase my personal talents.

When I decided to recruit other people to my team, to format the newsletter from archives and send it to my readers, I realized a new level of accomplishment.  I could write the personal newsletter introduction in ten minutes.  My new team members could then do the rest.  I found myself liberated from an aspect of my business that was holding me back from my true calling.  Because the newsletter was less dependent on me, I no longer felt that it was holding me back.

It’s rare that every aspect of a business aligns with the gifts of its proprietor.  Some people thrive as prudent business managers, other shine in public relations, and others revel in the creative process.  Success doesn’t involve developing the skills to be a one-man-band, but in pooling resources to get things accomplished more efficiently.

Here are a few points to keep in mind when systematizing your own business:

• Don’t rush to systematize. Work all the bugs out of your products, marketing, communications, and conversion processes first.  Shortcomings will not disappear inside of a system, but will poison the rest of the process.

• You might think you can do it all, but consider how much better your business could be if you concentrated on your strengths. When different people’s gifts are pooled together, the result is the dynamic sum of those talents.

• Choose an aspect of your business that you dislike. Find a person, or a team, who specializes in that task.  Results will improve, and you can concentrate on what you do best.

• Identify your strengths. Survey the aspects of your business that you can delegate so that you can allow more time to use your talents to their highest degree.

• Be creative about ways to automate your business. Focus on how to arrive at the highest quality result in the most efficient way.  Proven business models can help, but don’t forget your own freedom to innovate.

• Don’t sweat the small stuff. You can find people to do that for you.

As you become more successful, there will be a call for your business to become less dependent on you.  This conversion in thinking can seem difficult at first, but if you honestly examine your strengths and choose team members who share your vision (through differently-colored glasses), you’ll not only systematize your business, but you’ll maximize what that business can do for you.

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