Have you ever made a commitment that didn’t stick? Perhaps you resolved to begin a new exercise regime but stopped it after week one. You may have even resolved to draw in more clients, but didn’t invest in yourself to learn about the latest marketing or networking techniques. Maybe you even ... Views: 1691
Given that the average new entrepreneur puts in over 60 hours per week and has family responsibilities to consider, you may experience goal conflicts in your life. This conflict could be a recipe for burnout if you’re unclear about your direction and what it takes to get there.
First, it ... Views: 3502
Frequently, small business owners are excited to build their business, but often have lulls in their motivation. What most people don’t realize is that you derive your motivation from your natural hardwiring. When you create awareness about your natural hardwiring, you will be able to tell ... Views: 3297
The other day, I was looking all over the house for my brand new pair of shoes. I checked the usual places, searched the unusual places, and even rummaged through unexpected places. Eventually, I found them underneath a chair where they lay waiting for me to find them again. Of course, if I ... Views: 977
Anyone who knows me, knows I ask a lot of questions. Thankfully, my clients have said they appreciate it because I seek to understand and pose questions that help generate ideas.
I guess I’ve been curious all of my life. When I was little, I remember spotting a mound of ants. I noticed ... Views: 1072
With an estimated 495,000 new businesses starting up each month, new entrepreneurs are searching for financing answers.
The key to financing a start-up business is to first understand your business start-up expenses and cash flow cycle. Start-up costs include capital expenditures (hard ... Views: 1244
There are many online marketing strategies and E-zines can be your ticket to attracting more clients. An E-zine or E-newsletter is simply an online magazine or newsletter. But there’s more than just putting words to an email and pressing the “send” button.
It takes more than just selecting ... Views: 950
There are a number of elements to consider when setting up a business, but time and time again I see entrepreneurs struggling with the very thing that describes how their business will create, deliver and capture value: their business model. According to Wikipedia, “[t]he term business model ... Views: 1546
The use of strategic alliances or joint ventures has rapidly become popular with a growing number of small business owners. Strategic alliances can be formal or informal where two independent small businesses with the same goals coordinate their efforts often leveraging their marketing efforts ... Views: 1024
The Architect of Your Destiny is Yourself
How do you get to the next level? This is a question I often get from the entrepreneurs I work with. Whether it is a five figure entrepreneur who wants to go to six figures or six to seven figures, I always think of some of the quotes of the wise ... Views: 2442
There it is – you just made the decision to add speaking to your marketing mix so you get in front of your ideal prospects. You work hard at securing your first gig and are thrilled because you have your first real shot at getting in front of a room filled with your ideal prospects.
So, you ... Views: 1034
There are a variety of ways to create demand for your products and services. Most new entrepreneurs forget the defining elements that start creating demand. Try these elements with their corresponding action steps to increase interest in your products/services.
1. Be very clear on your ... Views: 5335
The failure rate of organizational change initiatives is estimated between 50 to 70 percent. Many common reasons for this failure rate include lack of organizational infrastructure, unclear direction and focus, lack of resources, and underdeveloped training, and sustainability strategies. So ... Views: 3897
The failure rate of organizational change initiatives is estimated between 50 to 70 percent. Many common reasons for this failure rate include lack of organizational infrastructure, unclear direction and focus, lack of resources, and underdeveloped training, and sustainability strategies. So ... Views: 3897
The concept of the Mastermind was made famous by Napoleon Hill about 100 years ago. In his classic book, "Think and Grow Rich", he wrote about the Mastermind principle as "the coordination of knowledge and effort of two or more people, who work toward a definite purpose, in the spirit of ... Views: 3432
Approximately 80 percent of people never set goals for themselves. Even more surprising, of the 20 percent of the population that does set goals, roughly 70 percent fail to achieve the goals they have set for themselves. Yet, most business professionals claim to understand the importance of ... Views: 1129
Imagine one day you wake up, jump out of bed, and are excited about starting your day. You head toward the kitchen to pour yourself a cup of coffee and sit down to breakfast. As you start zoning out while drinking your first sip of java, your excitement turns into anxiousness as you think ... Views: 1018
How to Create Your Tipping Point
In his book, The E Myth Revisited, Michael E. Gerber said "It’s been said, and I believe it to be true, that great businesses are not built by extraordinary people but by ordinary people doing extraordinary things.” His statement couldn’t be more true ... Views: 996
Imagine for a moment that you’re sitting in a meeting and you look down at your cell phone to discover that several people just signed up for a workshop you’re hosting four weeks from today. Each person that signed up immediately received an automated message from you with details on the ... Views: 920
Have you ever asked yourself, “How can I get my business to the next level?” This is a common question I receive and recently answered on a Q&A call for my Success Circle members.
One of the important elements to get your business to the next level is that your business cannot be dependent ... Views: 1100
With Spring around the corner, the ground is thawing and seedlings are sprouting up from the soil. It raises the question: What’s your plan for growth?
Like cultivating your garden for growth, successful entrepreneurs realize that what is happening on the inside will always be reflected on ... Views: 1764
Have you ever noticed that when you have two magnets one side repels while the other side attracts? No matter how much you try, if the magnets are not positioned with the right poles, you can’t put them together.
Without realizing it, your marketing messages very well may be repelling your ... Views: 953
After working with so many entrepreneurs over the years, I found that many people take a bits-and-pieces approach to their business. I recognize it, because I used the same approach when I started my own business many years ago.
When I first launched my business, I would wake up and wonder ... Views: 2469
One of the great equalizers for small businesses is that commerce continues to evolve and grow on the internet. According to the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce, “e-commerce grew faster than total economic activity…” While many naysayers are hyping the worst economic conditions ... Views: 1329
Whatever you’re selling, you must reach out to a decision maker. All kinds of selling techniques are used, but the bottom line is decision makers are people. They have identifiable needs, preferences, and even motivations for what they buy. They have goals, dreams and hopes.
That couldn’t ... Views: 1977
Quote:
80% of success is about showing up.
A similar saying was first printed in the New York Times and often attributed to American director, Woody Allen. If you remain focused and show up consistently, success follows.
Why, then, do so many small business owners have trouble showing ... Views: 883
Last week at my entrepreneurial boot camp, my clients learned how their invisible constraints can get in the way of developing a successful business as well as mindset systems and tools to clear those barriers. Invisible constraints are those self-limiting or self-sabotaging beliefs that we ... Views: 976
Have you ever skipped a rock across the water? As the rock skims the water, notice how the water ripples. After a moment, each ripple flows effortlessly into the other. The same concept applies when business owners take a systems approach. Each system leads to greater connections and ... Views: 904
One of the best strategies to quickly establish credibility, get known, and differentiate yourself in the marketplace is to share your signature story. A signature story is your own personal account of how you got to where you are today or how you transitioned into your chosen ... Views: 1489
One of the first steps new business owners check off their list is designing their website. After all, you figure it can help establish your credibility and attract new clients. Fast forward a couple of months and you haven’t gotten a single person visiting your site.
There are many reasons ... Views: 955
When you engage in a coordination of knowledge from people who are united in achieving a defined goal, the outcome can be so powerful and riveting. I’ve been a part of and have facilitated many Masterminds over the years. After just one year in one of my Mastermind programs, one of my clients ... Views: 3401
If you have worked harder for someone else than you have in your own business, you’re not alone. In my recent Entrepreneurial Edge System 3-Day Intensive, this self-limiting habit seemed to be a popular pattern. It shows up by procrastinating, justifying a delay (it can always be done ... Views: 1223
Recently, a member of my community wrote in to say that she had her Social Media “up and ongoing” and wanted to know how to capture more leads.
Social media marketing has been widely popular because it is easily accessible to anyone with internet access. When social media is used in the ... Views: 1221
Social media marketing is a process of creating relationships and is a compelling strategy that gets you links, attention, and traffic. Once you’ve determined your goals and targeted audience, how you execute your strategy makes the difference between social media success or social media ... Views: 1502
One of the best resources to use to quickly establish credibility, add additional streams of income, and attract new clients, is hosting teleseminars. Teleseminars are conducted over the telephone. Just like a live seminar, teleseminars have a speaker and attendees. What you don’t have is the ... Views: 1124
There is it – you just made the decision to leverage your business into the one-to-many conversation by offering a workshop. You start promoting it three months ahead of time and are thrilled at the possibility of working with so many more people in your area of genius.
So, you prepare all ... Views: 1019
It can be frustrating when you invest your time and energy on potential clients who have requested information but haven’t responded back. You’ve heard that expression, if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got. This request-response-wait model is time consuming ... Views: 2150
While driving down the freeway gazing at the car in front, I noticed its bumper sticker: “If nothing changes, nothing changes.” It’s true, if we continue to think and behave in the same way, we will continue to get the same results.
Scientific research shows that when you carry out ... Views: 1912
It is more imperative than ever to build a business model that remains buoyant in today’s marketplace. To keep your business sailing, your business model should describe the rationale of how you will create, capture and deliver value.
As you review or build your business model, consider ... Views: 1010
Edmund Hillary said, “It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” It’s true. We think it is the mountain that must be conquered but it is what’s happening on the inside that paves the way.
Many people doubt that they can create something really significant in this world. ... Views: 1122
How often have you driven to the mall, work, or back home without really thinking about it or eaten a meal and not really savored it?
Days can pass by while our minds are elsewhere, common in ambitious go-getter business owners who are often thinking about the next step. Yet, life unfolds in ... Views: 935
Many people have a belief that they need a lot of money and need to purchase expensive equipment to start, run or expand a profitable business. Not true. The truth is for many businesses you don’t need a lot of money or purchase expensive equipment to run or expand a profitable business. ... Views: 2575
Each year we gather around the table to give thanks for our blessings. In my own life, it’s pretty amazing how people and opportunities have come my way from both expected and unexpected sources. The ease and flow with which I am able to create a life I truly desire has been amazing.
And, ... Views: 867
Often times, new entrepreneurs play the commitment game. I want a business, but maybe someone will hire me – I’ll hold off from starting for now. I’m scared about starting a business because I’ve never done it before. Maybe I shouldn’t start because I don’t know if I can be successful. It’s ... Views: 1082
Procrastination can be detrimental to an entrepreneur’s productivity and business growth. It sidelines a project or product going to market. Everyone has a certain activity they choose instead of the project they should be working on. Once you identify those procrastination pitfalls, it’s a ... Views: 1972
Does it seem impossible to work less and earn more? In order to get more done, it has probably been ingrained that you need to invest more time. You might have even gotten into a habit of working 12 or more hours a day, perhaps because you think you’ll be viewed as more accomplished than your ... Views: 1424
When you think of the end of the year, what do you think of? Most small business owners think of taxes. It’s not only a good time to analyze, but also plan ahead for the next year.
Since I developed a business blueprint complete with identified metrics, it’s easy to see how I’ve done ... Views: 1313
As a business owner, you wear many hats. If you try to do everything yourself, you will certainly fail. Becoming a successful business owner often means shifting the way you work.
Figuring it was part of her open door policy, one of my clients allowed her employees to interrupt her at any ... Views: 1043
Six months into your fiscal year is a half way point for many small business owners to assess their performance compared to the goals and objectives that they set at the beginning of the year. This intermediate assessment acts as a pivotal point in time to determine whether or not your plans ... Views: 2148
One of the biggest challenges for today’s small business owner is that there is a volume of information that’s out there and your prospective clients are bombarded with that information every day. Today’s small business owner needs to be more laser focused than ever to target their market ... Views: 1525