Many small business owners like us have a difficult time asking for business. It’s not that we don’t want the business, but wouldn’t it be so nice if people just handed over their money for our product or service rather than our actually having to ask them for it?

And this is one of the most common ways that small businesses stay really, really small, and sometimes peeter out altogether. They don’t ask for the business, or they don’t ask for it often enough to create a successful and sustainable business.

Here are 5 easy ways that you can ask for the business that if you implement on a consistent basis will guarantee that your business – and your bottom line – will grow.

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Are you working too hard in your business? If you’re an entrepreneur, you probably are, especially if you’re in the early stages of your business building. And you’re not alone.

Here’s an example from my own client files:

I was recently working with a client who was a real go-getter, very serious about being in business for herself, and marketing only to a more affluent clientele. She wanted to increase her reach into that market online. And she was considering adding article marketing to her mix.

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Writing valuable content-rich articles for your target market and submitting them to article directories and other publishers is one of the best ways to market your business, become known as an expert in your field, and add subscribers to your list.

For example, if you regularly write an article for your ezine, you can get a lot more mileage out of it if you submit it to article directories and other online publishing services. And making every piece you write work more than once for you is one way to work smarter and not harder. That’s called leverage.

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Just like writing a sales page for your product, program or service, writing successful email promotions can be easier than you think. There’s a science to it, more than an art, and to get you started, I’d like to share a tested formula for you to follow.

Taking the time to consider and answer the questions below before you write your email promotion will make it easier to write, easier for your reader to engage with, and easier to turn your prospect into a buyer.

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If you’re using Facebook as another way to connect with your target market and colleagues, kudos to you. But do you have a way for them to sign up for your email list?

There’s a simple application that allows you to set up an opt-in box right on your profile page. The application is called the “Profile HTML” application, and you also need the code for your opt-in form from Aweber or whatever list service provider you’re using before you follow the steps below. Just log into your account and copy the code for your opt-in form, then take the following steps:

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Once you’ve figured out your niche (or you’ve at least narrowed it down significantly), it’s time to figure out what problems they are struggling with, and what they want by way of solutions. Remember, if you will only ask your market, it wants to help you create the products it wants to buy!

How do you find out what your target market wants? There are several ways to get this information and use it to help you create an offering that will solve your niche’s problems and make a profit for you at the same time.

The best way is to do your research. The most critical research to do is to join the conversations that your market is having:

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Before my business evolved into what it is now, I was trading my time for money, dollars for hours. As a website designer and developer, I charged by the hour. As a writer/editor, I charged by the hour. As a public relations and marketing consultant, I charged by the hour.

Do you see the problem here?

There are only so many hours in the day, right? And if I wanted to pay the rent, I needed the majority of them to be billable hours, which left little to no time for marketing. As you can imagine, without the time to market my business, I struggled to get clients.

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What’s a Niffler, you ask?

Well, if you’ve read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, you might remember that a Niffler is a critter that hunts treasure. Once it finds one treasure, it moves on quickly in search of the next prize.

Do you do the same thing in your business? Meaning, are you a constant gatherer of the things that you think will move your business ahead, but not so much the implementer of them? Do you get distracted by anything and everything that’s new in your industry? Do you come up with one great idea after another, but you never fully commit to completing one of them?

Yes? I hate to break it to you, but there’s probably a bit of Niffler in you! You could also call it distractibility-disorder or failure-to-follow-through or fear-of-success/failure, or focus-challenged… but personally, I like having a bit of Niffler in me. It means I’m still passionate about what I’m doing, I’m still excited about learning new things, and I’m still interested in what’s happening in my industry, which lends to my ultimate success.

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Me: I’m done…. (to hubby after arriving home from Ali Brown’s Online Success Blueprint Workshop)

Him: With what? (read: uh-oh…)

Me: I’m done with thinking, playing, being small. I know I’ve been saying this for awhile, but it really became clear to me at the workshop – I’m so done with the piddly stuff. No more…

…and on (and on..) the conversation went. Here are three of the main shifts in my thinking (and feeling and being) I’ve made from my experience at the workshop.

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I was one of those online businessowners who was hesitant to add an affiliate program to my business building efforts. But once my clients and customers starting asking me if I had one that they could join, I knew it was time to bite the bullet and conquer this particular piece of technology.

Now, of course, I wonder why the heck I waited so long (talk about leaving money on the table!). It couldn’t be simplier to get started with your own affiliate program. You can get very elaborate, but the basic set-up is easy, and once you do one campaign, the next one is a piece of cake.

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