Mark just hired a fabulous Duke intern to help us with the marketing and PR of our new coaching business, Excelerated Success™. The energy of a smart college student who is genuinely motivated to learn from you, and help you, is fabulous. If you live near a college community, I highly recommend hiring an intern. If you screen well, you’ll find someone who can help you accelerate your business growth with minimal pay and awesome energy. (And they can probably teach us a few new tips in the rapidly advancing world of social networking, as well). We can’t wait to get started with ours.
http://www.greatsmallbusinessadvice.com/: For a lot of small business owners, this is an overlooked factor that sells our products and services 10x better than we ever could. In this video, find out about the SP factor and how you can apply it. http://tinyurl.com/yjvsl5x
I realize that we’re already past the season of goal setting but I can’t resist sharing a tip with you that I think you’ll value and appreciate.
Every year, I set three “stretch” goals. These are goals that I know I can reach BUT require that in some way I shift my paradigm. This is how I keep growing my soul along with my success.
My stretch goals typically include:
How much money I want to celebrate having in the bank at the end of the year (this helps me think bigger and quickly gets me past any fear that might come up, such as the “who am I” syndrome)
How much I want to grow my list (this gets me to stretch out of my comfort zone, pick up the phone and create new JV opportunities)
One area of running my business that I want to master (this motivates me to streamline and delegate, eliminating any “I’m not doing enough” thoughts that might crowd my happiness)
For many solopreneurs a large part of their business is working one-on-one with clients, and that means having a way of keeping all of their client information organized and easy to access.
In this article I’m going to share with you my top three tips for keeping everything together, so that you can easily access your client information and know exactly where your clients are in your programs.
1. Physical: Create a Client Contact Sheet
For most business owners there will be a physical client file that you’ll need to create. One of the simplest ways of creating this file is by using a manila file folder in which you simply drop your paperwork into. This file will contain things like the agreement form from your client, assessment forms, or details of any projects that you’ll be working on.
With so much emphasis on list building and building social media networks, it may seem counter-intuitive to suggest purging a list and losing your bottom 10%.
The philosophy is this: lose your bottom 10% and you’ll feel an incredible surge in your business.
It’s scary to think about, but I just experienced this and wanted to share honestly about what’s happening, what freaked me out, and what the gifts are.
What’s Happening
I have a wonderful new program coming up, Discover Your Profitable Essence, which teaches heart based service professionals (coaches, healers, consultants, et al) how to break out of anonymity and place their mark on the world with a successful business.
This has been an exciting couple of weeks! The Business Goddess Manifesto, an inspirational affirmation, was truly divinely downloaded through my work with women entrepreneurs embracing their feminine power in business.
It’s been exciting to see the Business Goddess Manifesto travel around the world and become a part of women business owner’s lives. Over 900 women entrepreneurs have downloaded the Manifesto!
It is a natural human desire to be liked by other people. Female entrepreneurs may hold themselves back because we don’t want to face the fear of rejection. It doesn’t have to be that way. Hearing ‘no’ is a natural part of doing business. Not everyone wants or needs our services. It’s never personal.
I remember being upset when someone unsubscribed to my newsletters even though the percentage of those opting out was tiny compared to those who were subscribing, opening, reading and responding to my messages. As human beings and entrepreneurs we sometimes overlook the positives. Because we love our creative work we tend to protect it from rejection. It is great to establish safety for ourselves in the beginning of the creative process, provided we don’t allow the safety to prevent us from steeping big when we are ready to do so.
In the full-throttle world of today’s entrepreneur, the “now” often takes a backseat to future possibilities.
Most of us are constantly planning, working on the last minute details of time-sensitive projects, rushing from one thing to another in a synchronized multi-tasking dance and consistently casting our minds forward. Demanding visions of expansion, connection with more clients that can benefit from our message, potential joint ventures with other like-minded business owners and creating enough wealth to dine on something other than cat food in retirement all serve to keep us focused on what’s around the next bend or just over the horizon.
But what are we missing in our obsession over the future and what is to come?
