Tag: Take Risk

Failing vs Traditional Education… What is the Fastest Path to Success

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Like parenting, running a business does not come with a handbook or guide. There are plenty of experts with plenty of insights, stories, and advice to share, but like kids, every business is different and requires a unique and customizead strategy. Many business owners will start a business thinking that having the knowledge of their product or service will be enough to be able to make money and it might for a while, but the business side will eventually catch up with the owner and overwhelm them with challenges. Just because you are great at something does not mean you don’t need training for everything else and here is why. When you start a business you are of course the expert at what you plan on creating. The hats you wear in your business are more than the expert, designer, developer,  and visionary, because if you have not hired anyone else to work in your business your hats include potentially all of these (or more).

  • C-Level management
  • Marketing strategist
  • Website developer, manager, and support
  • The corporate face (chief networking officer and brand manager)
  • Finances (CFO, accounting, bookkeeping, accounts receivable and payable, clerk, corporate value, contracts & loans)
  • Legal (contracts, customer disputes, employees, contractors, incorporation)
  • Operations (delivery, manufacturing, product creation, development, maintenance, quality control, shipping, inventory, and customer support)
  • HR (payments, contracts, disputes, employee benefits & support, Health & Safety)
  • Sales (prospecting, presentations, contracts, administration of, follow-up, stay-in-touch)

If you have not yet read Michael E. Gerber’s E-Myth books, I highly recommend you do so. In his third book, “The E-Myth Mastery” he tells his story about having a successful business, with over 100 people working for him and grossing millions of dollars in business, that  almost went bankrupt. Hearing his struggle to keep things moving forward, to pay his debts, to save face and integrity is difficult. He attributes this downfall to his lack of focus on his money and the people he hired to look after it. If you are running a business of one or one-hundred, you are responsible for the business growth and failure. You have to know what is going on, and that means training. Here are my top 5 recommendations for training:

#5 Traditional Education

This route will not be right for most entrepreneurs. It requires a longer time commitment (1 year or more). The great thing is it can often be done as a part-time program, allowing you to start or run and grow a small business while you learn. The benefit of this type of education is the recognized credentials that come with it, which can often open doors more quickly. The downfall of this type of education is that the professors and instructors may not have any entrepreneur background and the content may be out of date or too theoretical. My policy is that all knowledge is valuable and can be applied, but if you have to bridge the gap between knowledge and real-world application, you will need more time.

  • Look for Entrepreneur programs in colleges and universities. There is a trend to offer programs that focus on entrepreneurship. I teach at Georgian College in Canada that offers both Entrepreneurship diplomas and post diploma programs.
  • The Kauffman Foundation has created entrepreneur programs that are offered in many other locations.
  • Business programs, like an MBA are offered at many universities worldwide and produce amazing entrepreneurs.

#4 Conferences

Attending conferences that focus on business development can be one of the best ways to get up-to-date knowledge from current, legitimate ‘doers’ (the people in the trenches of business). Choose conferences that have speakers you are interested in hearing from, topics that are current, and content that is valuable to your learning needs. There are literally thousands of conferences every year. On my way to a conference in Colorado I spoke with a woman who was going to attend a conference that focused on apartment management. One of the main speakers this year was Barbara Corcoran and Michael J. Fox and last year they had Richard Branson. If you don’t know these incredible leaders then look them up. I looked through their agenda and all the breakout sessions would have been valuable to any business owner (branding, marketing, managing clients, etc.)

#3 Paid Programs from Experts

Experts in your field are often offering free and paid programs. Go and learn from the best. Don’t just learn what they teach, observe what they do and model the pieces that will work with your growth. Many experts (like me) have free programs to get you started. Do the work, then be ready to invest to go deeper. Darren Hardy has an investment rule for his education. He puts 10% of his yearly earnings into learning from people that are ahead of him in ‘the game’ of business. If you are unwilling to put out any money as an investment in your #1 corporate resource (you) then you are already on a track to fail.

#2 From A Mentor

Do you have someone in your life that is successful and you look up to? They don’t have to be wealthy or running a multi-million dollar business, they just have to be doing something really well that you would like learn from. I have been fortunate to have had many mentors throughout my life. Even as a teen, my boss at the pool store where I worked taught me how to be a strong leader in business and how to treat clients and employees. She was well liked and people treated her with the respect she had earned being friendly, supportive, and a straight shooter. She was no pushover, which in a time when women were not as well respected in leadership roles was impressive and unusual.

Who do you know that could teach you new skills, which you could use to run your business? Always be looking for that person and you will continue to have mentors over the years.

Note – you must also be willing to be a mentor. You will learn a great deal from this position, including how to be a great leader.

#1 By Failing

Yep, the number one way (in my opinion) to learn is to do the work knowing that it is not going to be perfect and that you are going to fail on occasion. The key to learning from failure is to be willing to accept that you did something that did not work and know how to evaluate it. The way to the best answers is to ask the best questions. Questions like “What went wrong?” Don’t just accept the first answer to this question, you need to dive down deep to get all the nuances of everything that could be a factor in the event.

If you would like a tool to help you evaluate a problem then try a Fishbone Diagram. This will help you brainstorm the major categories of causes of the problem, like:

  • Sales process
  • People
  • Training
  • Contracts
  • Tools (like software)
  • Procedures
  • Materials
  • Suppliers

By using this tool you will ask a lot of questions around your company and its processes and it will generate some great ideas for improvement.

Expect to be learning for the rest of your life. You can stop, but I bet your competitors won’t and that is when things will change. It is easier to stay on top when you are acting on new opportunities and learning about the industries trends and economic change, then it is to catch up after the opportunities have passed you by and your competitors have seized the market.

Tech-Talk Part 3 – More of What You Need to Know – Communication Software

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If ‘sell’ is a four-letter word to you then having communications that make it more comfortable for you to invite and offer value will make a difference to your bottom-line. You need to have a way to identify who you are speaking to and you must be able to connect efficiently with groups of people. This is how you leverage your time in your business and keep your costs down.

We know we want to be able to communicate with our clients, prospects, and past clients in a way that gives them what they need and helps us create an experience that is valuable for them. Understanding what to say is a topic for another article, and once you know what that is, how to reach them is the next question we want to address today. I am going to look at three things that you need to identify that will help you decide what tools will be best for you to manage your communications: 1) Your List, 2) History, 3) Costs

1) Your List

When managing your marketing and customer support communications it is important to be able to connect with the right person or group of people with the message they need to hear from you. Having a list or lists of names that you can effectively reach is imperative so your communications tools need to be able to manage those names efficiently for you.

I use 1Shopping Cart (1SC) for my mailing campaigns and my program communications as well as my online purchasing portal. I can group people by their purchase or interest and communicate with those groups of people. This allows my communications to be much more specific and targeted and increases the likelihood of a person reading the message. It also helps ensure that they will receive value, as I am not sending mass emails to everyone one all the time.

For my clients, this allows me to talk directly to people in small groups, like those in my Power of Leadership. I can let them know when their next call or event is. I can offer them specific help with their work, links, and specials, as well as additional information that may have been discussed in our meetings. It makes my communications with them more about them then about selling, and that is more comfortable for me as well as them.

Different software

2) History

The challenge with lists is that we often have lists in different places. My main communications for groups is through 1Shopping Cart (1SC) but I have a database using Microsoft Business Contact Management for Outlook (BCM) to connect to individuals. Of course our social media connections create other lists and all of these are not integrated. The challenge with lists is to have a system for how you connect with people so you are able to follow up later on. Knowing the history of communications with a specific prospect or past client helps you to better meet their needs and turn them into a repeat client.

I rely heavily on BCM to keep track of past conversations with individuals, including offers, personal situations, and conversations we have had. When you speak to thousands of people it helps you to remember what was special about a specific person. It also allows me to throw out business cards after I have them put into the database and keep track of sales and prospects.

I use 1SC to track groups of people. I can look up people by their interest or our past dealings. Someone that has opted-in to a free MP3 may be interested in an upcoming event. Someone that was in a past workshop may be interested in a personal VIP day. I can connect with people individually after I identify who they are and what they may need based on what they have signed up for or purchased in the past.

Whether it is a Contact Management Software (CMS), like my BCM or social media, like Facebook, use the history of your relationship to continue to offer things that are valuable to your clients and prospects moving forward.

 3) Costs

Even if the tool is free, managing the tool effectively is not. Don’t mistaken something that is free online as a way to do business for less. To be able to effectively implement and maintain communications with your clients and prospects every tool must be evaluated for the time and dollars it will cost or save you. If your time is limited and you hate being online, then using free Facebook pages to connect and invite your prospects would be the wrong fit for you unless you hire someone to manage it for you. You see, free just incurred a cost. I find that anything that is free costs me more in time and often does not have the features I need to manage my communications to the level I expect.

For new businesses that are not ready to invest, my recommendation is to write out what you hope to have in place in your business, evaluate what it would cost to invest in the tools (both time and money) and what kind of income your business would have to be making to support that investment. This will give you an idea of when you should look at investing. Also note that making changes to a larger program can be painful. If you have the ability to start with the larger support, that you have identified as a future need for your business, you will have less growing pain by eliminating that transition.

I started with Constant Contact. It is free up to 200 contacts. Unfortunately I never had less than 200 so I started with the basic plan, which was $20 per month. I paid to have it initially set up, lists imported, and my ezine and email templates created. I quickly realized that there were a lot of limiting challenges around this choice and I needed features that could only be found in an application that could both handle email campaigns (including my newsletters) and online purchases. I had to make the change to 1SC which lost me almost 50% of my list, several hundred more dollars to move to the new applications and a $120 per month plan, plus all the sales I felt I had lost because I could not track them easily in the smaller, less expensive choice.

Overall I would suggest that you understand as a small business owner you will likely have several lists to manage. Know which list is critical for which type of communications and how to evaluate & use the history you have with the people on that list.  Most of all, start by knowing what you will want to do with your lists so you can evaluate which software to initially begin with. Understanding your costs up front can save you loses and additional costs in the future.

Some Resources (Both free and paid)

Contact Management Software (CMS) (Microsoft Outlook, Business Contact Management for Outlook, salesforce, Act)

Shopping cart (1Shopping Cart, Infusionsoft)

Payment software (PayPal, Merchant account)

Mailing program (Constant Contact, AWeber Email Marketing, MailChimp Email)

Survey software (Survey Monkey)

Social Media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Hangout)

If you have an application, mobile app, or software you recommend, please let us know. Put your recommendations in the comments below along with a link to the company so we can all check it out.

Tech-Talk Part 2 – More of What You Need to Know – Shopping Carts

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In part two of this three-part series I wanted to talk to you about Shopping Carts. Being able to sell to your clients in a way they want to purchase is a great strategy for your business. Selling online is a challenge for some, and it shouldn’t be. There are lots of options, including an online-manual approach. There is always the option to do nothing at all. I want to look at reasons why you may want to offer this option to your clients and how it might help your business as well as talk a little about the different options available.

colourful shopping carts

Related Article: Tech-Talk Part 1 – What You Need to Know – Websites

Why Offer Online Purchasing?

E-commerce allows your clients to purchase from anywhere with options.

Business online is increasing by 20% per year with some 2013 statistics predicting over 1 billion annual online purchases globally1. There is a global trend to purchasing online. I believe that this is a result of increased access and the growth mobile technology, as well as the shear amount of time we spend online. We are using this time to do as much of our chores as possible, like research and purchase a needed item or service. This is not industry dependant. We are seeing online purchases for all business types and all product offerings, from very small, to very large. If your clients are online and they have this need, you are doing them, and your business, a disservice by not offering this option for payment.

Recently I found a business that could not only not accept online purchases, they were unable to purchase online. The challenge for their business was 2 fold, they could only purchase items and services for their business from places that accepted cash or cheques and they could only accept payment in this same format. My clients ask for many different ways to pay;. e-transfers from their bank account to mine (my favourite payment), credit card (the most popular) and PayPal. Strangely, I stopped offering cash or cheque about 4 years ago and no-one has complained (except that first business owner I mentioned). Initially I did not have a merchant account so I could not take credit cards, and that was not an issue since PayPal had a great support for this. I used Constant Contact to manage my communications with clients but this was manual as well. If a purchase came in via email or through an in-person meeting, I would have to add people to different lists to ensure they got the information that they had purchased. There was no automatic communications, no information delivery, no easy way to follow up, and no way to track the connection between my purchases and my communications. It was very separate and time consuming, but it was what I could manage at the beginning of my business.

What is the Business Benefit?

When I started using online purchasing I still sent a manual invoice from PayPal to my clients for payment. I did not have a shopping cart and I did not feel initially I needed it.  Eventually handling multiple purchases automatically became the goal. I liked the sound of the possibility of getting up in the morning and seeing a payment in my inbox from someone I had never met. I knew this was not possible with a manual system and this is why I opted to go to a full online shopping cart. Here were my top reasons for implementing a shopping cart versus taking online payments through PayPal.

  • The shopping cart is integrated with my communications system.
  • I can create auotresponders that delivered services, products, inquiries, scheduling calendars, files, etc. once or over multiple contacts.
  • When people purchased, the data of the purchase is captured by the shopping cart for review.
  • I can manage all my clients differently and offer them things specific to their needs based on how they purchased in the past.
  • I could integrate my merchant account and accept credit cards without having to manage the privacy of my clients’ financial information.
  • I could sell from my website, from stage, at events, in person, or over the phone.
  • I can easily deliver my ezine (newsletter).
  • I can send notices and invitations to special groups of people.
  • Most virtual assistants have skills for managing shopping carts so I could easily offload the work.

What are the Options?

The most important thing to understand is what your use is right now and what you are planning for the use of your shopping cart in the future. You need to be able to evaluate the shopping cart based on how you will use it. Transferring between carts is possible, but what I have heard and experienced is that you will lose between 30 and 50% of your list when you make this transfer. I lost close to 50% of my followers and clients in my switch from Constant Contact (a communications only application) and 1ShoppingCart.com (a full online shopping cart). Privacy policies are strict and to be compliant the best shopping carts require an opt-in for new imported lists as a verification. Even if people love you, they may not opt-in to continue as an active name on your list. This means you cannot contact them via your shopping cart.

Not every shopping cart is the same. There are many global shopping carts that will not integrate with Canadian Banks online. Here is a list of what I was looking for in a shopping cart.

  • Both text and HTML mailing features that look great and are highly functional
  • Easy template creation and use
  • Integration with Canadian merchant accounts
  • Support recurring payments
  • Able to attach a file for mass delivery
  • Put a product on sale without having to create new product profile
  • Quick uptake on understanding how to use it  (none are easy, but some are harder than others)
  • Low cost of initial investment

Other services you may need.

  • M-Commerce (Sales done through a mobile device)
  • Autoresponses based on calendar dates and not sign up dates
  • Up-sell features at checkout

A shopping cart is a monthly investment in the operations of your company, on top of merchant and banking fees. This expense for my company is ~$120 / month. How much income do you have to be making before you invest in this and when is the right time? I would recommend that you make this investment as soon as you know your company is going to need it for its future growth and you are already pushing out online communications and taking online payments.

1 EMarket Services

 

Meet Your Clients Where They Are

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Recently I went on a road trip with my husband to interview a Magic The Gathering store owner in Orangeville. I was just along for the ride with no real interest in the main reason for the journey, which was to create a blog post about the local store owner and support his business. This article would go on his blog (MTG Realm) as he writes about this game with a focus on spoilers for new card releases. It sounds simple and maybe even un-interesting to those that do not play the game, but he gets up to 14,000 hits a day on this blog, so there are a lot of people following along.

While in Shawn’s store I became very aware of the business skill he possessed. I was expecting a geek that opened a store so he could be close to his favourite game and what I saw as a man providing a service to his clients by meeting them where they are. Here are the top 5 things I believe he has done right and why.

Facebook not website

The clientèle for this business has an average age in their low to mid 20’s with a lot of teens and a few older people. They are primarily male (about 95 % of players are male). Although the store has a website, there is little information on it. The key communications for this game happens on Facebook, where his community of players can take part and be active in the decisions that are being made about their favourite place to hang out.

Young people want to interact not just have information pushed at them.

Games for everyone

In a past blog post I wrote about his business and I talk specifically about how he has created new games to appeal to the youngest of his clients, knowing that as they progress, they will get better and will stay clients longer.

As business owners you need to look at what you have to offer that will keep your current clients coming back. You can sell ‘one offs’ but you want to try and fill your business with clients that are ‘in love’ with your service and return over and over, bringing their friends and spending their time and money.

Invites the community

On the third floor of his business he has a huge room with high ceilings that needed to be painted. He opened up this room and started an non-profit Art Club for young artists to exhibit murals, painting and photography. He hosts regular events and even offers his own walls for the canvas (see image below).

Koros Games upstairs floor - Art Club

What can you be doing to support the community your clients live in. If you have a location, can you open the doors during off hours for a charity to use. If you don’t have a physical location can you commit time or other resources for local events, not-for-profits, or other community engagements. A business that operates without the connection to its community, whether locally or online, is not as connected to it client.

Simple changes

I laughed at this change, but really… it makes sense for everyone. All the prices in his store include taxes. Not only does it make it easier for his youngest clients to know how much money they need to get a new card to add to their deck, it makes it easier for his employees to help people. He said to me, “Why don’t all businesses do this? It just makes sense.”

Big thinking investments

Originally when he started he was renting a small space on the main street in Orangeville, a city of 25,000, just North of Toronto Ontario. With his focus on his clients his business outgrew the location and he had to move. His answer was to purchase a century old building in a prime location and rent out the street level floor space. He still has two floors of space and he can host up to 200 players for tournaments. This is unheard of outside the large cities. The key is he does not need to fill to capacity to make his money, he simply has the space to offer the opportunity without it being a financial burden on the business. It is one of the reasons he is able to run two events simultaneously to attract both the competitive player and the newbie or casual player.

Are you thinking about your best investments in your business that will give you great resources and give your clients a better experience at the same time? Meet your clients where they are and they will continue to follow you and purchase from you.

Tech-Talk Part 1 – What You Need to Know – Websites

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I thought I would do a series of articles on technology. After all I have been in high-tech for over 2 decades and I do know more than most people want to know about technology and how to use it. First let me tell you about my tech-trek (my technology background). Then I want to cover technology for three areas of your business:

  • Websites (Tech-Talk Part 1)
  • Shopping Carts (Tech-Talk Part 2)
  • Communication Software – including webinars, Skype, and teleseminar (Tech-Talk Part 3)

Tech-Trek

When I was in high school we were still using Fortran and punch cards. I learned the Touring language in university, worked on VAX computer systems in College, programmed algorithms and algebraic equations into the first personal computer purchased for the Biophysic lab at the University, ushered out the Cromemco mainframe system for research and followed these introductions with many years of implementing, learning, supporting, and writing manuals & helps systems for hundreds of proprietary software and hardware products.

I loved it and Yes I am a tech-geek at heart.

Old Computers
The old Cromemco looked similar to this with a dot matrix keyboard / printer and no monitor. We were dressed a little more modern in the 1980’s

Tech-Talk Part 1 – Websites

 Why

A website is an absolute necessity for all business today. If a potential client cannot find you online then your business basically does not exist (check out point #3 “No Growth Focus = Decline” in this past article “4 Things That Lead to Business Failure“). Having an online presence is important and a good start. Having an optimized presence  that can be found by search engines in best. If you do not understand what it takes to ‘be found’ or to ‘be optimized for search engines’ then hire someone to implement that for you and create a plan to continue to be found year after year.

Other reasons you will want a website are:

  • Support brand and image recognition
  • For clients to find your business and contact you
  • Provide support and solve problems
  • Connect and stay-in-touch
  • Build a client list
  • Sell services and products

What to Use

For years business owners were at the mercy of web designers as to how their website would be created and managed. Designing a website was an expensive marketing tool for a business sometimes costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now there are free tools that make it easier to create something that is consistent and will not go unsupported because the company went under. Unless you are a large company needing a lot of customized function (like a bank needs for security, or a manufacturer may need for regulations management) my recommendation for small business is to always to use WordPress. It has a lot of built in function, it is free to use, there are thousands of applications and widgets you can purchase for a reasonable price, and you can customize it with templates that you can purchase from other coders for little money. Since there are so many people writing code for this application it is also likely to be supported for many years to come.

When I set up my website I purchased a template I liked for about $20, I purchased an image I could use to create my banner (~$35), I paid for my brand creation (~$700), I wrote all my own copy (after paying for training ~$1000), I paid for someone to set up my website (~$500), I purchased my web-hosting (~$125 / year), I purchased my domain name (~$30 with email and privacy per year), I had a members site installed (~$150) and 1ShoppingCart added ($250 + ongoing support) and I use WordPress (Free).

I can do most of my own updating but I still pay for ongoing support to update pages and products. As you can see, depending on what you need, free does not mean without cost.

Minimum information

Let me answer this section in a Q&A format.

  • Do I need to know HTML?
    • That depends on what you are trying to do and whether you have a great team to do the work. There is usually a small amount of HTML that must be understood to manage any customization. For instance, I am writing this blog post in my WordPress editor. It looks like writing in Microsoft Word and is very easy to use. Sometimes I want numbering to do something different than the crude tools of this editor will allow, so I have to go in and manually set the HTML lists to number my way. If you do not know any HTML then make sure you have someone on your team that does (an employee, support company, or contractor).
  • How many pages should my website be?
    • A sales landing page is just one page, a branded website may need 4 or more. My website must have links to Contact / Terms and Conditions / Privacy Policy because of the merchant account I use and the regulations for selling online. Some sites are hundreds of pages. The more pages you have the more it will cost in your time or others to set up and maintain.
  • Do I need a blog?
    • A few years ago when someone asked me “do I have to be on Facebook?” I would answer, maybe not yet, but you likely will need to in the near future. Well now you need to be on social media, Facebook included and I’m thinking the same thing about the blog. I think it would be wise to start with a website that easily has the option to turn on and use the blogging feature if you are not going to start now, but I would encourage you to start writing a blog as soon as you can.
  • What other things can I have on my website?
    • The wonderful thing about using WordPress is there are hundreds of thousands of programmers creating widgets and ad-ons for websites. I’m sure there are many different things you can add to a website that I know nothing about. Here are a few things I have on my websites.
  • Do I need more than one domain name?
    • You will need a domain name that matches your business. It is worth trying to get the name that is your businesses name. If it is unavailable that raises red flags for me around trademark infringement. As for other domain names, I like owning the domains for my products. I buy domains for a year based on brand and product development. If I don’t use them I let them go. I usually own between 15 and 30 domains, including my personal name.

Who Can Help

As you can tell I have been at this for a while and know enough to truly enjoy coding directly in HTML. In fact, when I do my sales pages I do code directly in HTML and it is like a little vacation from my day-to-day activities. That said, when I designed my website layout, wrote the copy, and purchased the domains, I did not set it up myself. I got an expert to set up my hosting, implement the template structure, manage the backups, upload the original content, implement additional widgets, and connect my social media. This saved my 10’s of hours, if not weeks of work.

My recommendation is to know what you need, understand your brand, effectively define the best way to reach your target market, and then hire the expert to implement it.

It’s All About You

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It’s done – You have done it. You started a business to offer the world your expertise. You took the risk and you launched the business. Like being a new parent there will be plenty of people with advice, suggestions, and insight, but you have the last say. You can veto any idea and create your own.

When we start a business we don’t really think of ourselves as “being at the top.” Yes, we have the final say, but what should we be investing in, focusing on, doing with our time? There are so many things to learn as a new business owner and so many ways to fail. Having that veto is a liability more than a earned responsibility. What advice is the best for your new business and what should you not pay attention to?

In small business startups, there is a tendency for an attitude of “It’s all about me”. After all it was your idea, your money, your expertise, your time and your sleepless nights. It IS all about you. Who else is going to care about your business success as much as you do? Who else will put in the overtime and weekends? Who else will give up taking a vacation for years? It’s all about you because you are the one to make it happen and it will feel lonely.

To be able to manage your business and continue to love it you need to remove the loneliness, and that will not be easy.

Tip #1    Friends without benefits

Befriend employees but do not share your full business and personal struggle insider information with them unless they are the Vice President. By relieving them of the burden of risk and insider issues it will gives them the ability to do what they do best in their position at the company, which is why you hired them in the first place.

Tip #2    Intrapreneurs

Hire intrapreneurs. These are people with excellent entrepreneurial skills that will use their insight, drive, and risk tolerance to help grow your business. Having people like this on your team will make running your business easier. If they are good, then your job will be less stressful as well.

Tip #3    Peer-to-Peer Networks

Surround yourself with like-minded people that will support you when you are struggling, lift you up when you are down, and celebrate with you when you make great choices or accomplish something new.

Tip #4    Don’t Do It Alone

Stop thinking you can do everything yourself. You need people in your life you can share your plan with, trust with your challenges, people that understand what it takes to be there and do what you are doing, as well as people that love you and will support you even if they cannot fully understand what you are up to. It can be very lonely as an entrepreneur but you don’t have to be alone all the time if you consciously choose to involve other people.

You can start a business on your own but NO ONE can succeed in business alone.

To Make More Money – Give Them What They Ask For

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There are three things that affect the way we want to sell our products: our idea of value (price), our self-worth (image), flexibility to create (product).

It is interesting to see how often, we as entrepreneurs, think we know best about what we offer and what will sell. It can be very different than what we think. Our clients are likely already asking for something specific and we sometimes are not listening. Creating a product, setting a price, and being able to deliver with an image of value is not easy.

I was working with a client recently (let’s call her Jane). It was clear that Jane was very focused on what she was good at and she has a phenomenal following. Clients and prospects love her. She spends a lot of energy trying to teach all the people about what she has to offer hoping the ones that understand what she is teaching will purchase from her. The funny thing is, she had several very prominent people saying they needed to work with her, but she didn’t know what she could offer them nor how she would price it.

It wasn’t what she was currently offering. Instead of saying ‘no’ or ignoring them we spent time looking at what she could offer them. It quickly became evident that it was hard for people to buy from her because her idea of value and her flexibility to create did not match her self-worth. She was in the realm of Guru and had created a halo effect around her expertise, but she spent her time selling to those that did not know they needed help in the first place.

By adjusting her product offering and her pricing she now had something that would easily appeal to those that were already reaching out to her. Her image matched her offering and now more easily draws in the right clients, which is not her niche target market.

When you stop and look at who understands you and what they need then evaluate what you offer and see if it matches. When it doesn’t you need to make some changes. Be flexible and willing to make the changes that will appeal to your target market. Here are some tips to make changes in these three areas.

Image Product Price
  • Be seen where your clients are.

Network where they network, advertise where they read, invite them to things they would attend.
  • Make it what they want.

If your clients say I can’t afford that now then make something they can afford. Listen for what they are not getting or they don’t want and adjust for their needs.

 
  • Do not charge by the hour.

Your product for 20 hours should not be 20 times more expensive then one hour. Add value, create interest and price to give breaks for those that pay up front for larger products.

By listening to those that identify with your image and want what you have you identify your niche and create products that will easily sell.

Don’t Ignore Your Trends

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Do you know what trends are driving your industry? Understanding the trends means that you can watch for trend changes and be on top of it in your business if you have to make a course adjustment to your business growth and sustainability.

Trendy_purseFirst – What is the trend your business is built on?

Selling water filters may be based on the trend for healthy living, selling MRI machines for hospitals may be the trend of increased disease awareness and the drive for healthier living, and electric bikes may be driven by environmental concerns and the need to also continue with a healthy lifestyle.

In my business of coaching, speaking, and training I see a couple of trends that affect this market and increase the number of people doing what I do tremendously: the economy collapse and the need for education for people later in life.

In 2008 the collapse of Wall Street brought a lot of unrest and worry to the average person, not only in the USA but also in the global market. People were losing their jobs and their homes at an alarming rate. Getting support to carry on, build something new, apply to another industry, or go back to ‘the market’ is difficult and scary. Getting support from someone that can help find the path and keep you on it was one of the reasons coaching became more popular. A second outcome was that the people in that transition could also become a coach.

When people realized that to make a change and apply for a job they had never done before would require education, the education industry exploded. My understanding is that this is true in unstable markets were job loss and unemployment are high. Being a business expert and a coach meant that I could hit a market of people in transition, starting something new by creating a business for themselves, and needing education to make it last. This is the trend I watch.

Second – What are you going to be watching for?

Knowing the metrics, factors, purchasing habits, etc. are great, but knowing exactly what you will be watching and at what time you need to start looking for a new path is even more important. Businesses that are successful stay on top of the trends in their market. Google broke into an already crowded cell phone market a few years back by knowing that there was still room in the technology for growth and innovation. There was still a lot of people that did not own a cell phone and although the younger buyer may be set with their Apple purchase, the older consumer using Blackberry was now looking for something different. If Blackberry had been on top of this trend they would have released their own button-free, touchscreen phone years earlier and it would have likely helped their sales tremendously.

As the baby boomers continue to retire, many without the funds to live comfortably without work, there will continue to be a need for what I do. After that bubble passes my expertise may be in less demand and changing my marketing strategies as well as my services will be the first places I start.

Find out what the trend is that you are following, and look for new trends in your market so you can be prepared.

More Money – More Success? Right?

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Dollar Signs

When we think success we look at the things people have and think, ‘nice car, they must do well to afford that’ or ‘they are always going away on vacation, it must be nice to have that kind of money.”

Is it really the money that makes people successful? The answer is Yes and No. It would be great if I could say, ‘well you can be completely successful without money, but there is a component of success that deals with comfort. Someone can be successful in money when they reach their comfort level, whatever that may be, but being comfortable does not mean they are successful. Let’s look at the three pieces I feel really elevate someone, in my eyes, to being seen as successful and what you can do to obtain success yourself.

1. Significance

The number one (#1) thing that really screams success to me is how significant the person’s life is. By this I mean:

  • What are they doing that will outlive them
  • Who have they positively affected
  • How many people are now on the path to being successful themselves

Having a life of significance is important to use all. It doesn’t have to be that the world knows you; it is that the world around you knows you. I think the easiest way to measure someone’s significance is to listen to what others say about that person.

To bring significance to your own life look at doing something like:

  • Take on a volunteer project that you can stick with for more than one event
  • Give back every opportunity you have without expectation of receiving
  • Mentor someone else so they become more successful

2. Credibility

To become successful people have to trust you…

  • trust you to do your job right
  • trust you with their children
  • trust that the information you gave them will be correct and actually help

To be successful you have to be credible in the things you do. Try some of these tips to become more credible in what you do.

  • Honour your commitments
  • Continue to learn and be open to being wrong
  • Apologize when you are wrong and make it right

3. Struggle

Every person who is successful has a story. At some point there was a challenge that caused the person to grow. To be able to take on more we have to learn how to be bigger and more effective at what we do. This means there is a struggle that happens during these times of transition:

  • Struggle to believe in their own worth
  • Struggle to make the money last longer than the month
  • Struggle to become credible and significant

This growth stage (which will happen every time a successful person grows again) can be eased by following these three tips:

  • Surround yourself with great people (supporters, mentors, staff, partners, coaches, etc.)
  • Accept that you don’t have to come in with the answer, but that you will leave with one
  • Have a specific and measurable plan so you can have full faith in your own abilities to reach your goals

Being successful, whether at home, in your job, at your volunteer position or in your business, means reaching your goals through tolerable struggle, creating credibility around our abilities, and having a legacy of your worth as a parent, spouse, leader, teacher, owner, or entrepreneur. With this in place, the money will come.

 

 

What is Work-Life Balance and How Do You Get It?

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According to an entry in Wikipedia “Work-Life Balance – is having enough time for work and enough to have a life, thus the work life balance. Related, though broader, terms include “lifestyle balance” and “life balance””.

As a society we tend to look at work as a Monday to Friday event and evenings and weekends belong to our personal time. This may be true for those employed in a traditional corporation, but for so many others, like those in manufacturing, health care, travelling, customer service, or other businesses that span the traditional 9-5 day this has never been the case. For business owners it is also quite different. Business meetings, conferences, trade shows, deadlines, and expectations from our clients can take our workday overtime into our personal lives.

My good friend Susanne Hemet was on my Power of Leadership Expert Call today talking about Burnout and how we can manage or avoid it. She described burnout as a “working in conflict with your core values”. (Listen to the entire recording “Battling Burnout with an Abundance Mindset” and sign up for all her tips).

In work-life balance it is not just avoiding burnout or reducing work so you have enough time for life, I believe it includes loving your work, having fun, being happy, and looking forward to your next day.

Tulips on a breakfast table

Balance is a term that means “to keep or put (something) in a steady position so that it does not fall” not necessarily that there is equal parts weighted equally. In your life to stay in balance to ensure you do not fall, like becoming sick, stressed, unhappy, depressed, or start losing your relationship or clients. To be in balance means you wake feeling excited for your day and you go to bed feeling satisfied for the day you just had.

I think there are 3 areas in your life that you need to manage to ensure you have this type of balance.

1. Working Time

During this time the best way to feel like you have accomplished what needs to get done is to know what had to get done. Have goals, create a daily to-do list and do something every day that takes you closer to your biggest goals.

For example:

If your biggest goal is to sell your business in 5 years, you should be creating concrete processes within your business, training procedures, and working on a long term marketing plan to ensure your sales will be where they need to be at sale time. To feel great at the end of each day there should be a component of some piece of this that can be touched (e.g. reviewed, tested, written, etc.)

If your biggest goal is to double your sales in three months, then do something every day to create more sales and track your money every day.

If your biggest goal is to complete your current project, know the project milestones and review your progress every day.

Finishing a day feeling accomplished is a great way to keep work time in you time for work.

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2. Personal Time

Your personal time is basically your home life work. Driving your kids to and from activities, house-keeping, laundry, property maintenance, dishes, or whatever you feel is the routine of keeping your home life outside in order outside of your work time. This is the time you take to pick up your prescriptions, go to the dentist, visit with your kids’ teachers, etc. This is personal work, and it is not the type your boss or clients are going to pay you for when you are doing it for yourself.

3. Downtime Time

This is the time where your body, mind, and soul get an opportunity for respite. Hanging with friends, hobbies, gardening, sports or just chilling with a glass of wine, and dinner with your family, downtime is where your life is filled up again so you can do all the things the rest of your life requires of you.

Know that if you are in alignment with your core values in your business you are likely to love what you do and be more likely to be happily energized by the work itself, but, unless your family and friends get to spend all the time with you too (at work too), you may end up very lonely, so look for downtime to help support all your relationships in your life.

Your Outcome

By completing what had to get done in your work each day you will have a huge sense of accomplishment that will allow you to enjoy the time you are not in work. If you spend your day doing personal errands instead of your work (e.g. doing laundry and dishes when you should be making sales calls), you will not feel successful and you will try to rebalance by completing work in a time you had initially set aside for your personal or down time. Now the dominoes start to fall because if you don’t get time to do your personal errands, then you will be working on your personal items when you should be finding time for your downtime (e.g. grocery shopping when you should be at the gym). When downtime is lost then you don’t have time to regenerate your energy or your spirit and that is when you really feel out of balance.

Stay focused on what needs to be done in all areas of your life, find accomplishment in each and you will find balance in all.