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"I do massage," she was telling me. "But, I also do Reiki and reflexology. Plus, I'm a nutritionist, and I'm studying herbs."
"I feel like I'm running five businesses. I have no idea how to market them all, much less how to charge. I'm going nuts- how do I bring them all together?"
Five businesses, my goodness. She could go for an even dozen, and call it quits, but I think there's a better solution.
The problem with multiple businesses
I could never in good faith suggest anyone try to run...
When business planning becomes necessary.
Recently we watched an exciting video "Bear and the Potty." I think that was the title. Anyway, it was about a big brown bear teaching all these little animals, who were outgrowing their diapers, to use the potty.
Of course, we were watching it as we were babysitting a four year-old for some friends. There was a line in the video that said something about how great it was to wear diapers and be free, except that diapers slow you down.
Is your business being slowed down by staying in diapers?...
Why dreaming big can keep you small.
I remember when I was in another business, and as part of my support network we were dreaming up vision statements. I don't exactly remember what I came up with, but something that included words like "huge," "global," "number one," "best-known."
It was fun to dream that big for a little while. But... we're only a year or so from finally clearing the debt from that failed business. Something didn't work.
I've read numerous times where small business owners are encouraged to "dream big." To...
When being pushy is the best thing to do
A couple of weeks ago I was furiously dumping baking soda into our oven, as a red hot spark travelled from the middle of the heating element towards the back wall. Luckily, between the baking soda, and just cooling down time after turning the oven off, it all stopped before disaster struck.
Once my wife and I caught our breath, and gave a little prayer of gratitude that we were there to see it, rather than suddenly finding the kitchen on fire, we realized: we need to get the oven fixed. So, I...
How to find your true calling in business.
Doesn't it just get your goat, those people who seem to know, unerringly, what they're supposed to be doing in the world?
They come up with a focus for their business without blood, sweat and tears, and they move forward.
You, on the other hand, can't help feeling blue because you can't settle in. "Is (massage for infants, corporate team-building, selling t-shirts) what I'm really supposed to be doing? What if this isn't my True Calling?"
Spiritual exercises don't help the situation. You do...
Should you let clients who cancel get away with it?
? Another knock, I open the door, and again I'm surrounded by monsters who come up to my knees. "Trick or treat!" In the US, October 31 is Halloween, when it's a tradition for parents to take their children knocking on neighbors' doors, to get their bags filled with goodies.
It's too much fun. There's no chance these kids are going to no-show for their appointment with the neighborhood.
Except that there some houses kids just avoid. Just like some of your clients cancel or no-show on you....
Why your best clients give blah testimonials
Your client loved you. Luurrrved you! Working with you, the results they got. Oh happy day.
Then why is it so darn hard to get a testimonial from them? And, if you do get a testimonial, it's of the blah-blah 'John Smith is great. Recommend him highly.' variety.
Great testimonials can make a huge difference for someone considering your offer. Blah testimonials, on the other hand, can drain the heart right out of it.
If they love you, why won't they give you a great testimonial?
There are...
How to write a 300 page book in four months
There's a lot of hoopla about becoming an author of your very own business book. The promise of fame and fortune is very alluring.
Yet your book remains perpetually 'about to be' written. Or, you've sequested yourself for weeks or months to write your book, only to come out with something you feel luke-warm about.
Meanwhile your business has ground to a halt.
Hmmm.... might there be a better way to get a book written?
Immersion is needed.
The purpose of a novel is to entertain. The author...
How to get feedback from colleagues that makes sense.
Okay, you've just written a new website, or a new sales page. Or maybe you've just created a new product or offer. Or even just tried on a new suit.
And you turn to your friend and ask: "Can I get some feedback from you? What do you think?"
So they tell you what they think. They tell you, "It's nice." or "I like it." Or, if they don't like it, you get the laundry list of all the things you need to change, including the color you used around the border that you are actually in love with....
Avoiding the Third Degree Syndrome in Marketing.
When you last wrote a flyer or a webpage, or when you last read one, what was the first bit of text on it, after the headline?
I'm willing to bet you beads to bogarts that it was a series of questions. Like this list I just saw on a website I randomly picked off of Google:
"Are you: Feeling that more meaningful success and far better results are possible in your life, career or business?
Wanting to be more fully engaged in your business or career, and achieve greater happiness and balance...
The Bermuda Triangle that eats your referrals.
Five years ago I certainly believed my clients when they told me: "I told this guy Frank that he had to call you." I didn't think they were lying to my face about the referrals they were sending.
After the 10,000th time (it seemed) a client told me they referred someone who never contacted me, I began to call it "The Bermuda Referral Triangle."
So... where were they? Why didn't Frank, or Joan, or Amin, or Josephina ever call, despite glowing recommendations and urgings from their friends?...
Why Strangers are Worried Your Business is Stalking Them
There you are at a party, and you notice someone you'd like to get to know. So you start staring at them. And staring. And staring. You're hoping that your googly-eyed stare is communicating your interest in them.
No surprise what happens next. He or she gets up, crosses the room, and whispers to the host, "That weirdo in the corner keeps staring at me... I'm worried... is he a stalker?"
How do I know? That was me, as a teenager. Except I didn't even have enough courage to stare. I just...
Spirituality in Your Business Without Scaring Clients.
You've been deepening your spirituality, and it has seeped into everything you do, or is starting to. The thing is, will it freak your clients out if you go all woo-woo and bizarre on them?
Even if you're already using spirituality strongly in your business, I'm guessing there are places you just don't want to go, things that are too blatant or strong. You don't want to evangelize, you're not looking to convert anyone. But something's missing.
At a workshop, I once met a well-known marketing...
Grief--Your Surprising Tool for Business Momentum
Business momentum is when a series of events build upon each other and multiply their efforts. It's when your business starts to have some steam of its own, and you get carried along for the ride. For instance, we had some December sunshine here in Portland, and I went bicycling. Each time I pedaled was an event.
But that pedaling only creates momentum that carries me forward even when I'm not peddling IF...
IF I don't stop after every time I pedal. IF I choose a destination and move towards...
What the Heart of Your Business Needs in a Down Economy
A friend and colleague recently told me this: "I know I am not spending money right now, and it appears that others aren't either." Other clients have seen contracts cut in half or accounts lost, others report a decrease in sales.
And yet, still others report having their best month ever. What gives? Is it just the luck of the draw, or which industry you're in? Is the economy down or not?
It might appear there are only two ways to go with this economy. Either everything is going down the...
Marketing Without Spending Your Life Trolling the Internet
I'd rather be rock climbing, hiking, spending time outside than in front of a computer. And, it all feels so useless, like nothing works anyhow. I'm spending my life energy in front of the computer, I feel like , and it's not moving my business forward!"
That's what a client of ours was telling us. And how about you? You're staring at a screen right now, reading this. How many hours do you have to spend in front of a computer to make your business work, anyway?
I mean it--do we all have to...
Avoiding Financial Trauma Stress Disorder
Day after day we're being treated to news of the global financial markets being flushed further and further down the toilet. If you run a small business, it can be hard to hold onto hope and inspiration, because maybe this time things really are doomed.
Makes you wonder and doubt--did someone not buy simply because they didn't buy, or is this the beginning of the end of your business?
You don't want to stick your head in the sand. But if you did you might be able to stay inspired and...
Why Clients Don't Buy--The Hierachy of Choice
So you struggle over getting all the details just right, like pricing and timing, and all the other features included in your offers so your best clients will buy from you. So why aren't they buying?
It's because all of those details are actually the least important part of a purchasing choice.
One common misconception says that human beings make choices based on what's best for them, but that falls apart really quickly in the aftermath of several empty tubs of ice cream, as you hold your...
The How and Why of Wrestling Your Inbox to Zero
Have you ever ended up TWO weeks behind in answering emails? An inbox full of missed opportunities, deadlines, and people you care about left with the sour taste that maybe you don't like them.
Not good for business. Very good for encouraging an unhealthy sense of guilt, shame and pressure.
The high tide in my inbox used to often put me way behind. I tried to claw my way out of the situation. I used filters, with my million and a half different email boxes to sort things into. I would take a...
When You're Too Exhausted to Run a Business.
Fifteen years I've put into this business, and I'm just spent, lamented one client. Another told me, I pushed myself to get my website up, and I went over an edge with my health. It took me months to recover.
It's humbling to realize, but as you age, you just don't have the same ability to go all night, and to push through deadlines and projects as you did once upon a time. Heck, I'm only just over the edge into my forties, and I definitely tend to prefer naps over late nights.
How about...
Can Branding Ever Be Heart Centered?
? Sometimes the world delivers up vocabulary words that are just plain wrong. Painfully wrong. Words like "branding," which the world of marketing seems to love, but regular folks and cows just seem to hate.
And it's because of how branding has often been used. Companies have done psychological studies on how to craft an environment that gets you to react in the way they want you to. It's like herding cattle into the searing-hot iron--ouch.
Of course you don't want to use branding. Why would...
How Do You Be Unique When What You Do Isn't Yours?
? You come off the freeway exit ramp, and bam, you're stuck behind a long line of cars at the stop sign, all wanting to turn left, the same way you want to go. Slowly, one by one, they go through the stop sign. You inch imperceptibly forward.
Suddenly one of the cars peals off and goes right, instead of left. You're bored by this time, so you figure, what the heck--let's try it out.
You follow the car, and find they make a sharp right, a jog left, and then another left. And they've gotten to...
Why You Shouldn't Handle More Than Three Projects.
As I write this, my wife Holly, myself, and our assistant Kate are planning to meet in a couple of hours. And why? So we can put a bunch of absolutely amazing and wonderful ideas on the back burner, and do nothing about them.
It's probably not such a surprising idea for you, that you're supposed to prioritize your projects, and only focus on a few things at a time. If you're new to the concept, like I was when I was trying to keep 20 projects all going at once, and driving myself insane in...
Cookie Grandma's Secrets to a Unique and Powerful Business.
Your business probably seems like many others. There are billyuns and billyuns of therapists, consultants, retailers, and healers. Yet, in order to make an impact and deeper connection with customers that is so necessary for a sustainable business, you need to distinguish yourself.
However, just 'finding your voice' and 'developing your uniqueness' aren't often helpful strategies. Your voice may be unique, but who's going to listen to it?
I think we better visit the Cookie Grandma.
A...
When Following-the-Leader Gets Your Business in Trouble.
On a hot summer day in the early 1990's, I was standing in the middle of a California freeway. Four cars were piled up around me, and ambulances, fire engines, and the California Highway Patrol were arriving one after the other.
Our paramedic unit had parked where the first-in unit had told us to park, and we were working on the car that first medic on-scene had directed us to. Per protocol, the first paramedic on-scene was the "incident commander" until a higher ranking command officer or...
Why your business needs a peer-led Mastermind group.
Every time I teach a class, and build in the buddy system, people are blown away by how much -easier- everything is, just from not doing it alone. And not just getting stuff done, but the insights, the perspective shifts. Everything changes when you aren't solo.
I just returned from my second annual mastermind weekend, and I'm flying high for the same reason. The four of us in my mastermind gently, compassionately, and yet with some real -oomph- pointed out each other's blind spots, stuck...
The Curse of Professionalism in Your Business.
Have you ever received (or written) an email like this one?
"Thank you for your correspondence. We appreciate your desire to contact us, and someone will get back to you shortly."
Kinda cold and stale, eh? I'm used to seeing things like this from corporations, and from the back of our refrigerator, but how about us teensy business folks?
You don't want to sound like an automaton, but you also don't want to be inappropriately familiar, or sloppy. And, of course, there's that thought going on...
The true measure of money in your business.
Shiny new cars. Big mansions. The good life. Even if you're not a particularly material person, it's easy to be caught by those images, and to wonder: "Why don't I have that? Is there something wrong with me?"
It's become especially popular to equate material wealth with spiritual attainment. "If you do good, and if you think abundantly, then the untold riches of the universe will pour forth for you. If you stew yourself in despair and complaint, then forget it. You get nothing."
Is it true?...
Why Attraction is a Mistake in Marketing.
Coffee shop. The background beat of some silly pop music. Buzz of conversation. The glow of laptop screens. And then, one near the counter, the other in a window seat, they both look up, and their eyes meet. Attraction! Next thing you know, they're picking out paint colors, and sharing chores in some nice little house in the neighborhood.
It's a cozy picture, isn't it? If only your clients would move into your business as easily.
Unfortunately, when your eyes meet theirs, they tend to look...
Smoothing cashflow when your business is small or new.
A participant in the Opening the Moneyflow Course has a fairly minimal email list of potential clients, about 80 or so. It's enough to bring in a few clients, but not enough to keep her pipeline full.
While she's ramping up to increase the list, which is growing every week, she's still facing that cashflow issue: how can you keep a steady cashflow with just a handful of clients, before your marketing gets traction?
When the last session approaches.
In the first four sessions of a...
Why you make some business mistakes over and over.
Why do you make certain mistakes over and over again? No matter how hard you try to fix or control the situation, they seem beyond your control.
For instance, I was working with a client recently who has a number of staff working under him, and wanted to delegate to them efficiently. And the same problem showed up in employee after employee.
Okay, so it got incrementally better, somewhat. But, even after several years he was still exhausted and the delegating wasn't really taking the load...
Does the cutting edge of social media really pay?
? So someone asks you: "What's your Twitter name?" And you look at them like they are a loony. Twitter? Huh?
And then the next person asks you, "You blog, right? What's the URL?"
Hold it. What happened? In the seeming blink of an eye, suddenly there's all this new so-called 'social media' on the web, and you know nothing about it.
What's worse, is that everyone else seems to be there already. It's like you went to the bathroom, and when you came out, the party moved on, leaving you in a dark...
Handling complaints without making things worse.
The email comes, or the phone rings, and there's an absolute flood pouring right at you. "Hey, you didn't do what you said you would do. This didn't work as advertised. You goofed!"
Yup, a complaint. Ahhh! A complaint?! But you poured your heart and soul into it, how could they complain?
Then you take a breath, and you read what they're asking for, and you realize... they were right. You DID make a mistake. Things are goofed up, perhaps badly.
Time to hang up your hat and go work in a cafe?...
How productivity contributes to global warming and debt.
There was an edge to my voice as I asked the question: "And so why haven't you finished what you promised to do?"
I meant for it to come out nicer, more reasonable. But, it didn't.
This is so often where we land, kerthunk, in business: are you getting it done, or aren't you? In the western world, we call this 'productivity' and we think it's a good thing. Even if we complain about it, or hold spiritual values that say otherwise, I find that my clients (and me... ) orient around this...
How to avoid reader fatigue in your subscribers.
There's some buzz I've been reading about in forums and on blogs about what's known as 'reader fatigue.' This is the condition that happens when you, as an individual, are confronted with sixteen hundred gazillion blogs, email newsletters, forums, and pdf downloads and you just get fed up with it.
I can relate.
Unfortunately, when you switch hats to being a business owner, suddenly you don't want to relate. You want people to read your emails, blogs and pdfs. Each unsubscribe, or ignored...
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