My mentor, Jim Rohn, used to say that we must each experience one of the following:

• The pain of discipline.
• Or the pain of regret / disappointment.

The pain of discipline weights ounces.

The pain of regret weighs TONS!

As business owners, we each have the opportunity to REALLY go for it and see just how far all our ideas and hard work can take us.  However, to benefit from our best ideas, we need to give them the wings they need in order to fly. This means putting them into action.

There’s a risk involved here, because we may well fail.  In fact, we could end up failing a number of times, in order to find and benefit from the ideas that lead us to the major breakthroughs that are required for extraordinary success.

How willing are you to get it wrong?

How prepared are you to throw all your energy into something, without the guarantee of success?  It has been my personal experience that the more willing you are to accept the occasional knock-back, the greater your chances are of achieving your full potential.  It has often been said, that if you want to achieve more, you need to increase your failure rate.  Whilst this may sound counter-intuitive, it makes perfect sense.  The only people who seldom fail, are those who do nothing.  They listen to advice, attend the classes, read the books – Then do nothing.

Gather your best ideas and put them into play.  Give them everything you have got.  Make the phone calls, write the emails, make the connections, meet with the people.  Do whatever is required, to give your ideas the opportunity to succeed.

I’m telling you, the results can be life changing!

As you get within touching distance of a New Year, you are presented with an amazing opportunity.  You can either watch your business get a year older or you can help your business become a year better.

A year better

To make your business a year better, you need to do two things:

1. Collect every business lesson you have learned this year.
2. Invest what you have learned into 2011.

In real terms, this means making a few tough decisions.  It means accepting that there are things you do (and have probably done for years) which are not helping your business, but are somehow “comfortable”.  Success comes from doing what is right, rather than what is easy, which is why so few people ever achieve real success.  The easy route is exactly that: Easy.  It’s also pointless, from a commercial development point of view.

People taking the easy approach do not get a New Year on the first day of January.  They simply get another chance to relive the same old year over again!

The world is full of business owners, who complain but stay the same.  They want things to improve, but they keep doing what’s easy, rather than fixing what’s broken. The challenge here, is that this form of neglect is so subtle.  You see, these errors in judgement, repeated each day, seem to have little negative impact on us in the short term. It’s only when we pull back and look at our overall progress (or lack of progress) that we see the cumulative damage caused.

What areas of your business are silently begging for your attention?

Find them.  Put a plan together to fix what’s wrong and work that plan!  If you know there’s something wrong in a particular area of your business, but you are not sure what it is or how to fix it, speak to someone who has the answers you need as soon as possible. Expert advice from a great; accountant, business advisor, marketing professional or IT consultant etc, can help you turn things around and get your business moving forward.

Remember this wonderful old saying: “If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got!”

Here in Europe, the clocks went back 1 hour last night.  In essence, this means that there’s an extra hour today, for people to use however they please.

What I find interesting, is that it sounds like most people seem intent on spending this extra hour ASLEEP!

Assuming Bob went to sleep at the usual time last night, there’s no physical need for him to have an additional hour’s sleep today.  However, if Bob is like most people, he would benefit from using that extra hour in a different way.

• He may invest an extra 60 minutes today, in quiet contemplation.
• He could invest those 60 minutes, calling someone he hasn’t spoken to for a while, who may need to hear a friendly voice right now.
• Or what about investing those extra 60 minutes, in spending more time today with the people he loves?

Sleeping is an important part of being fit and healthy.  Sleeping for more hours than you need, just because it’s the most obvious way to “invest” that extra hour, isn’t.

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

Have you ever wondered why some business owners refuse to invest in your services, even though they really need them?  Here’s what I have discovered, having worked with thousands of small business owners.

I was prompted to write this post, after speaking with 3 people recently, (purely by coincidence), who were each failing in their attempt to make a living as “life coaches.”  It’s little wonder.  Their services looked identical, just like (literally) hundreds of thousands of other life coaches, and there was nothing at all to motivate someone to hire THEM as opposed to anyone else in their industry.  None of them had any marketing experience and all 3 confirmed that they were earning practically nothing from their failing businesses.

Even so, all 3 were committed to developing their businesses without expert help, during the worst economy in living memory, knowing they were going broke.

Why?

All 3 gave me the same answer: Lack of money.

That’s the wrong answer, by the way!

Think about it for a moment: Almost every successful business starts off with little or nothing in the bank. Their challenge is not a financial one, if it was, only well funded businesses would succeed and that’s very much not the case.  In fact, some of the world’s most successful businesses, including Facebook, started off with little or nothing.  Facebook famously started off with just $1,000.

To give you a picture of that mindset in action, you need only look at the answer one of the life coaches gave me, when I asked him why he refused to invest in getting a local marketing guy in to help his business, when he so desperately needed marketing help.

I simply asked him: “You said that local marketing providers were too expensive for you to work with, how much did they quote you?

His answer: “Oh, I have no idea.  I haven’t spoken with any marketing people, they charge too much!”

That’s right, he had no clue what the cost was.  He just decided that whatever it was, it was going to be too expensive!  His barrier wasn’t financial, it was a mental block around investing in his business.  That may sound odd to you, but it’s an extremely common response from people who have decided that whatever the cost of expert help, it’s always going to be too much.

So, what is it that causes someone to try and compete in an overcrowded marketplace, during the most competitive economy in living memory, with no expert help?

I have worked with well over a thousand businesses over the past 15 years and have found that many small business owners simply lack the commercial edge required, to make it in business.  They are often passionate about the service they provide and in many cases, offer a great service too, but they are so focused on what they fear (loss) that they are blind to opportunities for growth.

As a result of failing to invest in their businesses correctly, through fear of loss, they paradoxically make it impossible to succeed.

In short: Where a businessperson or entrepreneur will see opportunity, they see only the potential for loss.  With that kind of mindset, it’s impossible to succeed at anything, including business.

The mindset of success

Just as the people I mentioned earlier made a conscious decision not to invest in their businesses, others I speak to, with little or no money, still managed to get the expert help their businesses needed.  These remarkable individuals have a very different mindset.  They make decisions based on what’s right for their business, rather than what’s easy.  They weigh up opportunities based on the potential for gain and loss and if the potential for gain is far greater, they do it.  Their failing counterparts will look for 100% guarantees, so elect to do nothing and thus miss everything.

I have met, spoken with and occasionally worked with, business owners who have had to make some tough decisions, in order to get the money required to get their business the technology, machinery, equipment or professional advice it needed in order to succeed.

They knew what was needed and they did what was required.

Our ability to look at the bigger picture and make the right decisions is ultimately what will determine how far we can go.  Each time we starve our business of the things it needs, we make it harder to survive, let alone thrive.

Thankfully, when we make decisions based on what’s right, rather than what’s easy, we move forward.  If we want to know how well our current mindset is serving us, we need only look at our results.  If we want better results, we need to take better actions and that comes when we make better decisions.

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

There are 4 ways to grow a business, which you need to focus on if you want to dramatically improve your marketing results.  Here are all 4, along with a brief explanation of each and some ideas on how to benefit form them:

1. Win more clients.
2. Increase the transaction value of your existing clients.
3. Increase the frequency of your client’s purchasing.
4. Reduce the number of clients who leave (what we call attrition.)

Your marketing strategy, should include plans for you to grow your business, using all 4 of the above areas.

Grow your business by attracting more clients

The first way to grow your business, is to attract more great clients or customers, (herein called clients.)  You do this by offering your marketplace compelling, uniquely valuable reasons to use YOUR services.  Remember, people will only be motivated to become your client, if YOU motivate them enough.  It’s easier for them to stay where they are, so your messages need to (literally) move them to take action.

It’s not enough to sound just like all the others in your space.  It’s not enough to make the same tired promises or offer a similar range of services or products.  You need to get creative and give inspiring, compelling reasons for people to buy from you.  If you do, they will.

Grow your business by increasing the value of transactions

You should look for ways to increase the value of your clients overall spend with you.  This means introducing new services or products for them to purchase, which will deliver outstanding value and enrich their lives, their businesses or both.  It’s NOT about just increasing your prices or fees every year.

Find out what issues, problems or challenges your clients are experiencing right now and look for ways to help them, with new services or products.  It is far, far easier, and more profitable, for you to sell a 2nd or 3rd service to your existing clients, than for you to successfully win 2 or 3 times as many clients.  This is the fastest way to increase your overall profits and revenue.

As well as looking for new services to offer, I also strongly suggest you offer your clients a platinum or diamond version of your current services.  People are busy and quality never goes out of style.  You may be surprised to discover how highly people value an elite version of your services.

Grow your business by increasing the frequency of your client’s transactions

Check that your clients are buying from you frequently enough, for them to get the very best results.  Jay Abraham used to give a great example of this.  He would say that if you sold water-coolers and you knew that in order for your client’s staff to be fully hydrated and healthy, they needed 5 glasses of water a day, (but they were only buying the equivalent of 3 glasses a day), you had a professional obligation to help them make the right decision and get all the water they needed.  Only increase the frequency of a client’s purchases, when it’s in THEIR interest to do so – Not yours.

Grow your business by retaining more clients for longer

You should seek to reduce the number of clients that stop using your services or buying your products.  We call this your attrition rate.  The bottom line here is that you will grow your business faster and have a far more robust business, if you retain as many clients as possible.

Client retention is all about listening to your clients and taking heed of what they say.  Offer your clients what they want and provide it to them, to the very best of your abilities.  Have a process in place, to connect with clients who have not been in touch with you for a while.  Deal with client issues quickly and thoroughly.  Treat customer service as a marketing component – Because that’s what it is.

Don’t be like those companies, who treat people like royalty during the purchase process, then pass them over to a disinterested “account executive” once they have signed the contract.  Also, whenever a client switches from you to a new provider, ask them why.  Give them an exit call or send them an exit survey.

Listen to them.  Learn from them.

So, those are the 4 ways to grow your business.  Make them the cornerstone of your marketing strategy and it will ensure that you are covering all the bases.

Your tips please!

Do you have any tips for your fellow readers, regarding any of the 4 ways to grow a business mentioned here?  If you do, please share them!

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

Here’s some important marketing advice that can help you massively increase your income, if you are like the vast majority of small business owners out there.  Let me start by asking you a quick question:

How many ways do you market your services?

The most successful businesses will use at least a dozen or more forms of marketing.  Each marketing activity will have been chosen and developed, so that it compliments and builds upon the others.  This creates what we call a compound marketing effect.  This is also what I am referring to, when you hear me mention the term strategic marketing.

Strategic marketing

Strategic marketing is about the BIG picture. If you want to massively improve your results and set your business on the right track, you need to think and plan strategically.  Your marketing strategy is a focused plan, which will usually be split into weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual segments.  It’s a flexible plan, which needs to be reviewed regularly.  You need to know what works, and what doesn’t.  You need to know what needs fixing, and what needs trashing.  Here’s some information on how to test and measure your marketing.

Tactical marketing

Tactical marketing is how most small business owners market their services.  They tend to be on the look out for the ONE KILLER MARKETING TACTIC or trick, which will make them rich.  Because they are always looking for that non-existent silver bullet, they usually have either no overall marketing strategy or just a fuzzy idea of what they should be doing.  They make seemingly random marketing decisions, which do not build upon anything.

Most small business owners market in isolation.  For example, they will (just decide) to do some email marketing and because there’s no overall plan, if they don’t get a great result after the first or second email, they stop.  They wouldn’t even think of developing a 6 month email marketing plan, with each email message building on the previous one, until the final email gives a massively leveraged call to action, which earns them a ton of money! No, they will send a few poorly written emails out and then claim email marketing doesn’t work!  If the magic bullet fails more than a few times, it’s dropped and replaced with the next isolated marketing attempt.

Don’t do that. It’s frustrating and you will go broke!

Marketing strategy first – Marketing tactics second

If you want to start seeing some real, measurable progress, you need to know what your marketing strategy is.  Only then, can you possibly know what the correct tactics will be for you and what you want to achieve.  Otherwise, it’s like trying to plan a route somewhere, when you don’t have a destination!

Decide what you want to achieve and get specific.  This means putting some numbers together, such as your target; turnover, profits, unit sales, client numbers etc.  Then, decide what resources you are prepared to invest, to make this happen.  For example, how much time / money are you able to invest in your marketing?  Until you know exactly what your resources are, you cannot possibly select the correct marketing tactics for your overall strategy.

So, it’s strategy first, then combine (or compound) your tactics together, in order to get the best possible results.

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

The ability to work today, on creating a better tomorrow, is a cornerstone of business success.  However, many small business owners get it all wrong.

For example, I spoke with a business owner last week, who wasted hundreds of hours just 6 months ago, writing a paperback book on how to use Twitter.  His self-published book is already woefully out of date and he is around $12,000 out of pocket!  Twitter is a constantly evolving platform, and paperback books are static once published; ensuring his book would have an extremely limited shelf life and decrease in value with each passing day.  By failing to plan ahead, he ended up driving $12,000 worth of books to his local recycling centre, to be pulped!

Ask anyone in marketing and they will tell you that there is a rush for their services in January.  This is because many business owners don’t plan for the coming year, until it has already started!  It’s as if they are unaware in October, that January is just around the corner.  Business owners with that disadvantage are always playing catch-up with  their better prepared competitors.  For instance, I will see a 400% increase in requests for my services in January and none of them have a hope of hiring me, as all my available client places will have already been booked, by forward thinking business owners.

Invest some time today in planning for what you want next week, next month, next year and beyond.

Build a better future, by making better decisions, today!

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

It’s a fact: Great ideas alone are of little use.

They only acquire value, when you use them!

One of the biggest blocks to commercial success, is the inability to take the action required for what you want to achieve.  Everyone in business can do the easy stuff; however, very few business owners are prepared to discipline themselves to do the tricky, challenging things that are required for success.

When people ask me how I dragged myself out of the gutter into a life of abundance, (BTW: here’s what I used to call home!) I tell them that I read some great books and then put every great idea I discovered into action.

When I think of every successful person I know, from my long time friend, the grammy award-winning writer / producer Bruce Elliott-Smith through to people I have worked with at The BBC, like Lara King and on to every successful businessperson I have worked with, they are ALL people of action.  They get an idea and they use it.

That kind of self motivation is in stark contrast to what you and I see around us each day.  Typically, people will do what’s easy, rather than what’s right.  Business owners, for example, will often know that there are important things that need to be done, yet they will avoid doing them because they are too hard to do and so easy NOT to do.  The challenge with that approach is that it’s broken.  It doesn’t work.

I was prompted to write this brief post, after hearing someone on the radio earlier say that: “When all is said and done, there’s a lot more said, than done!”  How very true.  I hear people discussing amazing plans and opportunities all the time, yet see very few actually putting plans into action.

If you think you would benefit from learning how to motivate yourself (and others) I have an audio program you should check out.  I wrote and recorded it specifically for people who want to learn how to put their plans and ideas into action.  It’s based on the same set of tools that I used to transform my life and has been used by people in over 100 countries, without a single money back request.  You can grab a copy here, download it and be listening to me share these ideas and techniques with you in minutes.

Give your best plans and ideas the chance to succeed that they deserve, by putting them into action.  You will be amazed at the results.

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

I’m going to show you 6 very easy ways to improve the success of your marketing.

It’s based on the understanding that the marketplace likes things to be easy.  So, the easier you make it for people to learn about you and connect with you, the easier YOU will find it to gain inquiries, attract new customers or make more sales.

Let’s go!

1. Your site needs to be easy to navigate around.

There’s little point having lots of wonderful, valuable content on your website or blog, if people can’t find it.  Many sites have pages within pages and information on the same subject, which is scattered all over the site.  Keep your site clean and clear.  Make sure it loads nice and quickly and that all your links work.  The easier your prospective clients can navigate your site, the more likely they are to find what they are looking for, and get in touch with you / buy from the site.

2. You need to make it easy for people to contact you via your website too.

That DOESN’T mean a contact box on a contact page, where you tell people they have to give YOU their email address, name, company name etc – just to get in touch.  Many people (me included) will not do that!  If that’s the only way for people to contact you, I can assure you 100% that it is losing you business inquiries.  To be easy to contact, give people your phone number, email address, social networking accounts and if you want people to trust you, I suggest you put a postal address down too!

3. The benefits of using your services need to be easy to understand.

This means short, information rich content that’s written in plain English.

4. Make it easy for people to trust you.

Use testimonials from named people, who had great experiences with you.  If you have won an award or reached a certified level of achievement within your industry, make sure people can easily see it.  I have a big orange shield on this site, which shows people that this blog is listed as one of the top 150 marketing blogs in the world, by AdAge – The most respected organizations in our industry.  Similarly, on my about page I mention that my expertise has been quoted or listed on The BBC, CBS, ITV etc and and in print via The New York Times, The LA Times and others.

5. Your persona needs to be easy to engage with.

If you use your blog or social networking accounts as a way to broadcast what you think, rather than engage people and communicate, you will attract very few inquiries.  Prospective client’s find it a lot easier to email or call a potential provider, if that provider is personable and approachable. Be human and make it easy for them to see the real you.

6. Make it easy for people to call you.

This means never, ever using a premium rate phone number or cell / mobile number as your contact number.  No one wants to have to pay you, via a premium rate number, to find out about your services.  Many small businesses use non-standard numbers because they want to disguise where they are located, in case it puts people off.  That’s nuts.  I suggest you use a normal number.  Mobile phone numbers, when used as the only contact number, make you look less stable.  As a consequence, this will reduce the number of calls you receive and by extension, the number of inquiries you get.

What would you add to that list, as a way to make it as easy as possible for people to find the value in what you do?

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

If thousands of people offer a very similar service to your own, your income will be limited.

If hundreds of people in your industry market their services in a similar way to you, your growth potential will be limited.

If tens of people in your industry have websites that rank higher on Google than your site does, your online marketing potential will be limited.

If just one of your competitors decides to up their game and target your clients with professional, competitive marketing, your turnover and profits next year will be limited.

With 2011 just around the corner, you have a decision to make.  You can either make 2011 a replay of 2010 or you can decide that you want something better.

To relive the same year over again (and waste another 12 months), simply do whatever you did in 2010.  This is what most small business owners will do and it’s why they seldom make any worthwhile progress.  It’s the path of least resistance. It’s easy.  There’s no need to change.

To make things better in 2011, you need to stop whatever your current approach is and replace it with something more effective.  This requires courage, which is why this path is so rare.  It also requires change, which makes it just too uncomfortable for most people to try.  The masses prefer to complain, but stay the same.

So, more of the same or something better?

Thankfully, the decision is always yours!

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

When you were a kid, you were told that there is safety in numbers.  You learned that if you were with a group of children on a trip somewhere, it was potentially very dangerous to stray away from the rest of the pack.  For kids in that type of scenario, the advice is correct.

To be outstanding, you need to stand out!

As adults, most small business owners are still following the pack, like when they were kids.  The challenge here, is that it’s impossible to be outstanding in business or achieve outstanding results, unless you stand out.  To stand out commercially, we need to have the courage to break away from the pack – To be different from our competitors.

Here’s the thing: Every time you do something with your marketing, customer service or business development, which mirrors what your competitors are doing, you become a little less outstanding.  My mirroring what the pack are doing, you make it impossible to break beyond the “average” and that’s a stressful, uninspiring place to spend your career.

Now, you can (just about) scrape a living without being outstanding.  However, I’m pretty sure you didn’t go into business to scrape a living. Right?  You started a business because you wanted something more than that.  You could have had a regular job if all you wanted was to pay the bills and have a little left over.  No, you decided you wanted more from your life and that’s exactly what you should focus on.

Don’t settle for less, just to accommodate an under-performing business

Don’t be like the masses of small business owners, who forget about the dreams and ambitions they had when they started their business.  These guys have adjusted their lifestyle DOWN to accommodate an under-performing business, rather then adjust the performance of their business UP, so that it fulfils their ambitions.  Fall back in love with the passion that drove you to start your business and use that energy to inspire you to break away from average and become outstanding!

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

I mentioned on Twitter earlier, that I had just been quoted in today’s New York Times.  It’s a short piece about a post I wrote here, on the difference between running a business and running a self-employed job.

Anyhow, I soon received an email, asking me what my tips were for gaining that kind of coverage.  So, rather than just reply to the guy who sent me the email, I thought I would share my answer here, in case you find it useful.

Here is the 3 step process I suggested to him:

1. Make your site easy to find.
2. Have something worth saying.
3. Say it well.

Make your site easy to find

People need to be able to easily find your site, when they are searching the Internet for the kind of topics you write about.  This means embracing SEO (search engine optimization.)  Easily, the single most important part of SEO is the number and quality of links pointing to your site.  Many people focus too much on stuffing key words into their web pages and blog posts, hoping this will boost their SEO, but neglect to focus on attracting good quality, organic links from great sites.  If none of what I just said makes sense to you, get some expert SEO help.

Have something worth saying

Whatever you write about, make it as valuable and interesting as possible.  It’s hard to stand out, when you are simply echoing what everyone else in your industry is saying.  Here’s a suggestion: If others in your space are all writing about the problems within your industry, start writing about possible answers.  Be courageous enough to swim in the opposite direction to the rest of the crowd.  Whatever you do, make your message worth saying.  If you do, it will also be worth reading and worth sharing!

Say it well

Once your site is easy to find and you have something worth saying, you need to be able to say it well – To communicate your message as effectively as possible.  This is something else I work on with my clients, because it is such a key part of being in business today.  We live in an age where the typical small business owner is no longer just a passive consumer of information.  She is a content creator too!  She has her website, emails, social networking updates and (I hope) her blog too.  I believe that every small business owner needs to invest in developing their copywriting skills.

The good news is that everything I have mentioned here is a skill you can improve with the right guidance.  Anyone can improve their SEO, so they attract lot’s of targeted readers.  Anyone can learn how to look at their industry more creatively and then improve their copywriting skills, so people actually want to read what they have to say.  It’s why people like me exist!

If you miss out any of those 3 steps, you are placing a very low ceiling on your marketing potential.  Very few small businesses focus effectively on more than 1 of those areas, which is GREAT news for you.  It means that if you decide to do what’s required to learn all 3 skills, you can achieve amazing results!

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

There’s a post on NileRodgers.com, which took my breath away, drove me to tears and then inspired me more than any single post I have ever read!

WARNING: This post has nothing to do with marketing or business development, but I would like to share it with those of you seeking inspiration or strength right now.

The video

It’s a very recently discovered video recording of Nile performing in Japan, with his great friend and Chic co-founder, the late GREAT Bernard Edwards.  It was Bernard’s last ever performance and in the Video, you can see him coming in and out of shot, having to leave the stage to take oxygen to cope with the pain he was in.  ‘Nard refused medical advice and the advice of those who loved him, and insisted in playing bass (beautifully), on this version of “Wild Boys” with Simon Le Bonn and the other members of The Chic Organization.

What makes this one of the most powerful, inspiring posts I have ever seen, is that it shows someone that is so driven and passionate about what they do, that even though they were in incredible pain and soon to leave this world, they drove themselves to do what they lived for.

I have had the privilege of chatting with Nile Rodgers about this, and his insights from that experience have LITERALLY (and I’m using that word in the correct context here) changed my life.

Why?

Here’s some background

As some of you may know, I had an extremely brutal childhood; growing up on one of the most violent slums in South London.  To give you an idea, I was almost killed in a gang fight at the age of just 17; after being attacked by 5 guys, one of whom attacked me with an axe.

Back then, one of the things that used to bring me and my friends some positive inspiration when we were surrounded by violence and lack, was music.  My preferred sound at the time was the music of Chic.

Chic’s music used to follow me everywhere.  I used to listen to it in the gym when I was boxing and in the disco at the weekend.  I still clearly remember saving up to get each new record on 12″ vinyl from the local record shop.  To this day I still own and cherish all of them. I remember bringing my Chic collection (along with records from the likes of The Brothers Johnson, Crown Heights Affair, Hamilton Bohannon etc ) to parties and guarding them very closely.

Then, we fast forward over 30 years and I see the aforementioned video.  Today, I have a beautiful family, a very successful business and am financially secure for life.  However, I find myself inspired by Chic once more – And to an even greater extent than “back in the day.”

Today, it’s about more than the Chic sound: It’s about the passion that drove Bernard Edwards to MAKE that sound with Nile Rodgers.

After watching that video and then chatting with Nile about it, (the day Nile saw the video for the very first time), something within me changed.  It’s a change for the better and I am eternally grateful to Nile for responding, when I reached out to him.

Nile is 100% class – THAT’S CHIC!!

I hope you don’t mind me sharing this with you, but I believe sometimes it’s good to know a little about the people behind blogs and social networks.  If you read through this far and I managed to get what I am feeling across with these words, then you probably know a LOT more about me than you did before.

Update: I was deeply touched to see that Nile Rodgers decided to share this post with his friends and fans on Facebook and Twitter.  See below:

How’s business for you right now?

The question is simple and the answer is pretty simple too.  If you are making measurable progress in reasonable time then business is almost certainly fine.  If you are not making enough measurable progress in reasonable time, you are either plateauing or slowly going broke.  This post is for people in this second group, who are struggling to attract enough clients or make enough sales right now.

In my experience, most small business owners work hard, using all they know in order to develop their businesses.  Then, they reach a plateau or “levelling point.”  From here on, it seems that no matter how hard they try to generate sales or win new clients / customers, their efforts seem to have just a marginal positive impact.  In most of the cases I have seen, people with this problem have usually tried to develop their business based on tactical marketing, using ideas they discovered via the Internet or from some of the more popular marketing books / seminars.

If this sounds like you, you probably have a hundred and one different marketing ideas, but because they are generic (written for mass consumption) few of them seem to work and many are just too confusing for you to actually use.

Clearly, if you find yourself in this group, you need to get out.  The sooner the better.  The way forward, is for you to move from using the generic kind of marketing ideas I mentioned a moment ago, and start using a clear, effective plan, which is based on your specific situation, challenges and resources.  Your marketing and business development plan needs to be designed for you – not for “the masses.”

General marketing advice is exactly that: General.  However, what you need are specifics.  You need a plan that will take you from where you are today, to where you want to be.  You also need support and guidance, so that you can keep on track and have all your questions answered along the way.  This is where professional marketing comes in.  There are marketing consultants in your town or city, who will be able to help you put a plan together.  Some are good, some are less good.  Ask your friends and contacts who THEY use and what they think of them, if you decide to take that route.

How can I help you?

Of course, I’m here too.  My marketing service is for those of you who want a clear marketing plan BUT also, someone you can trust to give you all the support and advice you need, every step of the way.  This means you not only get access to my most powerful marketing ideas, you also have me on the other end of a phone line or Skype, when you need advice, support or someone to bounce ideas off.  My clients often tell me that this provides a level of clarity, focus and energy that they never had before.  However, my marketing service is only available to small businesses.  I personally subsidise my fee for that service, so that every small business owner, who’s serious about improving their results can work with me.  It’s one of the most interesting things I do professionally, and my clients have achieved some stunning, life changing results.

As long time readers will know, I don’t mention my services in detail in my blog posts usually, but it’s important for you to know I’m here for you right now, if you think you may need me.

The bottom line: If what you have been doing up to this point has not generated the bankable results you want, then it’s time to get the help you need, so you can enjoy the success you deserve.

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

Many small business owners do not actually run a business. They simply run a self-employed job!

For example, I remember speaking a while ago with a guy, who told me he ran an oven cleaning business.

I asked him how his business worked and he explained; “It’s really straight forward, Jim.  I have some very powerful cleaning products and I travel all over the county, cleaning people’s ovens with these industrial strength products.  I’m usually able to get an oven looking as good as new.”

I asked him what happened to his earnings, when he was on holiday.  He replied;  “I’m only making money when I am cleaning ovens.  When I’m taking a break, I don’t make anything.”  He then joked that this was why he seldom took a break.

That guy did not run a business.

He ran a self-employed job, with what sounded like very few perks.  When he’s too old or too sick to clean ovens, his income stops immediately.  That’s not much of a return, for maybe 20 or 30 years worth of work.  We all deserve better than that!

How could he turn it around?

If this guy wanted to start running a business, he could decide to hire people to do the actual cleaning for him, whilst he grew the business.  That may or may not work, depending on his attitudes to employing people.  So, here are a few alternatives, which would turn his time-for-money business model on its head:

• He might want to produce a book or DVD, which shows consumers how to safely clean their ovens, so that they look like new. This scales well and could be used as part of a residual income stream.
• He may want to get a license, to be the official reseller in his country of a range of oven cleaning products.  This can be extremely profitable.
• If he went on to develop a successful oven cleaning business, by embracing these business development ideas, he could create a program for owners of other oven cleaning businesses, to show them how he achieved his success.  Ironically, this would ALSO create another residual income stream for him.
• He could also sell the above program to other people, who sell their time for money, such as; consultants, freelance designers, trainers, business advisors etc.

The bottom line: The sooner you start running a business, the sooner your “job” stops running you.

Yesterday, someone in the UK won £113m on the euromillions lottery.  I just heard a short extract from a radio station, where they asked listeners what would be the first thing they would do (not buy), if they won all that money.

Each of the 4 replies I heard could be achieved without a lottery win, yet these people seemed to think only a huge cash windfall would make them possible.  You can quit a job you hate or travel to Peru, without being a millionaire.  You can also find the partner of your dreams or start a great little business, without millions in the bank (I did.)

Bogus limitations

Most of the limitations we place on ourselves are completely bogus.  As soon as we apply some thought, it’s clear that with a little planning and a lot of commitment, many of the things we believe to be beyond us, are actually well within our reach.  It’s all about raising the bar on what we believe we are capable of and learning the difference between something that is impossible for us to achieve and something that is challenging.

What bogus limitations are holding you back?

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

Do you ever find yourself suffering from what I call MIND FOG?

This is where you have so much going on that it’s hard to focus with complete clarity, on what you want to achieve.  You end up with lots of lists and even though you seem to be getting things done, you are not making the kind of commercial progress that you want.

Would you like some help?  Great.  Here are 3 questions, designed to remove that foggy thinking and set you on track to clarity and the bankable results you need:

1. If my business was already perfect for me in every way, what would it look like?

Write your answer down, in detail.  Include everything, from what your turnover and profits would be and how many hours you would work, to the profile of your ideal clients and the kind of service you would provide.  Then, each time you have a commercial decision to make, simply ask yourself: “Is this going to take me closer to my ideal business or further away from it?”

Your answer to this simple question provides you with a destination and a direction.  One of the reasons so many businesses spin their wheels and get nowhere, is that they lack that kind of pinpoint focus and clarity.  It’s impossible to identify the right opportunities, unless you are crystal clear about what you want.

2. What is my desired outcome here?

Here’s one of the best pieces of business advice I was ever given: Before you do anything, ALWAYS start with the end in mind.  Don’t waste a minute of your time, an ounce of your energy or a penny of your money, until you know what you want to achieve from something.  For example, most small business owners will set up a Facebook / Twitter / Linkedin account because they think they should or because someone tells them they should – but they have just a foggy idea of what their outcome is.  As a direct result, they have no idea who to connect with or how best to use these tools.

I get emails regularly, from business owners with lots of social networking followers, but nothing in the bank to show for it.  Their foggy thinking at the start, means they connected with the wrong people, in the wrong way, and now use their social network as light relief, rather than a business generating asset.  That’s what happens when you start something, without knowing your outcome in advance.

3. Is this the best use of my time, right now?

One of the core reasons that small business owners fail to reach their potential, even though they work long hours, is that they waste too much of their time on low value activities.

I have seen a £150 an hour lawyer, waste 3 hours of his time trying to fix his email; rather than pay someone a fraction of that amount to do it for him.  Had he asked himself this simple question; “Is this the best use of my time, right now?” he would have immediately realised that it wasn’t, and would have avoided wasting his time, energy and money.  Make it a habit to ask yourself this question throughout the day.  Whenever you find yourself answering; “No, this is not the best use of my time right now”, go and do something that’s of greater value to you and your business.

With so many daily distractions all fighting for your attention throughout the day, it’s important to be in control of your time and that means gaining control of your focus.  This simple question helps you do just that!

(Those 3 questions are a very brief example of the kind of things I work on with my clients, there’s more here.)

It’s just too easy to mistake movement for progress.  It’s also unnecessary, yet without a crystal clear idea of exactly what you want to achieve and the ability to get things done, it’s impossible to make much progress no matter how hard you work.  Like they say, if hard work were the secret to success, our grandparents would have been millionaires.

I hope you found those 3 questions useful.  If you did, please share them with your friends!

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

Every small business owner is gifted the same fantastic opportunity:

“Do I do whatever is required in order to offer an exceptional service, or just offer a ‘good’ service like all the others?”

If they elect to take it easy, life can be hard!

Great marketing is not enough to encourage people to fall in love with an average service.  Even so, small business owners will happily waste hours each month, trying to market an average service so that it sounds a little more attractive.  How many small business owners take this route?  The majority!  Just look at all those average providers you see.

If they elect to get serious, life will be easy!

Great marketing combined with a superior service is the secret behind the success of every business.  No matter how enigmatic Steve Jobs is, the iPhone would not have been an international best-seller unless it was a superior product.  How many business owners take this route?  Very few!  That’s because it requires you paying the price for success in advance.  It requires making a product or service exceptional, and that means thinking, planning, studying and taking the action required.

Decide NOW to make your service so uniquely valuable, that when people hear about it they become immediately attracted to it.  Make it so attractive that people will bug you because they desperately want to be your customer.  I’m telling you: Armed with that kind of proposition you can achieve anything with your business.

Is it easy?

No, of course not!

Is it possible?

Yes, of course it is!

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

Although I have had the privilege of working with, and studying, some amazing people, there is one amazing human being who manages to teach me something new every single day.

• He is fearless.
• He is non-judgemental.
• He is always willing to help and spends some of his time teaching children how to read.
• He always hugs his friends when he meets them.
• He is extremely creative.
• He loves to learn and is always asking questions.
• He’s great company to be around and people always greet him with a smile.
• He reads something educational and inspirational every single day.
• When he laughs, he REALLY laughs.
• He’s a fantastic dancer!

He’s also my 5 year old son!

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

Here’s one of the easiest ways to improve the effectiveness of your marketing.  I think I can get the message across to you in less than 3 minutes.  Let’s see!

It can all be summed up in these 3 words: Make it easy!

Make it easy

Make it easy for people to find information on your website. Don’t hide great content; make it findable.  Use simple navigation.  Offer a search option.

Make it easy for people to contact you. This means not only offering them your contact details, but letting them know you want to hear from them.  Show them that you are approachable, friendly and willing to help.  Let them know that they will not be under any obligation when they speak with you.  And NEVER offer people a premium rate number as the way to contact you with a business inquiry.  This is a barrier that most sensible people will refuse to cross.

Make it easy for people to trust you. Don’t subscribe people to your mailing list without their permission, or send them DM spam on Twitter, or use your social networks to simply broadcast your latest deals or offers to people.  Demonstrate, by the way you conduct yourself, that you are worthy of their trust.

One of the reasons I work as a mentor to lots of marketing professionals, is that they trust my integrity.  They know that I will discretely help them to market their own marketing services and give them all my most powerful marketing ideas. Trust is supremely important.

Make it easy for people to see the value of your product or service. Use plain English to point out your most powerful benefits in as few words as possible.  Avoid buzzwords.  Embrace clarity.

Make it easy for people to share your message. For example, when I wrote a marketing newsletter, I had a simple link in each newsletter, which people could use to forward the newsletter to their friends.  Equally, there was also a link their friends could click, which put them on the subscriber list if they wanted to join.

Now, I make it easy for people to share my work, using the social networking options below.  Feel free to test them and share this post!

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!