In my experience, happiness is not something you should put off until some point in the future, yet many hard-working business owners do exactly that.  They subconsciously decide to delay their happiness until they have reached a certain financial status or moved into a certain size house or reached some other landmark.

 

They promise themselves that when they have X amount of money, THAT’S when they will start relaxing and enjoying life.  But right now, in the present, they will just work hard and plough through life.

I discovered a long time ago, that true success comes from learning how to enjoy the whole journey and not just the destination.  I know many people in business, who work long hours building a better future.  That’s great.  The thing is, some of these people have been doing this for 20 years and very seldom taken time out to enjoy their family, friends and all the things that matter.

When they are at the beach, they are still really in the office; or at least their mind is.  You’ve seen them too right?  Sitting with their family, yet checking their email and voice-mail?

It’s commendable to have a strong work ethic and to want a better future.  I would like to think I fit into that category myself.  However, no one said that the journey to the top shouldn’t be fun or include plenty of time to enjoy our family and friends.

I was reading one of those; how to get millions of unique blog visitors articles yesterday, when I saw something that made me smile.  At the end of a long list of very obvious blog marketing ideas, was a sentence that told readers  NONE of this will work, unless you are producing remarkable content.

In other words, unless you are a creative, gifted content provider, capable of producing amazing material that people will want to share, you can forget everything you just read, because these “tricks” won’t work!

Why was that important disclaimer at the bottom of the post?

Because if it was at the top of the post, very few people would have read beyond it!

The marketplace is full of people, who are actively searching for that one elusive trick that will magically generate a ton of traffic to their site.  That’s who those posts are targeted at. They are the blogging equivalent of those infomercials, that promise you a flatter stomach in just 4 weeks, with just 60 seconds use a day; with that tiny disclaimer at the end that says it only works if you massively reduce your calorie intake and take regular exercise!

Business blogging: You don’t need tricks!

The reality is that you don’t need tricks if you want to attract regular sales or enquiries through your site.  You do, however, need 2 things.

1. Great content.
2. An effective Internet marketing strategy.

How many people produce great content?  Very few.

How many people work to an effective Internet marketing strategy?  Very few.

There’s the challenge!

Think of it like this:  Imagine my friend Bob the Blogger manages to get his business blog ranking highly for a certain search engine term that’s relevant to his business.  You search for that term on Google and see Bob’s link, so you click it.  However, when you arrive at Bob’s blog, you can tell very quickly that the content offers nothing new or interesting.

What do you do?

You leave!  Then, you then go back to Google and keep searching until you find something worth reading.

In that example, Bob made it to page 1 of Google for a relevant search engine term, you visited his site, saw that his content was crap, so he lost you almost immediately.  He did well with Google, but his content let him and his business down.

Now, imagine that Bob’s content is great, but his Internet marketing strategy is poor.  He fails to use the most effective, basic SEO techniques and isn’t leveraging social media either.  As a result, very few people ever discover his site and he becomes one of those best kept secrets in business; where the business owner usually works very hard and offers great value, but goes broke through lack of sales / new clients.

The balance that’s required, is great content, backed up by an equally good Internet marketing strategy.

Depending on your industry, there are potentially hundreds of thousands of sites out there, in your particular niche.  For example, I did a search on Google recently for the term “marketing blogs” and saw 145 million results.  That’s a BIG niche!  In order for my blog to rank on page 1 of Google for that term, which it does at time of writing, I need to out-perform a LOT of marketing blogs.

Business Blogging: Where people get it wrong.

In my experience, the area where most people get it wrong is not their SEO.  It’s their copy writing.  They write content that’s very similar to others in their niche and they fail to inspire their readers to take action.  This means that even when one of their posts or pages attracts a lot of traffic from search engines, there’s little there to inspire these search engine visitors to do anything.

People will only click a link, share a post, subscribe to your RSS feed or call you via your site, if there’s a compelling reason for them to do so.  All the SEO plugins and “killer techniques” in the world will not make up for generic / pedestrian copy.

Have something worth saying and learn how to write it as effectively as you possibly can.  Use the best SEO techniques you can find and weave them into your overall Internet marketing strategy.  If you want help, let me know. It’s what I do!

In business, it’s easy to assume that people know how much we appreciate them, so we often don’t bother saying anything.  The thing is, your words of appreciation or praise are enormously powerful.

A quick email, Tweet, phone call or thank you note from you, can transform someone’s day from being just average to being wonderful and it only takes a minute or two of your time.  For those going through a tough time right now, your words of appreciation can be worth more than gold.

So, Why not make today the day where you:

• Tell your clients how much you love working with them.
• Email a few of your contacts, just to let them know that you value your relationship with them or the support they offer you.
• If you write a blog, publish a post that thanks the people who have helped you and make sure you name names.
• Tell the person that serves you in the coffee shop that you appreciate the way they look after you.
• Write a quick testimonial for one of the companies that provides your business with a great level of service.
• Reach out to a blogger, whose advice helps you, but maybe she doesn’t know yet. (Bloggers need a hug occasionally too you know!)

Thank you!

I would like to get things started, by thanking you! It’s almost exactly 2 years since I launched this blog and a huge part of it’s success is down to the way you have shared my posts with your friends.  Equally, the comments and emails I receive from readers are a constant source of inspiration.

Most importantly, without you Jim’s Marketing Blog wouldn’t exist.  That’s a fact, and one that I will never forget, as I strive to provide you with the best, free marketing and business development ideas I can.

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

If you want to work with better quality clients or for higher fees, here’s something to consider: It’s always your choice!

Your existing client base and fee income are reflections of your marketing strategies, thus far.  If you are not happy with the way your client list or income is developing, adjust your marketing strategy accordingly and it will quickly improve.

Otherwise, you risk being like the guy I saw this weekend, complaining about the quality of a new client’s business and how much he didn’t want to work with them.  That’s right, rather than fix the problem HE CREATED, his strategy was to complain about his new client, instead.

The marketplace is full of business owners, who are repeating the same approach to developing their business, yet hoping for better results each time.  They complain – But stay the same.

Don’t waste another day following your current strategy, if it isn’t working.

As Albert Einstein once said:
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

I’m a huge fan of small businesses and the amazing people who make them work.  That’s why I love it, when I see a small business using the strengths to successfully compete against national and multi-national companies.

This morning for example, I visited a Costa Coffee shop in North Lincolnshire.  I love the coffee they serve at Costa and their lemon tea too, however, I couldn’t help noticing that there were just 8 other customers (excluding me) in the place, during the 25 minutes I was there.  A little further along, I visited an independent coffee shop and it was a lot busier, with 23 customers.

The independent coffee shop did a few things differently to their nationally respected competitor, and I wonder how much of an impact this had on what I saw.

For example:

The independent coffee shop offered table service

So, people with babies and toddlers did not have to stand in a queue waiting whilst everyone in front of them had their orders taken and then prepared, as they did in Costa.  They were able to walk in, sit down and relax as their order was taken at their table and then delivered to their table.  Table service also meant that people like myself didn’t need to pack away their laptops, every time they wanted to order another drink; or risk leaving it unattended whilst they queued downstairs to get served.

The independent coffee shop offered free, secure wifi

Costa did not.  In fact, the lack of an Internet connection is what prompted me to leave Costa!   The guy that served me there, said this was “patchy” and that some branches of Costa do offer wifi, but this branch didn’t.  When I asked why they didn’t offer wifi, he said he had no idea and that people requested it all the time.  Little surprise that I saw so many laptops being used in the independent coffee shop and none in Costa.

The independent coffee shop’s prices were higher than Costa Coffee

…and I think Costa provided slightly better coffee too (their coffee is extremely good!)  However, in my opinion, when it came to the overall customer experience there was no competition.  The independent coffee shop did many of the most important things extremely well, and as a result, I was happy to pay a small premium for a premium level of service.

It has to be stated that my experience was just a snap-shot, based on 1 visit to each coffee shop, however, I would be very surprised if the little guy in this story wasn’t punching WELL above it’s weight.

The little guy may not be able to compete on price.

The little guy can’t even hope to compete when it comes to marketing budgets.

But when it comes to customer experience, by listening to the marketplace and working hard to deliver what the market wants, they CAN succeed against the odds and build a very profitable business, even against really good quality competition.

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

 

Small can be beautiful.  In commerce, for example, some of the finest businesses are small businesses.  It’s easy to see why, when you consider some of the advantages small businesses have over large businesses and corporations:

• Smaller businesses can adapt to new opportunities far quicker than big companies.
• Just as importantly, they can act on decisions quickly too.
• Small businesses can develop deeper, more inter-personal relationships with their clients and customers than corporations can.  You can spend $100,000 a year with Apple and I promise you, Steve Jobs still won’t take you out for lunch!
• Small businesses have the ability to offer a truly unique customer experience.
• Small businesses also have the freedom to react to customer complaints with common sense – Rather than a cookie-cutter complaints procedure from head office.

So, whilst you are building your business into the next multi-national conglomerate, take some time to enjoy the many and varied advantages of being small.

Over the past few months, I have used flickr for all the post images here on the marketing blog.  There are millions of great pictures available and it’s extremely easy to use.

However, I have recently noticed a growing problem, which is changing how I use images from flickr and other image sites.  I want to share this with you, along with some brief information on the kind of images and photographs you can use on your blog / website.

Out of the picture

Until now, I have gone to flickr, picked the image I want to use and simply linked to it – So although you see a photograph here on the blog, the image itself lives on flickr’s servers.  The benefit to me of this approach, is that I don’t need to upload images or compress them before I use them.  I just enter the URL of the image into WordPress, and I can then place it wherever I want. Equally, when my blog was hosted on a slower server, the pages tended to load quicker when the images were hosted on flickr.

The downside of linking to images, rather than hosting them on your own server, is that the images you link to can be, and are, removed without warning.  As a result, I often see posts I wrote a while ago, with images missing.  So, I have decided to go back to hosting images on my own server and I am now recommending people to do the same; unless they have a good reason not to.

Regarding the use of images on blog posts, there’s something else a lot of people ask me about, which I would like to mention.

Image licenses: A quick reminder

Posts often look better with a nice image, so it’s often a good idea (especially if you write long posts) to break your posts up with appropriate pictures.  However, before you use an image, always check if you have permission, first.  Many people seem to think that they can just copy any image and use it, when this is totally incorrect!  For example, the images you see on news sites are often the property of agencies like, The Associated Press or Getty Images and are not available for free use.  Others images are available under a version of Creative Commons and can be used for free, but only under certain conditions.

The images I use from flickr, for example, are licensed under a version of creative commons, called; Creative Commons Attribution.  This means the images can be used without cost, however, you must give attribution to the photographer.  It’s only right that you give the photographers, whose images you use, full credit for their work.  Giving attribution also allows your readers to discover the photographer’s work.

One of the common traits among every successful business owner I have ever met, is their ability to build a great team of people around them.  These people may be; consultants, marketing professionals, accountants, lawyers, IT professionals, media contacts or people with influence within their industry.

Building a great team

You should always be on the look out for great people, in all the key areas where your business needs expertise.  Most small business owners take the opposite approach.  They build THEIR team with far less forward planning or discernment.  They will elect to use an accountant simply because they are members of the same networking group or because that accountant quotes the lowest fee.  Those are not good reasons to add someone to a key role within your team!

Equally, many small business owners wonder why they get so few good quality business leads from their contacts, when their contacts lack the kind of influence required to generate good quality leads from key decision makers.

Here’s a suggestion: Take some time out, to review the people around you – Your team!

• Do you have the best people you can get in each of the key areas for your business?
• If cost is an issue, are you absolutely sure you have the best people, within your budget?
• Do you trust all your team members?  This is a key issue, for without trust, their value to you is extremely limited.

And finally…

Are there areas of your business, where you are operating without expert help, instead choosing to look for free advice on forums or via Google?  If there are, I strongly recommend you immediately change your approach.  This is the most competitive marketplace in living memory, and those who try and compete on the cheap, almost always go broke!

In the 2nd post I published yesterday, I stated that we are all capable of incredible things, so long as we put everything we have, into everything we’ve got.  In today’s post, I’m giving you 5 practical ways to get the most from your current assets.

First, I would like to something with you that was really useful to me when I started my business.  It’s a simple question and answer from Jim Rohn.  Jim asked:

“How high will a tree grow?”

His answer:

“As high as it possibly can!  It will dig it’s roots deep down into the soil to grab every drop of water and nourishment possible.  It will stretch it’s branches out as wide as it can to catch every possible ray of sunlight. Only human beings settle for being less than we can be!”

Maximising your assets

Here are 5 things you can start today, which will help you get the very most from what you already have:

1. If you have a number of happy clients or former clients, proactively encourage them to recommend your services to their friends and contacts.
2. If your business has an interesting back story, let the press know and generate some useful, profile raising PR.  If you can’t afford to hire a PR professional, at least study how to write an effective press release and get it out to every media outlet you can think of.
3. If you have a website, is it optimized for attracting targeted visitors from search engines?  If not, study the art of SEO (search engine optimization) and start making it easy for new, prospective clients to find you.
4. If your site gets regular visitors but it generates very few sales or sales leads, review and replace any written copy, which is not compelling people to get in touch with you.  If you don’t know how, either learn or hire a proven expert.
5. If you have a contact with a similar profile of client to yours, yet in a non-conflicting industry, ask them about an endorsed relationship opportunity.  This is one of the best ways to generate a huge amount of high quality sales, very quickly!

No matter where you are right now, how little you have in the bank or how many past experiences you wish had never happened, you are capable of achieving the most amazing things!

It’s not what we have that counts, but what we do with what we have.  For example, there are just 3 primary colours, yet these can be used to produce a massive spectrum of colours. The world’s most successful people are seldom the world’s most intelligent or naturally gifted people.  In fact, time and time again we hear about people, who start off with nothing yet go on to achieve amazing success.

In my personal experience, even with very limited resources, we can achieve the incredible; so long as we put everything we have into everything we’ve got.

Have a GREAT week!

I once asked someone if they were a “glass half empty or glass half full” kind of person.

She relied; “I’m neither Jim!”

This got my attention, as I had always heard people giving one of those two possible answers. She went on:

“My glass is actually 100% full – Half with water and half with air!”

Avoid thinking from the no-win scenario perspective

One of the reasons people often make bad decisions, is that they put themselves into no-win scenarios.  This is especially the case when they are worried about something.  They fail to examine all the options that are open to them, often focusing on the so-called “best, worst options” because these tend to come into our minds with least effort.

Now, I’m not suggesting we look for every possible option to every decision we make.  But for the important decisions, the decisions that matter to you, it’s always worth taking some extra time to fully review your options, before you proceed.

It’s a fact: Your customers and prospective customers have a bigger voice then ever before!  Thanks to services like Facebook and Twitter, their ability to reach people is so huge, that it can generate an avalanche of word of mouth marketing for you, (so long as you continue to exceed their expectations.)

Of course, if you piss them off, their ability to share their frustration is just as huge and can cause a great amount of damage!

Social networks: When things go bad

In yesterday’s post, I discussed the importance of disclosure; of being transparent and honest with your marketing.  I gave a number of reasons why it makes sound marketing sense, to be ethical, open and upfront.  So, what happens when a company decides to do the opposite – To hide something from the marketplace in order to make a fast buck?

There’s a post over on Seth Godin’s blog, where his opening sentence was just 2 words: Avoid stamps.com.  This was in a post called “A bias for scamminess,” which gave his account of what allegedly happened to him, when he tried to use the stamps.com service, and found that just by entering his credit card details to buy some stamps, he had agreed to pay them $15.95 a month!  Whether Seth made a mistake or was victim of a technical error, rather than a deliberate stealth sales tactic, Seth’s experience has probably been shared with hundreds of thousands of people by now.

Of course, best-selling authors like Seth have always had their own platforms.  If you angered a celebrity 20 years ago, they had the power back then to get their message out, via mainstream media.

What’s different today, is that hundreds of millions of people now have their own social networks and therefore a voice.

Social networks on a smaller, local level

I live in a very small village, in the North of England.  My wife recently discovered a great place for parents to take their kids, and she shared it on Facebook, with her friends.  She suggested that they all meet there on a certain day, so the kids could play and the parents could take a look.  On the day in question, 27 of her Facebook friends met up with their kids, for a great day out – all because of her Facebook message. Here’s the thing:  Had that same Facebook message been a negative review, rather than a positive recommendation, just as many people would have seen it.  Just as they were motivated to attend, they could have been motivated to avoid the place, and tell their friends to do the same, had the message been negative.

The fact that the marketplace now has a greater voice than ever before, has (at least) 3 interesting consequences:

1. For providers, who exceed expectations and are remarkable for all the right reasons – It’s pure gold dust!  The providers that used to enjoy a lot of word of mouth recommendations, will see an increasing supply of great referrals.
2. For providers, who offer a similar-ish type of service to their competitors – At best, they will stay about the same.  The providers that have never really attracted many word of mouth recommendations, still won’t.
3. For providers, who offer a poor service – The clock is ticking.  If they disappoint enough people with lame products or poor service, they can expect the newly enabled marketplace to spread the word.

I believe that the motivation has never been greater, for small business owners to focus on delivering service excellence.  The rewards have always been good, but right now, they are excellent.  Exceed the expectations of your marketplace and offer a uniquely valuable service, then help them share how great you are on their social networks.

BTW: You can share this post with your friends, using the buttons below!

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

If someone you follow on a social network recommends something to you, via an affiliate link, should they disclose it to you or keep it quiet?

As I am sure you know, a lot of people post affiliate links via social networking sites, which they do not disclose.  Over the past few months, I have asked people why they are doing this.  Some explained that they disclose their affiliate relationships on their blog or website, but not when they tweet affiliate links or post them via Facebook etc.  Others told me that they are not legally bound to disclose their relationships to those who followed them, so they don’t.  One explained that he sent a tweet out a year or more ago, which said he was an affiliate of a certain course; which he now tweets hidden affiliate links to daily, without disclosure.

There is also an increasingly popular trend right now, where ebooks are packed with affiliate links, and no mention of this anywhere.  So, the ebook author strongly recommends products to his or her readers; which the reader doesn’t know the author is being paid to sell.  They see the author recommending something and assume it is an unbiased recommendation, rather than something they get paid to sell.

Disclosure and trust

In my experience, trust plays a massive role in commercial success.

We buy from, and recommend, people we trust.  Trust is also a key component in the longevity of a business.  When someone discloses their relevant commercial relationships, they make it far easier for us to trust them.  After all, if they are being honest and open regarding this, it’s natural for us to assume (rightly or wrongly) that they are also honest in other areas of their business.

Equally, if someone is an affiliate of something and they let me know it’s because they researched the product and LOVE it, I am actually even more likely to buy it, than if they just linked without any disclosure.

Disclosure and marketing relationships

People have previously told me, right here on this blog, that they always try to buy products or services via affiliate links, from bloggers / writers they like and trust, as a way of “tipping” them. I have done this many, many times myself.  For example, when I bought the Headway blog theme that I use here, I bought it from Danny Brown; because Danny introduced me to Headway (affiliate link) and he uses full disclosure.  It felt right to buy via Danny.

The business model for avoiding disclosure is a little unclear (to me.)  My assumption is that the decision not to disclose, is based less on a business model, and more on the assumption that if people know you’re being paid to promote something, they will be less inclined to trust you – rather than more inclined.  Whatever the reason for failing to disclose, in my experience, people hate having facts deliberately withheld from them.

Change is an important factor in marketing.  After all, businesses usually need people to change from their current provider, to them, in order to grow.  However, change is also a tricky subject.

Why?  Because although most people are resistant to change, when you ask people how they feel about change, they almost always say they enjoy it.  It’s one of those stock answers that people give, because it sounds like the correct answer. However, in reality, we know it’s very different.  For example, people will often receive an awful service from a bank or phone company; yet stay with them, rather than change to a better provider.

Marketing and change

Professional marketers have known for years that it’s harder to get someone to change from one provider to another, than it is to win their business the first time.  This is why companies typically offer their most attractive deals to new customers.  They know that people’s reluctance to change or fear of newness (something called cainophobia) means that they can invest heavily in incentives for new customers, because they will typically retain their business for years.

So, if you are planning to make a noticeable change to your business, you need to take a few things into consideration.

• There will almost always be negative feedback, no matter how big an improvement your change has created. Do your research in advance and if the change is needed, do it!
• It’s best to plan ahead and ensure that you effectively communicate the benefits of the change you are about to make.  This may involve pre-announcements or consultations.
• You need to introduce change at a pace that works best for your customers.  This will vary a lot, depending on factors like their age etc.

Change is an essential requirement for business success.  In fact, the pace of change has probably never been greater than it is right now and we need to change or adapt to benefit from the amazing new opportunities all around us.  However, I’ve found that the right time to change is when change is required, and not just for the sake of making things different.

Yesterday evening, I heard 2 men having an interesting debate in my local pub.  One, who was in his twenties, was telling the other, who was in his forties, that he was wrong regarding his thoughts on business tax.  The older guy then said; “I’ve been in business almost 20 years. I know what I am talking about!”

His suggestion, is that with longevity comes wisdom; which is incorrect!

I meet with teenage entrepreneurs, who understand the business of business better than people twice their age.  Alternatively, I meet business owners, who have been in the same business for decades, and seen almost no growth for years; because they get a year older each year – NOT a year better each year.

Experience can be a massively important asset, if we use our experiences to improve and make better decisions. However, we all know people who are repeating the same lifestyle or business errors at the age of 50 / 60, as they did decades earlier.  For them, 1st January is not the start of a new year; it’s simply another chance to relive the same old year, over and over again!

Longevity is an indicator of age – not competence.

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

Photo: Dave F

Do you want to improve your marketing, make more sales and lower your marketing costs at the same time? Well, if you are like the vast majority of small business owners I meet, you can help yourself to achieve all three; by basing your future marketing decisions on better quality information.

Better marketing decisions come from better quality information

We know our business well; so it’s all too easy for us to assume we also know what our prospective clients or customers want.  However, if our assumptions are incorrect, then our marketing will be addressing a non-existent need.  This is an extremely common error among small businesses.

I was prompted to write this, after a conversation recently with a business owner, who constantly stated assumptions as “facts.”  He would say things like;
“Lots of our target customers want…”

Then, when I asked him what percentage he was referring to, when he said “lots“, he replied that he didn’t know.

When I asked him how he knew for sure, what his prospective customers wanted, he admitted that he didn’t know.

He was simply assuming.

After speaking with me, he decided to do some very basic research and discovered his assumptions were incorrect.  What he had done, was to assume that his marketplace thought the same way he did.  He was about to develop a new service, which no one was looking for.  He was providing an answer, to a question that no one was asking.

Someone once told me; “In business, unless you know what the numbers are, you are running blind.”  She was right!  It’s impossible to make good decisions, when you are using bad data.

Whenever you find yourself making a marketing decisions based on an assumption, always ask yourself what you are actually basing that assumption on.  Is it based on facts / accurate data?  If it isn’t, then do a little research.

I wrote a post about getting better quality marketing feedback, which you might find useful!

Even a simple survey, which asks the right questions, can help you target your marketing far more effectively.

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

One of the first things I had to learn, when I went into sales as a profession, was to be comfortable when discussing money.

Money is a key element in the sales process, yet many people feel extremely awkward discussing it with a prospective client or customer.  They will often explain the benefits of their product or service, and answer any questions the prospective client has, then nervously give their fee.  It sometimes sounds like they are embarrassed, and in face-to-face situations, their body language commonly becomes very defensive too.

Talking money

In many cases, it’s necessary to know what a prospective client’s budget is, in order to determine the best option for them.  Without this information, you risk potentially offering them the wrong options, or wasting your time speaking with them, when your services are 5 times their budget.

If you are someone, who has struggled when discussing money in the past, you might find the following quick tip useful.  It was given to me almost 25 years ago and it really helped me deal with money a lot more professionally.

It is simply to stop thinking about money in terms of cold, hard cash and start thinking of it as simply an element in the sales process.

As I have said many times before, your prices need to match your promises.  In other words, if you are promising a great product or a stunning level of service, and you then quote a bargain-basement fee, people won’t believe you.  Make no mistake, your confidence and clarity when discussing money is key.

Someone once described a sale to me, as; “the transfer of enthusiasm.”  Conversely, it could be said that a great way to ruin a sale, is to transfer doubt to a prospective client.

This is a blog post I have intended to write for a while now.  I’ve noticed that many small business owners and entrepreneurs are missing out on a massive amount of high quality business, because they are applying out-dated thinking to the reach of their services.

It’s all to do with a hyper-local mindset.

Some businesses, by their very nature, need to operate within set geographical boundaries.  Accountants and lawyers, for example, are only allowed to practice in certain countries or territories.  Other businesspeople are geographically locked, because people need to physically visit their premises, such as restaurants etc.  However, there are many, many other people, who could provide products or services on a national or international level, who still stick within unnecessary, geographical limitations.

How I do it

As many of you will know, I work very successfully as a marketing coach, to small business owners all over the world.  Today alone, I have worked with clients in; Nebraska USA, Norfolk UK, Cassis France and Wicklow Ireland. I use Skype to handle the phone calls and video conferencing, documents are sent via email and we also use desktop sharing; so we can work on things together, in real-time.

This system of working has a number of great benefits.  For example, neither my clients nor myself have to waste time travelling anywhere.  So, if we are working on something for an hour, that’s all the time it takes us; rather than wasting time in transit, getting parked etc.  Equally, it means I can market my services worldwide and embrace opportunities without any of the limitations of yesteryear.  It’s also a lot kinder to the environment!

Here’s a suggestion:  Take a look ate the kind of service you currently provide, and consider if you can adapt it, so that it can be offered either nationally or internationally.  If you can, I strongly advise that you look into it.

It could be one of the most profitable and rewarding commercial decisions you ever make!