Jim's Marketing Blog

For millions of small business owners worldwide, it’s decision time. Pretty much every business owner will want to do better in 2015, however, their decisions regarding how to improve things will differ massively.

They will fit into one of the following 3 broad groups. Do any of these seem familiar to you?

1. Fear focused business owners

Those in the first [and by far the largest] group are motivated by fear. They are the reason we see those statistics, showing how the vast majority of small businesses go broke. They run a business with an employee mindset, scared of doing what’s required to grow or even save their business.

Ironically, these business owners often work just as many hours as those in the next 2 groups, but for very little reward. They think that if they work hard enough, things will be OK. They’re unaware that no matter how hard you row a boat in the wrong direction, you won’t magically end up where you need to be. If hard work alone were the key to success, our grandparents would have been millionaires.

Small business owners in this first group will stay in their comfort zone.

They will waste another year, because their fear of doing what’s required, is greater than their fear of failing slowly doing what they are comfortable with.

2. Business owners who dabble

Those in the second group have a better business mindset than the previous group. Some are almost entrepreneurs. However, unlike an entrepreneur, these folks are dabblers.

These are the small business owners who always think that they are just one blog post, webinar or infographic away from the breakthrough they want. Of course, they are not!

The small business owners in this group haven’t lost enough money yet or wasted enough time, to know that in a super-competative economy, you can’t grow a successful business with a DIY approach. They haven’t figured out yet that their clients and future clients are being approached by professionally marketed competitors.

Dabbling is easily the riskiest, slowest and most expensive way to try and develop a business.

Some will figure it out in time and switch into the 3rd group.

3. Courageous business owners

The business owners in this third group are remarkable.

They have often been in that previous group, but somehow they summoned the courage to step outside their comfort zone. These are my kind of people. I have huge respect for them. It’s also no coincidence that it’s only the people in this group, who contact me to see how I can help them grow a great business. They’ve worked out that they can vastly improve their chances of success in 2015, if Jim Connolly is guiding them to do the right things, correctly.

P.S.

The following 14 days are the busiest 2 weeks of the year for me. I will get around 600% more inquiries from small business owners than usual. If you’re one of them, I look forward to hearing from you. However, it may take me a little longer to reply to emails than usual.

[Important: Please read this before you get in touch.]

It has often been said that you are never more than 1 good idea away from the breakthrough you need. With that in mind, here are 9 ideas to help you and your business in 2015, along with some links to extra resources.

1. Do at least one thing each day, which your future self will thank you for. This is the basis of all meaningful progress.
2. Fail more often in 2015 than you did in 2014. Why? Because if you’re not failing often enough, you’re sticking to things you already know and no longer growing. Unless you give yourself permission to make mistakes, you will seldom try anything new.
3. Stop aiming for perfectionism. It will stop you getting started and block your progress. Instead of trying to be perfect, aim to be better than you were yesterday.
4. Get expert help in any area of your business, where you are under performing. Things don’t just change for the better because you hope they will. Hope is essential, but it’s not a business strategy. This will help you get it right.
5. Walk daily for 30 minutes. Studies have shown that walking helps to reduce stress and gives you a general feeling of well-being. Walking also helps you manage your weight and can lower your blood pressure. When you feel better you work better. Start with short walks, then do a little more. Talk to your doctor first, if you have any underlying medical conditions.
6. Get serious about developing your creativity in 2015. It will help you solve problems and grow a uniquely valuable business. There are hundreds of free ideas for you, here on my creative thinking website.
7. Stop doing work purely because it pays the bills. Start doing work that makes a difference. This post explains why.
   
8. Give people more than they expect. Don’t under-promise though. Instead, over-deliver. This is one of the most powerful ways to retain your clients and get them recommending you to their friends and contacts.
9. Learn to embrace your inner freak. This idea changed my life.
   

I really hope you find these ideas and suggestions useful and that they help you achieve your best year ever in 2015!

Let’s get started.

1. Think big. No. BIGGER than that.
2. Stop aiming for perfection. Instead, aim to be better than you were yesterday.
3. Be a source of encouragement. Highlight people’s strengths rather than their weaknesses.
4. Back up your plans with action. An ounce of action is worth more than a ton of intention.
5. Do what you believe is right, rather than what is easy.
6. Commit to lifelong learning. Feed your mind with information that educates, motivates or inspires you.
7. Deliver on your promises. This is a great way to build a world class reputation.
8. Look for the learning in every situation.
9. Stop following and lead. Your marketplace is always short of people willing to lead.
10. Start your projects with the end in mind. Get crystal clear on your outcome, before you start the work.
11. Watch as little TV as possible. It’s called programming for a reason.
12. Be fast to forgive others. While you’re holding a grudge, they are out dancing.

Bonus: Here are over 180 marketing tips and ideas for your business!

Have you ever stopped using a supplier or service provider, because one of their team was a pain in the ass, rude or incompetent? That’s a rhetorical question, because we all have from time to time.

If you have ever wondered why anyone would employ someone that drives customers away, you’ll find today’s post useful. It could also stop someone you know from making the same mistake, because as you’ll see, the business owner is often unaware that the problem exists.

The toxic head waiter

I was prompted to write this, after meeting up with an old friend yesterday. He owns a restaurant in Soho, London. He told me that he’d been forced to fire his head waiter last summer. Following the firing, takings rose significantly.

No, the head waiter hadn’t been stealing from him. Instead, he was driving customers away with his attitude. He was a life-long, personal friend of the restaurant owner. However, my friend discovered that the head waiter was rude and obnoxious to customers he didn’t like, and that these included some of the restaurant’s best customers.

It only came to light after a former customer called the restaurant to cancel his anniversary party. My friend asked why and the customer explained that the head waiter was ruining the atmosphere, before naming half a dozen of his friends, who had also stopped using the restaurant because of the head waiter’s attitude. My friend called these former customers and they all confirmed it. His losses from these corporate customers alone run into tens of thousands. He later found many more former customers had stopped eating there because of the toxic waiter.

The toxic P.A.

I saw something very similar happen first hand, with a former client’s business. He hired a new P.A., who was a very good worker and extremely efficient. She massively improved my client’s work flow and even freed him up to have more family time. In his eyes, she could do no wrong.

However, she was nasty to other members of his team and to some clients too. Despite regular complaints, he chose to do nothing about it. He told me that he’d assumed they were jealous of her,

Eventually, her rudeness cost him his biggest client and as this client was related to his 3rd biggest client, he lost that client too! They were responsible for around 20% of his revenue. It was only when he met with the former client to try and win them back, that he finally learned how toxic his P.A. was to his business.

It’s always unintentional

No sane business owner would set out to deliberately hire someone, who was damaging their business. It’s unintentional. In the examples I mentioned here and many others I am aware of, the business owner had no idea that the toxic employee was causing so much damage.

As business owners, we need to be smarter than that. We need to take time to speak with our clients or customers and ask them about the quality of the service they receive. We need to do exit interviews whenever possible, when a client switches to another provider or when a member of the team leaves.

We all know about the importance of stock taking in our business. However, we also need to ensure we take stock… and take a long look at the people and processes within our businesses.

Tip: Don’t let THIS guy ruin your marketing!

I was doing some gift shopping at a local store yesterday, when I decided to go for a coffee in their café. I noticed that a salesperson was speaking with the store owner, a couple of tables away from me.

Now, if you asked the salesperson what he was doing, he’d tell you he was pitching a new product line to the store owner.

But he’d be wrong.

The salesperson wasn’t pitching. He was arguing with the store owner.

He was trying to prove he was right and that the store owner was wrong. They were now on opposing sides. By the time my coffee arrived, the salesperson was shaking his head from side to side in disagreement, as the store owner spoke. A few minutes later, the salesman left. Of course, he left without a sale.

If I’d spoken to the salesperson, here’s what I’d have said

A better approach is to position yourself as an asset to their business. A partner in their success.

For example, ask the potential client or customer about their challenges. Then listen. Take notes. Once you have a handle on what their challenges are, show them how your products or services can help them.

This is not only a superb way to build your business, it’s also a great way to build valuable business relationships.

Tip — How to make your business more human and FAR more successful.

It’s amazing how much control you have over your results, so long as you’re willing to accept responsibility.

• You can’t control another person’s attitude, but you can control how you react.
• You can’t control the economy, but you can control how you adapt.
• You can’t control your past, but you can control your present.
• You can’t control what your competitors do, but you can control your strategy.

Focus on what you can control. It’s one of the most powerful and liberating things you will ever do.

Tip: Read this — Steve Jobs and the power of focus.

I spoke with a service provider yesterday. He’s working hard, working long hours too… yet he’s still really struggling.

Why?

He’s competing for clients by trying to make his fees as low as possible. He’s in a race to the bottom with a handful of equally misguided competitors.

Now, his fees are too low for him to make a decent living and too low for him to provide a great service. So not only are his clients barely profitable to his business, he gets very few referrals from them. That’s a toxic, unsustainable mix!

Cheap or valuable?

As service providers, we can either market our work based on it being valuable or we can market our work based on it being cheap. However, we first need to accept that there’s a huge difference between the two.

Cheap work is seldom, if ever, valuable. Usually, it’s just cheap.

P.S. – Here are 3 Ideas to help you, the next time they say you’re too expensive.

Hard work. Meeting deadlines. Overcoming Challenges. Delighting customers and clients. These are just part of what it takes to create and grow a great business.

As our passion for business drives us forward, it’s extremely important to make sure we’re not neglecting our health.

Look after your body

It makes no sense to grow a successful business, if the price you pay is that you damage your health. I discovered this the hard way.

My story: As my business grew increasingly successful, I found myself getting heavier and less fit. Although my diet was good, plus I don’t drink any alcohol or smoke, I’d been spending more time at my desk and less time outdoors on my bike, walking or hiking. Lesson learned.

I was fortunate enough to turn things around before any real damage was caused. These days I make sure to cycle or walk daily. The photo above is from my walk yesterday, in Sherwood Forest. I’m physically and mentally fitter than I have been in years.

Here’s the thing: It’s easy to get unhealthy or pile weight on if you get the balance wrong. Work hard, sure, but make sure you rest too and look after your body. Take heed of your diet and get yourself out and about every day, no matter how busy you are. Walk. Cycle. Dance. Swim… whatever you’re able to do.

Look after your mind

Business can be stressful regardless of how well or how poorly a business is doing. This is why it’s vitally important to ensure that you get the rest you need, the time with family you need and the relaxation you need.

Yes, I could earn a lot more if I were to work longer hours, but the money is massively less valuable to me than a great relationship with my family and peace of mind.

[Worth a read: Here’s what my working week looks like – Just 5 hours a day.]

I have always believed and advocated the following: Money without happiness… you’re still broke!

If your business model means that you work too many hours and place too many demands on yourself, it’s time to stop and find a better strategy. Overloading yourself with work isn’t sustainable. It leads to all kinds of problems, which you can avoid if you decide to do something about it.

And finally

Never take health or fitness advice from someone who isn’t qualified.

My friend Sam became extremely ill, from eating liquorice root to help with his eczema, after reading a health and fitness website. Sam wasn’t aware that liquorice can cause dangerously high blood pressure. It was only when he was rushed to hospital and his wife answered a questionnaire about his diet, that a doctor spotted the problem.

Always speak with your doctor before you make any significant changes to your diet and before you start exercising. Your doctor will know if what you’re proposing is in line with what your body needs.

I hope you found this useful. More importantly, I hope it inspires you to look after yourself.

It’s December. The final month of the year. There’s a very important question you need to ask yourself, as you prepare for 2015:

Looking back, was January 2014 the start of a New Year… or was it just another chance to relive the same old year and frustrations, all over again?

At some point, a business owner needs to make an important decision — a decision that will determine their whole future. They need to decide what they are settling for.

Settling for too little

In my experience, the answer is that they settle for way too little.

They don’t deliberately settle for too little. It’s something that just happens after years of struggling. They lose touch with the excitement, dreams and goals they had when they started. They see survival as their main goal and are happy if they see even marginal growth.

Little wonder then, that these business owners lack the energy and drive they used to have.

It’s as if they have forgotten that as the owner of their business, there’s no limit on what they can achieve. No limit on what they can do. No limit on what their future can bring.

So, consider this message as a wake-up call to those who need it. And a rallying cry to those who want to do something about it!

Decision time

Decide today that you want more in 2015. Far, far more!

Decide that you want a business that allows you to live the lifestyle you want. A business that allows you to build a wall of financial security around those you love. A business that’s worthy of you and the goals you had at the beginning. I did it and you can do it too. I know this because I help people achieve it every working day of my life.

Get the business development help you need, so you know you’re doing the right things, correctly. Then, work your plan throughout 2015. The results can be life changing.

I’ve used this approach with small business owners for almost exactly 20 years and can assure you it works. Beautifully and predictably.

Another day. Another Don’t work hard, work smart expert pushing that toxic message. Today, I’d like to explain why that message makes zero sense and also, show you how I run a successful international marketing business, working an average of just 5 hours a day.

Don’t work hard, work smart!

I was prompted to write about this, after I saw a productivity guru earlier, who was telling business owners to work smart, instead of working hard. His contention was that if you followed his system, you could work smart and not need to work hard, yet magically create a wildly successful business.

There’s a very obvious error in his message. In fairness, lots of authors and gurus make the same mistake.

Why not work hard AND work smart?

Why choose? Surely it makes massively more sense to work hard AND ALSO work smart. Surely this seems like the smartest way to make your fortune. Of course, it seems to make sense because it’s exactly what 100% of the world’s most successful business people do.

It’s crazy to tell people to work smart, [to do the right things correctly and avoid costly detours] — and then tell them not to work hard.

Here’s an example from my own business.

I work hard

In fact, I work damn hard. However, I don’t work long hours.

The “Don’t work hard, work smart” experts almost always confuse working hard, with working long hours. They totally fail to understand that you can work hard and work smart, working less than half as many hours as a typical business owner.

For instance: I am there for my son every morning at breakfast, while his mother gets herself ready for the day. My son and I make breakfast together, have breakfast together and I’m with him until he leaves for school. I am also there for him every evening when he returns from school at 3:45pm.

My son is just 9 years old, but he’s already spent way more time with his dad, than many son’s spend with their business-owner fathers in their entire childhood.

Here’s how I manage it.

Hard work — 5 hours a day

Although my day varies quite a bit, I usually do an hour early in the morning, three hours during the day and an hour in the early evening. Yes, sometimes I work 8 hours in a day. Other days I work for just one hour or less, with my average day consisting of 5 hours of hard but enjoyable work.

However, during those 5 hours I work hard, I work smart and I work to a plan. I don’t take non-urgent calls or reply to non urgent emails. I see what needs to be done and I do it.

Working hard, working smart and working lots of long days

Here’s something essential for anyone looking at my 5 hour day and wondering how it’s possible.

When my business started and my name wasn’t yet established, I worked hard, smart and I worked very long hours.

I worked 6 days a week, sometimes 7, often putting in 16 hour days. Sometimes I worked through a full 24 hours. I knew that if I hustled hard at the beginning, I eventually wouldn’t need to. I believed that if I worked smart enough, hard enough and for long enough, that my name and reputation would open doors for me. That’s exactly what happened.

What you can’t do, unless you want to be ill or have no family life, is to carry on working crazy hours. It’s not sustainable and will make you sick.

Finally

I guess what I’m saying here is that you can waste a lot of time going nowhere, if you take advice from people selling business tricks. Be careful of anyone saying you can grow a successful business without the hard work. It’s wrong.

Work the long hours at the beginning, work hard and work smart. If you’re doing it correctly, your business will soon become established, like mine did, and you can drop the long hours… and work hard and work smart.

Remember, working long hours is a temporary thing, until you gather the momentum required. It’s not part of an effective business strategy. In fact, if you keep needing to work long hours, you should change your business strategy because it isn’t working.

If you still find yourself needing to work long hours, you’re either not working smart enough, not working hard enough… or both.

The happiest people in business are easy to spot. They love what they do. And just as it shows when people work through gritted teeth, we also notice when people are enjoying what they do.

Here’s what we can learn from them and why owning a business you love is essential, if you want to be successful.

YESSSS! It’s Friday!!!

I have to admit finding it really weird, that anyone would build a business that they don’t love. Yet, we see it all the time. Look at any social network on a Friday and what will you see? You’ll see business owners so ecstatic their terrible working week is finally over, that they feel they must shout it out to everyone who follows them. None feel compelled to show that level of excitement about their business during the week.

In stark contrast, I know a lot of very successful business owners and every one of them is passionate about their business. They have deliberately created businesses, which are consistent with their values and beliefs. Work, in many ways, doesn’t feel like working. So, they work every day in a business that makes them feel energized, fulfilled… and happy!

Here’s why this makes all the difference

Because they love their businesses, they willingly embrace the hustle. In other words, they do 100% of the work, not 100% of the things they feel comfortable with, like most business owners.

Think of it like this:

Someone who passionately wants to become a rock star, will willingly practice the guitar every day. Their vision of being a rock star is so compelling, that they happily, willingly do the work of practising the same chords over and over again. A kid forced by their parents to learn the guitar, will do as little as possible. They will look for excuses not to practice.

The lesson here is clear. Build a business you love. It’s your business and you have freedom to either transform it into something that inspires you — or start a new business with the lessons learned.

It makes no sense on any level, to own a business, to have full control… and not build something that you love with a passion.

The people you surrender your attention to, control what you do.

The endless stream of emails, messages and social media updates consume both your time and your focus.

• Time you can never regain is lost reacting to the immediate, yet unimportant calls for your attention.
• Your focus is pulled away from your most important work, making it hard for you to concentrate.

You then look back on the day and wonder why you worked so hard, feel so tired, yet made so little progress.

Be extremely selective who you surrender your attention to. It’s one of the most important decisions you make throughout your working day.

Tip — Read this. It will help you get the direction and clarity you need.

I have something personal to share with you today. It’s a goal I reached this week, which carries a valuable lesson about the importance of focus.

When I relocated my business from London to a tiny village in South Yorkshire, I no longer had commercially viable access to clients. I knew I was taking a huge risk, because the only way for me to make a living was to switch to offering a 100% digital marketing business.

I believed I would be able to provide a better service to clients using Skype, telephone and email, than through traditional face-to-face meetings. Close friends warned me it was a bad idea.

Here’s what happened.

My goal

Rather than feel limited by the lack of local clients, I wanted to focus on a huge potential marketplace. As I started my marketing career working in New York, I set the goal of working with at least 1 client in every state of The United States.

Yesterday, I finally did it. It took me 12 years.

Focus on what you want

Had I decided to focus on the fact we’d invested all our money on a bigger home, with bigger overheads and with zero client income, I’d have made decisions based on fear. Just to be completely clear, I had my wife’s full support, knowing that had this not worked we’d have lost every penny we’d had. We would also have had to postpone starting a family, one of the key reasons we moved to the countryside.

Here’s the thing: By focusing on a massive international market, all I could see was potential and opportunity. It expanded my thinking. It presented exciting possibilities. Within a year I was earning as much money as my best year in London.

Today, as well as working with clients in every U.S. state, I’ve now worked with clients in 27 countries and sold my products into over 90 countries. The whole point of the goal was to open my horizons. To expand what was possible.

What are you focusing on?

The things we focus on determine how we feel. Our actions are driven by our feelings. In other words, much of what you decide to do is controlled by what you focus on.

If you’re not happy with the direction your business is taking, improve your focus. Focus on an inspirational, motivational goal. Focus on what you want, not what you fear.

How hard should you work?

How successful should your business be?

How much should you care?

How long should you spend delighting your customers?

How many times should you try before quitting?

The answer

One way to decide is to keep going until you’re proud of what you’ve achieved. To keep pushing until you feel certain that you have given it everything – nothing left on the table.

I can’t think of many situations in business, if any, where that mindset won’t improve your performance enormously.

The next time you’re wondering what to do, remember: don’t stop until you’re proud!

When you communicate what your business stands for, something magical happens.

1. A section of your marketplace, which believes strongly in the same things as you, will find themselves far more attracted to your business.
2. Those who are strongly against what your business stands for, will look elsewhere for a provider.
3. Plus, you will have successfully differentiated yourself from other providers in your industry, who struggle to get noticed at all.

The power of standing for something

By letting the marketplace know what matters most to you and your business, you attract the very people you will derive the most joy from working with. This will make the business of business massively more enjoyable. It will improve the quality of your work too, by default.

By driving those away, who disagree with what you stand for, you no longer have to endure the enormous emotional and financial drain of low value customers.

If you haven’t already done so, make a list of what you and your business stand for. Then, consider using a condensed version of it in your marketing.

It’s one of the fastest ways to differentiate yourself from your competitors, get noticed and attract the attention of the best customers.

Have you noticed what happens when the media report that something is about to be in short supply? Queues form. People stand in line, just so they can get it before it runs out.

Here’s the thing: Whether it’s fuel or the latest must have Christmas present, demand shoots through the roof as soon if people believe they could miss out.

A great example of how powerful this can be, comes from Apple. There are long lines outside Apple stores every time they launch a new product. Why? Because their marketplace has been trained to understand that demand will outstrip supply.

Enough about Apple

More importantly, what limited availability product or service could you introduce to your customers?

We are encouraged from childhood to be kind to others. However, is there a business case for human kindness? Here’s my experience after almost 20 years of running an extremely successful business!

Your clients, former clients, prospective clients and never-to-be clients will remember how you treat them, when they’re going through a tough time. Your kindness will remain with them long after your actions have finished.

Of course, many of the people you help during their hour of need will turn things around. They will come out on top. They will become hugely successful. They will be in a great position to help you when you need it most.

But that’s NOT the reason to extend kindness to others

The reason to help people when they’re going through tough times, is because it’s where you can make the biggest, positive difference. It’s where you can have the greatest impact. It’s where your influence is valued most. Plus, you’re a good person. Being kind will make you feel better.

Helping those who don’t really need it… that’s a different story.

Think about it: If you help someone when they’re doing great and have no real need for your help, it makes very little difference to them. You invest just as much time, effort or money, yet your impact is minimal.

A business case for human kindness?

Is there a business case for helping people when times are tough for them? I believe the answer is a resounding “yes”.

I’ve found that business becomes easier and more pleasurable, when a growing group of people respect you for helping them when they needed it. This is without even considering the power of reciprocity.

The connections I have made with people, who were struggling when I helped them, are among the most commercially valuable. Many of these great people have repaid my initial kindness. Sometimes, without even telling me. Often they have repaid me to a higher degree than my initial kindness.

Business is all about people. In our rush to automate the business of business, it pays to remember the real wins usually come from the human touch.