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4 Important reasons to write regularly, which no one told you about

By Jim Connolly | March 23, 2021

marketing 2021

As a business owner, there are many compelling reasons to write regularly. For example, newsletters and blogs can be hugely valuable marketing tools. The same is true of contributing articles to services like Linkedin, Medium and Facebook.

But you already knew that.

Here are 4 extremely valuable benefits of writing regularly, which seldom get mentioned. Here they are in no particular order.

  1. Regular writing makes you a better observer. As a result, you notice more of the world around you. You experience more from life.
  2. Regular writing helps you think with greater clarity. The process of getting ideas out of your head and onto the page, is a wonderful antidote for foggy thinking.
  3. Regular writing is a powerful development tool. To write effectively on any subject, you need to know about that subject. Even better, to write about a subject regularly, you need to constantly learn more about it.
  4. Regular writing is an act of contribution. When you share your ideas or stories with others, you invest in them. You connect with them. How might that help your business? Think about that for a moment.

By the way, if you’re uncomfortable about publishing what you write, here’s a suggestion. Don’t publish anything! Just write for yourself. You’ll still enjoy the first 3 of those 4 benefits.

How to be pushy. And still succeed

By Jim Connolly | March 17, 2021

Marketing pushy

Photo: Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

When it comes to being a pushy business owner, there are two ways to do it.

One of them works extremely well.

The other one doesn’t.

Allow me to explain.

1. You can push people

Pester them with cold calls.

Interrupt them with selfish requests.

Spam them.

Try and close the sale the first time you speak to them.

Hassle them for referrals at networking events.

Hound them on social networks.

2. You can push yourself

Expand your knowledge.

Refuse to settle for less than you truly want.

Do what’s right, even when it isn’t easy.

Do what your competitors avoid, because they think it’s too tricky.

Leave your comfort zone… regularly.

Focus on what you want rather than what you fear.

In short, when you push yourself, you move forward. When you push others, they push you back. All the way back.

Choose wisely my friend, and then push.

What if? I mean, seriously, what if?

By Jim Connolly | March 16, 2021

marketing creative questions

Today, I’m going to share a strategy with you that I use with some of my clients. It’s designed to help them solve problems and get the answers they need. It can do the same for you.

Although this strategy can be used on just about any business challenge, the example I’m using here is, how to get more referrals?.

Ready?

Lets go!

When we get a client referral we always know why it happened.

We earned it.

We exceeded our client’s expectations and provided exceptional customer service. We were consistent. We turned up. We cared. This combined to make us extremely referable.

When business owners consistently get too few referrals, they usually can’t figure out why. From their perspective, they’re working hard, caring for their customers and delivering solid customer service. Often, they will blame someone (their customers) or something (their industry). This then places the problem outside their control and allows it to persist.

The answer?

What if? thinking

When I solve this type of challenge for business owners, I start by doing some ‘what if?‘ thinking with them. It looks a little like this.

  • What if the range of services you provide isn’t ideally matched to your client’s needs… how could you improve it?
  • What if your response time isn’t optimal… how could you improve it?
  • What if your customer service isn’t perfect… how could you improve it?
  • What if the level of care and attention you place in your work isn’t maximized… how could you improve it?

Important: Using specific ‘what if?’ questions, based on my client’s exact situation, leads to massively more effective answers, than the very general examples above.

The idea behind ‘what if?’ thinking is to allow us to imagine a scenario, where there is room for improvement. And remember, it can be used for ANY area of our business, not just referrals.

‘What if?’ thinking lets us put distance between the challenge (too few referrals), and our belief that we’re already doing everything we can. It opens our thinking up to new possibilities. Possibilities that simply aren’t there if we blame external factors.

All of the important challenges we face, in life as well as in business, need to be solved from the same starting point: Accepting we have a problem. And if we want to find the best answers, we need to acknowledge that we’re not already doing everything perfectly.

This is truly great news.

It means there’s always room for our business to improve, because there’s always room for us to improve.

It means we can achieve more, because we can become more.

Bring your seed. Not your need!

By Jim Connolly | March 9, 2021

2021 marketing tips

I was talking with an amazing group of entrepreneurs earlier. During our session, I mentioned that I hadn’t sold my services to anyone in well over 20 years. I went on to explain that thousands of people have hired me or bought from me. But I hadn’t sold anything to anyone.

That’s not just word play.

It’s a way of operating!

And if you want to attract more customers, no selling required, you need to know about it.

Buying and selling

It starts with something that my first ever boss told me. It’s simply this.

“Everyone loves to buy things, but no one likes being sold to”.

And she was right.

Most small and medium-sized business owners do not ‘get’ this. Their marketing is little more than a series of needy pitches. They turn up when they want you to buy something. And it’s rightly ignored by the vast majority of prospective customers, because no one likes being sold to.

The smartest business owners focus on engagement. They look for opportunities to give. They seek out ways to be useful to their customers, prospective customers and the wider marketplace. They build relationships and earn trust. In doing so, they attract attention and create meaningful connections.

In short, those very different approaches look something like this.

  • Most marketing is about bringing your need to the marketplace. Sales pitches, special offers and closing sales.
  • Smart marketing is about bringing your seed to the marketplace. Growing engagement by contributing your knowledge, solving problems, sharing your passion, being helpful and opening relationships.

Smart marketing is more effective, develops greater trust and builds better relationships. And it works in every industry. Because regardless of what line of business you’re in and what marketplace you serve, people love to buy things.

Bring your seed, my friend. Before you know it, your business will blossom in a wonderfully predictable way. No selling required.

Bon courage! It’s way, way more useful than good luck

By Jim Connolly | March 2, 2021

bon courage, good luck

I’ve never really liked the phrase, ‘good luck’.

I get the idea behind it. I also know people say it with the very best intentions. But to me, especially when related to business, it really isn’t particularly useful. That’s because it places things totally outside the person’s control.

My wife speaks, reads and writes in French. When we first met, she taught me a French alternative to good luck: Bon courage! I find bon courage far more relevant and useful than good luck. Especially when it comes to business. And that’s what this brief post is about.

Bon courage

There are a couple of ways to interpret bon courage. One of them is that you want the person to have the strength or courage required for (whatever).

Here’s how bon courage stacks up against good luck:

  • Bon courage is internal: You summon the courage.
  • Good luck is external: You wait for good luck to appear.

It’s impossible to achieve meaningful success in business, or anything else for that matter, without courage. Courage is required to stand out, when it’s easier to blend in. Courage is required to zig when your competitors zag. Courage is required to launch a new idea, when it feels safer to just do more of the same.

In fact courage is required for every major move we make; renting / buying our first home, falling in love, starting a family, starting a business, etc.

The next time you want a friend to succeed, try wishing them bon courage. If they ask you what you mean, explain it to them.

And next time you notice yourself wishing for better luck, find a way to summon bon courage instead. It really is hard to overstate what you can achieve, when you have a great plan and the courage to see it through.

Competition time

By Jim Connolly | February 11, 2021

Competition is good for business. More importantly my friend, competition is good for YOUR business.

Here’s why:

  • Competition motivates you to raise the bar and set higher standards.
  • Competition inspires you to innovate.
  • Competition compels you to leave your comfort zone.
  • Competition encourages you to differentiate yourself, so you stand out.
  • Competition leads to better products and better services for the marketplace.

As business owners, the decision we face is simple: Do we wait for an agile competitor to force us to do better, or do we take the initiative?

In other words, do we wait and react or take the lead and act?

Our response to that question is hugely important.

Why?

Because it will determine whether we give ourselves a winning advantage and achieve our full potential or find ourselves constantly playing catch-up.

How did I miss that opportunity?

By Jim Connolly | February 9, 2021

Today’s post is especially for those business owners who want to take their business up a level or two. It’s a tricky subject, but really important.

Let’s go!

Have you ever noticed how EVERY genuinely great business opportunity looks like a risk?

It’s only afterwards, when the risk has paid off, that a risky decision looks like a no-brainer. How did I miss that opportunity when I saw it?, we cry. We missed it because we focused on the risk of a possible loss.

Hold that thought.

Conversely, every low return product or service, and every scam, is skilfully designed to appear highly valuable AND risk free (or very low risk). It’s little wonder the masses eagerly lap them up.

What this looks like to you and me:

  • Common consumer examples include those flat stomach machines and fad diet books that make millions, even though they never work.
  • The most obvious business example right now is the absolute flood of ‘digital courses’, being sold by influencers and internet marketers. Many are now selling digital courses… on how to sell digital courses. Good grief.

The challenge small business owners face is two-fold.

  1. Great business opportunities almost always look risky.
  2. Things that waste our time and money almost always look low risk.

That’s why it’s essential for us to get the balance right.

This can help you

Thankfully, our decision making leaves clues that help us identify if we need to improve things. The most obvious clue is if we find we’re dodging something we know we need to do, fearful it could go wrong, thus guaranteeing it can’t go right. Another clue is if it’s been a long time since we last made a major decision where there was risk attached. It’s also a clue if we find it a little too easy to buy products or services that promise amazing results, for very low risk, which never quite work out as promised.

It’s relatively easy to identify how good our decision making is.

The tricky part is accepting we need to improve, and then recalibrating our attitude to risk so it works for us and not against us.

How to be number one, in a category of one!

By Jim Connolly | February 8, 2021

It’s tough being a service provider. There are so many of us in every industry. Not only that, a prospective client can find lower priced alternatives to us, on Google, in seconds.

With so many competitors, what can we do?

  • We could try and out-spend them on advertising. Of course, this eats into our profit margins.
  • We could try being the lowest priced. Of course, this almost eliminates our profits.
  • We could try joining a networking group. Of course, we’d be relying on fellow group members to provide us with leads… the very same people who need to attend the group because they can’t even get enough leads for their own businesses.

There are better alternatives though. And one that works extremely well, is to become number one in a category of one.

It’s the strategy I follow for my own business and one that could be just as effective for you and your business.

It works like this

Let’s imagine you’re an accountant. (You could equally be a mentor, financial advisor, lawyer, designer, trainer, marketing consultant or whatever). Anyhow, unlike your fellow accountants you choose to work exclusively with creative professionals. This immediately places you as number one in a category of one.

  • The fact you understand their profession at a super-deep level, sets you apart from the rest.
  • The fact you understand their terminology and speak their language, sets you apart from the rest.
  • The fact you understand the threats and opportunities specific to their industry, sets you apart from the rest.
  • The fact you understand their unique requirements, sets you apart from the rest.
  • The fact you understand the creative mindset, sets you apart from the rest.

And because you’re set apart from your former competing providers, your prospective clients will see you as massively more relevant to them and their business!

It’s hard to think of a service provider in any industry, who couldn’t transition themselves into being number one in a category of one.

Including you, my friend.

Switch off the autopilot and take control

By Jim Connolly | January 14, 2021

2021 marketing tips ideas

Not long ago, these brands thought they’d arrived.

They were kings of the hill.

  • MySpace totally dominated social networking.
  • Blockbuster video owned home video entertainment.
  • Nokia was the world’s leading mobile phone brand.
  • And Internet Explorer had 94% of the web browser market.

Here’s what this means to you and your business, as you navigate the coming year.

Business success is a journey

Small and medium-sized businesses are at even greater risk of this threat.

It happens when a business grows to the point where the owner gets comfortable, stops steering wisely and starts to coast. Decisions are made on autopilot.

The hunger for success, when replaced with contentment, causes a business to plateau. And a business that plateaus soon becomes irrelevant, as their marketplace continues to move forward. The business becomes a dot in the rear view mirror. Growth is sluggish and unpredictable. They work hard, yet spin their wheels.

Here’s how to avoid this happening to you.

The art of steering your business successfully

The art of steering a business successfully, begins with accepting that you’re on a journey. And that your task is to navigate your business through the opportunities and threats ahead.

Remember: Even if you want your revenues and profits to remain the same, you still have to develop your business to account for lost clients / customers or new competitors eating into your market share, etc.

Here are a couple of suggestions.

Learn to identify the danger signs. This might include: Too many months or quarters of weak growth. Too long a gap since you last introduced a new product or service to your portfolio. Too few referrals. Too little awareness of new competitors or new trends.

Learn to spot genuine opportunities. This might include: Identifying gaps in your market. Finding ways to increase the value of your service. The introduction of new products for your existing clients. Seeking out new markets for your existing products. Improving your overall marketing strategy.

My first business mentor used to say that the reason so many businesses fail, is that failure is incredibly subtle. It’s seldom the result of one cataclysmic event or decision, but lots of small, daily errors repeated.

The way to avoid this is to grab the wheel of your business and embrace the art of steering. Fire your autopilot and take control.

How attractive is your marketing, to ‘them’?

By Jim Connolly | January 6, 2021

How attractive and interesting does your marketing look, from the perspective of your marketplace?

For example.

  • That interesting newsletter you’re going to send. Is it interesting to you or the people you’re sending it to?
  • That special offer you’re about to launch. Is it special to you or the people you’re offering it to?
  • That important email you’re planning to send. Is it important to you or the person you’re sending it to?
  • That exciting announcement you’re about to make. Is it exciting to you or the people you’re announcing it to?
  • And that amazing opportunity you keep talking about. Is it amazing to you or the people you’re talking to?

Think for a moment about how many special offers, exciting announcements and marketing messages you encounter each week, which you totally ignore. It’s more than 99 percent of them.

You only buy (attend, purchase, subscribe to, etc), the things marketed to you, which do the following.

  1. Grab your attention. Otherwise you wouldn’t notice them or the message they have.
  2. Are clearly of so much value that you attend, make a purchase, join or subscribe.

And that’s also what your prospective clients or customers need from your marketing!

Here’s the thing: The vast majority of small business marketing fails on both fronts. Why? Because it’s written from the perspective of the sender (the marketer), NOT from the perspective of their marketplace.

I’m not saying the offer isn’t directed to the prospective client, or that it doesn’t offer benefits, or that it lacks a call-to-action. It usually does all those things.

I’m saying that the way this is done, is based on a toxic assumption. An assumption that the marketplace is as motivated about whatever the marketer is offering, as the marketer is.

3 ways toxic assumptions can hurt a business

These are probably the 3 most common examples. Though there are many, many more.

1. Too little time is spent pumping MASSIVE, real-world value into our offering.

This happens because we think the benefits of our services are already compelling enough. The truth is, no matter what we think, our offering is never compelling enough! If we’re not adding a measurable lift in the value of our product or service very, very regularly, we quickly get surpassed by competitors or become irrelevant.

Check out the competition. Look for holes in the provision of whatever you do, which a little creativity can be transformed into a huge marketing win.

2. Too little time is spent listening to what prospective clients want.

Even before the pandemic, the pace of change was accelerating. Now, as we plot our way out of the pandemic, the rate of change is hugely accelerated. Thankfully, social media gives us access to what our marketplace wants, in real-time.

The social media platform we choose to ‘listen’ to should be based on where our marketplace is. With a little time spent learning how to find the core information we require, we can better match our offering to the ACTUAL, current wants and needs of our prospective clients.

3. Too little time is spent learning how to create compelling marketing.

When we assume that our marketing is already compelling enough, there’s little incentive to radically improve it. Sure, we might make some adjustments. But we tend not to invest the time, effort and hard work on improving something, if we believe it’s already great.

Outsmarting your competitors is not enough. Here’s the missing ingredient

By Jim Connolly | January 1, 2021

content marketing, trust

Every business owner knows that it’s essential to outsmart their competitors.

However, the most successful business owners add something extra to the mix. It’s a missing ingredient that makes all the difference. They outcare their competitors, too.

For example.

  • They care more about the success of their clients than their competitors do.
  • They care more about building great client relationships than their competitors do.
  • They care more about delivering on promises than their competitors do.
  • They care more about improving industry standards than their competitors do.
  • They care more about assisting their marketplace than their competitors do.
  • They care more about making great contacts than their competitors do.
  • They care more about quality than their competitors do.
  • They care more about service than their competitors do.
  • They care more about meeting deadlines than their competitors do.
  • They care more about ethics than their competitors do.
  • They care more about connecting with people than their competitors do.
  • They care more about professionalism than their competitors do.
  • They care more about their marketing than their competitors do.
  • They care more about leading in their industry than their competitors do.

It’s hard to think of a more mutually beneficial, effective and future proof way to succeed in 2021 and beyond.

Finally, from my home to yours, I’d like to wish you and your family a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year.

The customer is not always right

By Jim Connolly | December 21, 2020

marketing blog

That old saying, that the customer is always right, is bogus. Worse still, if you believe the customer or client is always right, it will damage your business.

Allow me to explain!

That saying still persists, because fearful service providers are scared that if they say the customer is wrong, they might take their custom elsewhere. So, generations of business owners have worked under the erroneous belief that they should simply agree with their clients all the time.

That’s a really bad idea 

It fails the client and it fails you. Here are a few examples.

  • Designers end up producing ugly work, because the client made terrible design demands. The client is left with low quality design, which won’t work for them. The designer will never get to work with that client again.
  • Copywriters end up writing junk, because the client demanded uninformed changes. So, instead of a professional piece, the client gets something amateurish that they could have written themselves. The copy fails to work. The client ends up unhappy. The copywriter is never hired again.
  • Coaches and mentors end up delivering a poor quality service, because the allow misguided clients to dictate what happens. The client then ends up hearing what they want to hear, rather than what they need to hear in order to succeed. It fails the client. And the provider is never hired again.

No, I’m not suggesting you argue with your clients. That’s a terrible idea and extremely unprofessional.

I am suggesting you need to guide your clients.

As a professional, it’s your job to help clients make the right decisions, so they get the very best results. That means providing the client with your informed, expert guidance. It means steering them away from mistakes. It means responding with advice and ideas, which lead to a successful project and a delighted client.

In short, your clients deserve your very best work. Agreeing with a client, when you know they are making damaging mistakes, doesn’t help them and it doesn’t help you. So give your clients your very best. That’s what they pay you for. That’s what they deserve.

And you cannot, on any level, afford to give them anything less.

11 Urgent and important things you need to focus on for 2021

By Jim Connolly | December 11, 2020

marketing 2021

In no particular order.

  1. Have you considered firing your worst clients? Bad clients are a source of stress, frustration and unhappiness. They zap your energy too. The time wasted on bad clients can then be invested in delighting your best clients even more.
  2. Do your business goals for 2021 fill you with excitement? Are they all about thriving, or simply surviving? If you miss a thrive goal by 25%, you’ll still have a great year. If you miss a survival goal by just 1%, you’re broke. Set goals that inspire you to succeed.
  3. What was your biggest business challenge in 2020 and what can you learn from it? Whilst this year has produced a number of unique challenges, it has also exposed lots of historic weaknesses. Some of the most common include; an unwillingness to adapt, insufficient financial reserves, piss-poor marketing and fear of investing in yourself / your business. Those who don’t learn from past mistakes tend to repeat them.
  4. If you stopped trading tomorrow, how tricky would it be for people to find a suitable replacement? Your task is to be as close to irreplaceable as possible. Learn more about becoming irreplaceable here.
  5. Have you looked at opening your services up to a global audience? If not, now is a good time to consider it. That’s because proximity is no longer geographical for many service providers. For example, my 3 newest clients are based on 3 different continents. One of the big lessons from 2020 is that people are happy to work with you remotely. I’ve worked this model for over 15 years and can’t recommend it highly enough.
  6. What are the biggest hurdles to your success right now, and how do you plan to remove them? A business problem can only persist with your consent… passive or active. EVERY challenge you’re facing right now has already been overcome successfully by hundreds of thousands of business owners. There are experts in every area of business, who have the exact answers you need. Talk to them!
  7. How can you reduce or eliminate the feeling of risk that’s associated with hiring you or buying from you? There are a lot of fearful people out there right now. Figure out how to help them feel more secure. This will remove a major block to hiring you or buying from you.
  8. What’s the biggest opportunity for your prospective clients in 2021 and how will you help them benefit from it? Help your clients see all the amazing rebound opportunities on the horizon. And if you work in business development as I do, use your skills and vision to help them benefit from these opportunities.
  9. Is your marketing useful or does it read like a sales pitch? People hate being sold to. So stop pitching them and make your marketing so useful, that prospective clients would miss it if you stopped.
  10. Have you considered offering a premium version of your services? There’s an extremely profitable segment of every marketplace, who are eager to pay more for ‘that certain extra’. Here are some useful tips.
  11. Is your business providing you with the lifestyle you want? If not you will either need to lower your expectations or work on growing a better business. I recommend the latter. Rekindle that motivation you had when you started your business. And stop settling for less.

How Jess turned Marketing Tip number 9 into a success story

By Jim Connolly | December 9, 2020

marketing ideas, business development

Something spectacular happens, whenever a good idea is combined with the action required to deploy it. Here’s an example along with some tips on how to make it work for you too.

I was prompted to write this, after receiving an email from a reader called Jess. She explained that back in June, she read the marketing tips section of my blog.

One of the tips really spoke to her.

So, Jess decided to deploy it. It’s marketing tip number 9.

Her email was to thank me for the tip as it really helped her business, slashing her marketing spend and increasing her sales numbers at the same time.

An idea by itself

An idea by itself, even a great one, is of zero value. After all, if we’re just 1% away from switching the light on, we’re still in the dark. The best demonstration of this, is the so-called eternal student. They love to learn, but simply collect knowledge without ever putting it into action. These are the people that former US President Calvin Coolidge famously referred to, when he said; “The world is full of educated derelicts”.

Without Jess pondering that idea, then deploying it, she would never have enjoyed the results. That’s why as a marketing mentor, I work with clients to fully equip them to succeed; with the knowledge required, along with the ability to motivate themselves to deploy the plans we make. It makes all the difference and unlocks their potential.

Try this

With that lesson from Jess in mind, it’s worth pondering the great ideas you’ve gathered over the years, but failed to put into action.

Now ask yourself:

Is there one idea that you can see the value of, which you can start taking action on today?

It has often been said that you’re never more than one good idea away from a massive breakthrough. I disagree. That’s only half the story. It’s what we do with what we know that produces amazing results.

So grab that idea and get moving on it.

If you need some help getting the ideas or putting your ideas into action, read this and send me a note.

I’m really confused

By Jim Connolly | November 28, 2020

marketing tips, marketing advice

I’m confused.

Really confused.

Here’s why.

You say you provide a great quality service, but your fees are pretty close to average. You give various reasons to hire you, but your services look a lot like your competitors. And the wording on your website reads just like all the others I’ve checked out in your industry.

Obviously, I’m not reviewing your marketing. But someone is. And that person is (or was) a prospective client.

Today, anyone can check you or your business out in a matter of minutes. It has never been easier for the marketplace to build a picture of you. That’s why it’s critically important to make sure our promises are matched by our marketing.

The instant a prospective client senses a disconnect between what we claim, and what they experience, we lose them. Even if we get a second chance, it’s a huge struggle to repair a bad first impression.

If you’re working hard to provide a high quality, professional service, it’s essential that your marketing is equally as professional.

It’s an easy win.

It’s a huge win, too. Because those people who currently can’t ‘see’ that you’re exactly what they’re looking for, will start hiring you, as soon as your marketing has opened their eyes.

Marketing 101: Never sell to a stranger again

By Jim Connolly | November 23, 2020

marketing, content

Smart people speak, because they have something to say.

Dull people speak, because they have to say something.

And the difference between those approaches is huge!

The same is true in business

When smart business owners connect with their marketplace, they have something interesting to share. When the average business owner connects with their marketplace, it’s usually a sales pitch or special offer.

Most small business owners connect with their marketplace when they need something. They need more clients, customers or sales… so they interrupt strangers with a needy message. They have nothing of interest to say.

Yes, the business owner is interested in gaining clients, customers or sales, but that’s only of interest to the business owner.

The marketplace just sees another sales message from a stranger and ignores it.

Here’s a far more successful approach

Successful small business owners do things very differently. They remain in contact with their marketplace on an ongoing basis. They use their newsletters to create and share useful articles. Some also produce videos or podcasts. The point is, they share VALUABLE, USEFUL ideas and information… rather than broadcast sales pitches and needy requests.

This keeps the smart business owner ‘front of mind’ and showcases their knowledge.

But it does WAY MORE than that.

It also causes their marketplace to think of them as a valuable asset to their business. And if a business owner keeps delivering value for long enough, the marketplace will regard them as reliable, too.

So, the business owner is no longer a stranger. They’re a known, reliable, valued source of knowledge.

Now, when the smart business owner DOES have a marketing message to share, it’s received with enthusiasm. It’s received by people who, before they even read it, already know and value the source of the message.

Just stop for a moment and consider this: Think of all the additional clients you’d attract, if the already knew who you were, already knew you were helpful, already knew you were reliable and already knew you were extremely knowledgeable… the next time they need a provider from your industry.

I’m telling you, it changes everything.

I haven’t sold my services to anyone in decades. But small business owners, freelancers, advisers, photographers, accountants, trainers, etc., hire me all the time.

And they always feel like they already know me.

Because they do!

You deserve the same.

Today: An incubator for opportunities to flourish

By Jim Connolly | November 9, 2020

marketing tips, incubator for opportunities

There’s no doubt that these are worrying times.

There’s equally no doubt that this scenario is an incubator for opportunities to flourish.

Allow me to explain.

We’re looking at 2021 with no clear idea about what impact COVID-19 will have. None of us know when things will return to normal.

Perhaps just as worrying, is that things are almost certainly going to be very different from before, when they return to normal.

So even ‘normal’ will look different, whenever it arrives.

Here’s the thing: When faced with confusion, the tendency is to worry. To hunker down until things go back the way they were. That’s not going to happen. The past truly is the past.

This means that business owners waiting for the old, familiar ways to return before planning what to do, have no end point. No defining date to bounce back stronger. So they’ll drift, which is a lousy idea because you can’t drift your way to success or even survival.

Two points about this confusion and worry

Firstly, as business owners we need to learn to dance with the confusion. Move with the challenges. Live with the changing direction of our marketplace. This means planning for the super short-term as well as the medium and long-term. Checking the numbers once a month is like running blind. Keeping our finger on the pulse is essential.

Secondly, as business owners we have to be very aware that this same confusion and nervousness is impacting everyone else. Our clients and customers are confused. So are our prospective clients and customers. Their decision making is likely to be a lot less predictable than it used to be. We need to keep this in mind, as contracts come up for renewal. We also need to acknowledge that our marketing has to adjust (and adjust and adjust) to the evolving situation, or we’ll become irrelevant.

Flourishing

Every business challenge creates an incubator for opportunities to flourish. Before calling bullshit, take those two points I just mentioned.

  • One business owner will see them as 100% negative.
  • Another will identify (at least) a dozen opportunities to improve their business and own their competitors.

What makes this a perfect storm to flourish, is that the vast majority of business owners are focused on the gloom. This static majority wait and hope, leaving their marketplace wide open to the motivated and agile minority.

  • Interestingly, both types of business owner are equally fearful.
  • All that changes is the reaction they choose when faced with fear. Their response.

Fear either inspires us to respond with positive action, or causes us to respond by hunkering down and doing nothing. It’s where the phrase ‘scared stiff’ comes from.

The key here is that both responses are a choice we make. And our choice is a critically important factor in our results over the coming months and years.

In short, look for the opportunities. If you can’t see them, find someone who knows where to look. Adapt and adjust as required. If you don’t know how, find someone who does.

What on earth are they thinking?

By Jim Connolly | October 29, 2020

feast famine cycle, what is, feast famine problem

I’ve been doing some thinking this morning.

  • I wonder why thousands of accountants pay, to use the exact same newsletter and marketing materials as their competitors… then complain because their look-alike firms attract fee sensitive client enquiries.
  • I wonder why marketing professionals join networking groups, desperately looking for leads, when they’re supposed to know how to attract the very best clients.
  • I wonder why most business owners have no idea who the top 5 or 10 people in their industry are, yet they can name the judges on a TV talent show.
  • I wonder why business owners say the reason their customers don’t recommend them, is that ‘their customers’ just aren’t that type, even though it’s provably incorrect.

Here’s one possible answer

Much like web designers who have ugly websites and communications companies who use bland messaging, I believe there’s too little thought given to the consequences. These situations occur when decisions are made (and avoided) with too little consideration of the effects they will have.

On a surface level, the decisions mentioned here are easy to make. So easy, they’re almost non-decisions.

For example.

  • Maybe the accountants with bought-in newsletters see them as a tiny financial investment, thus of equally little risk. They’re not thinking enough about the consequences of trying to grow their practice, with a cookie cutter approach.
  • Maybe the marketing person in the networking group hopes no one will notice the irony of their membership. And if their business is already struggling, they may not even care about the medium-term impact it will have on their reputation.
  • Maybe the business owners who are less informed about the top contacts in their marketplace, than the judges on a TV show, just want to chill after a hard day at work. They may not necessarily care that much, about the influential people in their niche.
  • And maybe the business owners who would rather assume their clients ‘just don’t recommend service providers’, aren’t ready yet to face the reality that they’re not referable.

Here’s the thing. Our results are always telling us something. It’s our job to listen. To take heed. And then to take action. That’s always sound advice, but never more so than today.

The common factor behind self-made millionaires

By Jim Connolly | October 24, 2020

In every industry, during every economy, there are businesses that thrive. There’s no mystery as to why this happens. In fact, we can choose to become one of them. And that’s what today’s message is all about.

I’m very specifically referring to the business owners who:

  • Have the courage to do things their way. As Warren Buffett says, the best investors sell when everyone else is buying, and buy when everyone else is selling.
  • Have the courage to turn away the wrong kind of projects and clients. They know that no business can thrive without a strong client base or customer base.
  • Have the courage to develop innovative, new products or services.
  • Have the courage to refuse to do average work. They know that people judge them based on the quality of their work. So they set the bar high and increase their value.
  • Have the courage to set deadlines and deliver as promised. They’ve figured out that this is one of the best ways to earn the trust of their clients.
  • Have the courage to charge 100% or 500% more than the industry average.
  • Have the courage to focus on what they want. They’ve learned that we tend to move in the direction of what we focus on. So they refuse to focus on what they fear.
  • Have the courage to lead. When everyone else is waiting for someone to take action, these business owners lead by example.

Time and again, I find that the most common factor behind successful business owners and entrepreneurs, is courage.

The role of courage in business success

Fact: A courageous business owner will always outperform a fearful one. This holds true, no matter how smart the fearful business owner is.

For instance, many of the most fearful and least successful business owners I have met or studied, were very highly educated. However, as former US president Calvin Coolidge famously said, “The world is full of educated derelicts“. They were great at detail. Wonderful with research, yet lousy when it came to leaving their comfort zones. They lacked the courageous mindset of an entrepreneur.

Smart and courageous

Conversely, Apple was co-founded by a courageous university drop-out. And Steve Jobs was not alone. Dell founder Michael Dell never graduated. Nor did Henry Ford, Wendy’s CEO or Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. (Ellison is worth an estimated $54 Billion, around 10 times more than Sir Richard Branson). Smart people for sure. That goes without saying.

My point is that their lack of academic qualifications had no negative impact on their success, and that gaining academic qualifications is no guarantee of success.

In the 25 years since starting my business, I’ve worked with thousands of business owners. I’ve found that nothing can stop a smart, courageous business owner from succeeding. And that nothing can stop a smart, fearful business owner from being average… at best.

The good news is that courage is NOT the absence of fear.

Courage is a choice we make.

Courage is how we choose to respond when faced with the risk that comes with every genuine opportunity. It’s how we choose to respond when faced with the current uncertainty.

And we can choose to start acting with courage, whenever we wish.

How a failing business increased revenues by over 1100%

By Jim Connolly | October 21, 2020

Almost every small business owner is wasting their time and money on the wrong kind of marketing.

Here’s why you’re probably making the same mistake, plus an example of what happens, when you switch to the right kind of marketing.

The wrong kind of marketing

I’m referring to the obvious stuff that small business owners think of, when they consider marketing.

This includes the things they do when business is quiet and they have to do SOMETHING. The things that look easy enough for them to try. The things they copy from their competitors. The predictable, uninspiring messages they put on their websites, newsletters and social media accounts. In short: the obvious things that small business owners dabble with.

That’s not how you grow a business. No. That’s running blind, hoping you’ll get lucky. And it’s why the majority of small businesses go broke.

The right kind of marketing

I’m referring to creative marketing. You already know what creative marketing looks like. It’s what 100% of successful businesses do; from the expanding small businesses in your marketplace, to the consultants who work from home yet service international brands and earn a fortune. It’s also what the world’s fastest-growing brands do and how they stay ahead.

Creative marketing is not only spectacularly effective, it’s rare among small (and medium-sized) businesses. Really rare. This is one of the reasons it’s so powerful, compared to the dabbling bullshit I mentioned earlier.

Here are just a handful of reasons why creative marketing is so powerful.

  • It’s hard to copy, which means it carries on working.
  • It requires little or zero money, so your competitors can’t out-spend you (think about that for a moment).
  • It stands out, so you get noticed.
  • It helps you differentiate your business, products or services, so you never have to sell based on prices / fees or work with low value clients.
  • It inspires your prospective clients to take action.
  • It gets shared. This increases the reach of your marketing.
  • It’s memorable. Because small business marketing is useless, creative marketing finds it easy to make a positive, memorable impact.
  • It touches people in a way that never happens with uncreative marketing.

Still not convinced?

I’d like to tell you about Sara.

What creative marketing can do

Sara emailed me before the pandemic and invited me to lunch. She’s semi-retired now, but I mentored her a while ago and we’ve been great friends ever since. She now knows how to creatively build an extremely profitable business, in any sector or industry. She’d previously been a very good business consultant, but always struggled to get the flow of high quality clients she needed. Sara went on to build an amazing business and today invests in small and medium-sized businesses.

Why am I telling you this?

Over lunch, Sara told me that 2 and a half years ago she’d invested in a small, independent bakery. The bakery was already employing great people, already using premium quality ingredients and already making delicious food. BUT too few of the right kind of customers knew it was there, as they’d been using typical, small business marketing.

Sara spotted an opportunity and because she knew the owners, she offered them a price for their business. They eagerly accepted, especially as Sara promised she’d employ the same team to run it. (And they were going broke).

I asked Sara how the bakery was doing. She said she’s increased the turnover by almost 1100% and it’s massively more profitable, too.

One thousand, one hundred percent.

Massively higher profits.

Remember: She kept the same team, the same levels of quality, the same delicious food. Her only change was to switch from typical small business marketing, to creative marketing.

This probably goes without saying

But I’ll say it anyway.

If you’re currently dabbling with the usual type of ineffective, small business marketing, it’s time to switch.

Switch to a deliberate, creativity-driven approach. It’s what 100% of my work is based on, both with my clients and my own business.

Punch above your weight, by creatively gaining the attention, trust and patronage of your marketplace (ahead of your competitors). Look to the future with excitement, not apprehension, because your creativity-driven approach works perfectly in every economy, location and industry.

And it has never been more effective, than it is right now.

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Hi! I'm Jim Connolly and I help small business owners to increase sales, boost their profits and build amazing businesses. Read more here.

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