They say you can’t get there if you don’t know where “There” is. And in my book, “Just Jump”, when I discuss planning, I mention that if you were to drive across the country, you would pull out maps and plan your route. However, many wellness professionals just run their business by the seat of their pants, without any set goals or milestones, or any strategy planned out for how they will get there!

So, it comes back to where is “There”?

Here are 3 easy steps to start figuring out where “There” is:

• Step 1 – Look at everything you have to offer right now.
  How will that look moving into the New Year? Do you want to make any changes? You might want to start with what you know, but expand into other services. You might want to write a book or ebook, or offer some classes, live or virtual. Write it all down.
• Step 2 – Evaluate your pricing strategies with all you have to offer.
  How do people start interacting with you? Usually it’s as a result of something you offer them from your home page, like a free tip sheet. Then you can stay in touch with them on a regular basis, sharing when you have promotions coming up. (See my blog on 5 Parts to creating a Promotional Plan.)
• Step 3 – Decide how many people you want to sign up or purchase what you have to offer.
  This is your projections for the year! Granted, then you need to create your plan for how you’ll make that happen, but this will at least get you started.

That’s it! Let me know what you come up with, and here’s to an amazing 2012 for your wellness business!

Margie
MEG Enterprises, Inc.

Do YOU struggle with putting your marketing and promotional plans together for your amazing 2012? If you haven’t done it, yet, I suspect the answer is YES! Imagine really defining all your products, programs and services for the year, mapping out when you want to offer them, and then creating your marketing promotional plan, so you know EXACTLY what you need to do each month! Check out the Marketing Plan in a Day private coaching session by clicking here.

You have been accepted to speak at a professional conference and the organization wants your materials and slides in 2 months. You have added this task into your marketing calendar and today you will start working on it. And – business is booming! In fact, you just heard from a potential client who has decided that she would like to start working with you next month. This means she needs your welcome packet and invoice. And you received a notice while checking email that one person bought your book and another person purchased some materials from your website. You realize that you need to take care of these things immediately, so instead of working on your materials, you take care of these items.

Stopping to handle product fulfillment, client management and accounting are HUGE time zaps! Not only can they disrupt working on projects that will bring in money for the company, but are actually costing you money! How is this so, you ask? If you consider what you charge, you have to realize that that is what you are spending for your OWN work. So, if you charge $100/hour and spend 3 hours on the tasks above, you have just cost the company $300.

Hire it out
When growing a new business, it is scary to consider hiring people, but when you consider the savings AND that this then frees you up to make MORE money, it’s almost a no-brainer (I didn’t say it’s not scary, though!).

If you find an assistant who can not only answer the phone, but also do your entire client billing and scheduling, what is that worth to you? Many assistants might charge between $20-45/hour, so you again are saving money if you had to pay your assistant for 3 hours for them to take care of these tasks, while you write your speech and work on other programs, services and products for your clients. And today that assistant can either be right there in your town, or across the country!

There also comes a time when you will be ready for a bookkeeper to handle all of the accounting for your company. If your business is NOT accounting/bookkeeping, this is another task that can be hired out. Imagine not having to ever go into your accounting software, again! The same thing is so with an accountant, which, if you are already in business, you should have, anyway. Take advantage of the expertise that these people have to help you grow your business.

Using technology
The final important aspect of managing your time is taking advantage of the technology that is available, today. Examples include:

• Autoresponders
• Shopping carts

Assuming you already have a website, just as essential is an autoresponder. The LAST thing you want to spend your time on is manually sending out emails when someone buys from you or signs up for your newsletter! And this is not what you want to be paying your assistant to do, either. An autoresponder is a program that automatically sets up to send particular people emails. When you sign up for a newsletter, or you purchase something online, if you receive an email, that usually has been generated by an autoresponder. Most assistants today can set up autoresponders.

Although it’s free and easy to set up a PayPal account and generate ‘buy now’ buttons for your website, once you offer more than one item on your site, it’s time for a shopping cart. A shopping cart works much like a shopping cart in a grocery store: If you want to buy more than one item, you put it in the shopping cart, and when you’re ready to buy, you ‘check out’, thus pay for all the items at once.

What is important to know about shopping carts is they must coordinate with your merchant account. Again, this is where a knowledgeable assistant can be INVALUABLE. Not only can they perform tasks that would take you hours or days to learn, but while they’re setting up such systems for your company, you are again making more money by seeing clients or working on new products and services.

Margie
MEG Enterprises, Inc.

Do you struggle with getting things done? Do you have a vision for your business, but are unclear how to make it happen? Come join us for the Prosperity Secrets Platinum for 2012 and move from chaos and analysis paralysis to balance, clarity, structure and prosperity.

Are you allowing time and doubts to hold you back from starting the business of your dreams? We only have so many years on this earth, so if you are dreaming, now is the time to take action, before it’s too late.

What characteristics separate people into those who follow their dreams and those who just dream? Here are just a few qualities and traits that many entrepreneurs and successful leaders have in common. If you are still in the dream stage, see how you can start to take these characteristics to heart and be one of those people who looks back at life with the satisfaction of knowing you ‘went for it’, rather than wait.

A commitment to make it happen. Your commitment must start in your heart. You have to BELIEVE it can happen and be willing to give up something in order to make what you are committed to. You then must take ACTION.

Ask yourself what kind of person you are when it comes to commitment – are you someone willing to commit 100% and do what it takes? For every goal, something must be given up to achieve something else. This isn’t a bad thing. Two examples would be:

• Giving up free time to work on your business plan or organize things towards opening the door to your business.
• Giving up the security of a paying job.

The commitment must be COMPLETE, however, in order to achieve your goal. Some people start working towards a goal, but when things get tough, they cut and run. Often this action has more to do with a person’s own confidence in what she can accomplish than with her level of commitment. If that is the case, if the person wants this badly enough, she can seek help from a coach, to help her work through the limiting conversations she may be having with herself.

I will often ask clients how they will feel if they do NOT strive for this goal, however, and as they ponder the alternative, they become stronger and more confident.

Margie
MEG Enterprises

Do YOU struggle with the planning to make your success happen? If so, let me help you set your entire 2012 plan up, which includes what you have to offer and how you will promote it. We can do this in the “Marketing Plan in a Day” VIP intensive coaching session. To learn more, click here.

I’ve had a couple very interesting conversations with some successful business women in the last few days. And while sharing these conversations with my husband, something HE said made me realize how much power we, as women, give away.

Are you a woman in business? Do you have a husband who you share your successes with? Does he manage your finances or other aspects of your business? For some women, they like just doing what they do, and allowing their men to take charge. But there’s a bit of loss of control/power that comes from that. As a successful business professional, how much control over your business do you really want?

I am going to take a stand here and say that you should want FULL control! This does NOT mean you want to do it all yourself. You can have others handle your finances. But you need to KNOW what your financial situation is.

How can you start doing this, then? Here are 3 tips:

1. Start to take control over knowing what shape your finances are in your business. It’s ok if you don’t understand ALL of it! But you SHOULD be able to answer the question, “How much are you projected to make in revenue this year?” Too often I hear “I don’t know.”
2. Be clear about what financial goals you have for the next 3, 6, and 12 months. You might actually base these on how to achieve some family obligations or on what you have previously made. But I challenge you to allow yourself to think BIG, rather than ‘safe’.
3. Allow yourself to dream BIGGER than you currently are. You really CAN have a life and earn six or seven figures!

For many of you, just this first step is going to be major. What better time than the end of the year to start taking back some control. When you DO, you really start to feel more powerful, and more like a real business woman, rather than just a wife/dietitian/health professional doing something on the side.

Let me know how it goes for you!

Margie
MEG Enterprises

Are you ready to take YOUR business to the next level? Come join us in the Niche Breakthrough Secrets for Unlimited Client Attraction teleseminar series, starting November 29. To learn more, click here.

Many women in business struggle with making the money they REALLY dream of. Oh yea, a big issue is they say they don’t WANT to be real successful, because they want enough time to actually have a LIFE! So, they keep their business small, thinking it will make things easier, leading to lack of a sense of achievement and success.

But if you set boundaries – for yourself and for your clients – and you plan appropriately, you CAN have it both!

I had a conversation with a friend today and shared that this is my best year for my business, yet. And we both are in the six-figure income category. We talked on a Sunday, while I was on my elliptical trainer and she was working. But she said to me, “Aren’t you really busy?” and yes, I AM, but I also take time off. She was amazed and impressed. But it really just takes some planning and determination to make that all happen!

Let’s look at 3 simple ways YOU can make great money and have a life:

1. Create your schedule. I’m sure you’ve heard this one before! And you might even have a schedule that you stick to. And you might even LEAVE your office/work area. But not REALLY leave it. By this I mean that you then spend time researching or charting or something else. If this is the case, it’s time to spread out your clients so that all OTHER tasks are done DURING work time.
2. Hire help. The first tip above really leads to this one. You cannot do it all and grow even just a six-figure business! Trust me; this is true. But it doesn’t mean you have to hire an employee! Find a live (in-person) or virtual assistant and bring them in as a contractor. This means they are working for themselves, and you are just one of several clients. Although you may think you can’t afford one, you really can’t afford to NOT have one!
3. Create your promotional plan. And stick to it! What do you want to accomplish in the next 3-6 months? Do you have it all written down how you’ll make it happen? If not, we need to talk.

Simple, huh? Now put it all into action!

Margie
MEG Enterprises

Do YOU struggle with the planning to make your success happen? If so, let me help you set your entire 2012 plan up, which includes what you have to offer and how you will promote it. We can do this in the “Business Plan in a Day” VIP intensive coaching session. To learn more, click here.