It’s not too late, you know! In fact, I’ve just started working with my new Platinum clients for the second half of 2011, and I KNOW they are going to end the year with amazing achievements!

But how can you turn things around right now? Simple! Follow these steps:

Step #1 – Write out a brief description of what you want your business to look like in 6 months from now. Include:
* Income
* Goals
* Your team
* The marketing
* The number of clients you want
* What you’re offering

Step # 2 – List everything that needs to happen to make #1 happen.

Don’t worry about knowing HOW, just determine what needs to happen.

Step #3 – Look at the above activities and decide which one will get you closest to making the money you need. Keep it very simple. You might have written down ‘website’ in #2, but instead of having to create an ENTIRE website, maybe all you need is a sales page! Start with the very first thing, the one most important. The one that will bring in the greatest amount of money, first. Once you have that ‘power boost’, then it’s easy to build up more momentum.

Step #4 – Now pull out a calendar and start prioritizing. Put the things you came up with in #3 on the calendar as projects. Determine the completion dates for each, and then back-track to determine the action items necessary to complete each project.

Before you know it, we’ll be at the end of the year and you will have achieved greater success than you ever thought possible!

Margie

Do you want to see positive success but need help making it all happen? We are still accepting applications for the 6-month group Platinum program. To learn more, click here.

I just wrote about time management on another blog, because it is SUCH a big issue, today. One of the biggest challenges around time is in trying to ‘market’ your business via the current social networking venues.

I hear it all the time: “I need to market, but then I don’t have time for anything else!”

Seriously?

Let’s FIRST look at the term “marketing” and then let’s look at your social networking habits to see if we can get you back to work.

Marketing

Marketing is the strategy you will use to grow your business.

Marketing does not ONLY mean Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Marketing is a bigger picture of how you will accomplish the goals you’ve set up to accomplish with your business. Marketing is the tool for success. This also means newsletters, business cards, networking, phone calls, etc, just to name a few. Social networking should only be a PART of your marketing.

Literally, the definition of marketing by the American Marketing Association is “Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. (Approved October 2007)”

Got it?

Ok, that’s the first step.

Social networking

Next, let’s look at your social networking habits. Looking at your current social networking habits, are you able to quantify your results? How many visitors are you driving to your website as a result of your postings? And, of those visitors, how many are signing up for anything you have to offer? First item should be your newsletter/eblast.  Second would be your main service or product you have to offer.

Do NOT tell me you don’t know!

If you find yourself spending hours on these sites and you do not KNOW the results you’re producing, then really, you’re not working, you’re playing!

Consider how much all that ‘playing’ is costing you! Where is your return on investment? If it is not driving business to you, how else could you otherwise spend your time and actually MAKE money? Afterall, that IS why you’re in business, right?

The best piece of advice my Social Media VA gave me was this: Spend no more than 5 minutes a day on these sites. She suggested pick one to visit 3 days a week, another 2 days, and another 2 days. It was like she lifted this huge weight of pressure off my shoulders! Oh, I CAN create a presence AND work at the same time!

The funny thing is I’m starting to see other business coaches/consultants suggest the same thing. Why? Because it works!

So, now you know what marketing is and what place social networking plays in the BIG picture. And you have a suggested guide for controlling your social networking time.

So now, SERIOUSLY, stop reading and get to work!

Margie

If you are working on growing your business, you probably are constantly looking for that new technique in marketing, or trying to learn how to spend less time marketing. Or you’re trying to figure out  marketing IS!

But, no matter what stage you’re in, my guess is you’ve attended a few teleseminars on at least one topic that promises to take your business to the next level. There are some great role models and knowledgeable professionals out there who truly help people who wish to grow their business, who work out of integrity and honesty. But for every one of them, there must be HUNDREDS who are just after the wholly dollar. And those ‘others’ DO make a reputation for themselves. The funny thing is although they make a reputation, and create a frenzied following, these followers don’t last very long.

I wish to expose strategies of those who are living outside of integrity, today:

1. There’s a trend I’ve noticed that seems to have taken hold, lately: It’s the hard-core seminar that will give you the ‘secrets’ to… whatever… that starts with the speaker’s own story.

Ok, I like a good personal story as much as the next person. However, when the stories ALL sound the same, you know something’s up!

And that’s where making a difference with integrity comes in. Is it right to make up a personal story in order to sell your program or to generate business? Because, I have to admit that, after seminar after seminar, when everyone relays the same personal story, I can’t help but believe the story has been contrived…

I haven’t been almost homeless and found ‘the’ answer by accident and today live in a mansion. I haven’t had to depend on others to feed me, just on the door of despair, only to find ‘the’ solution to all my failures and today have homes in all contents. And, personally, if I hear these stories from one more person, I may just scream on the call!

2. My other pet peeve is trying to sell a process to EVERYONE. You know: “I did it this way, and it will work for YOU, too!” The first red flag that pops up for me is that this person has no CLUE what’s best for anyone else, and it’s obvious just by that statement that they certainly don’t know business!  Not EVERYONE is going to succeed the way *I* did, and as a business professional, I would never presume that my way is the BEST way. As a result of my business education, I have learned how to help clients determine their OWN best way, and we use my expertise to help them make that way the path to success for them.

3. The final complaint I have is with these programs that cost thousands and thousands of dollars, but are targeting the person who really can’t afford to be spending that much money. I totally agree with the strategy of creating a sense of urgency and limitation in marketing. And I understand the concept of perceived value; the higher the monetary value, the higher the perceived value.  It’s a very effective technique. And for some audiences, who are more advanced, the more expensive programs are just what they need. But they are for the people who can afford such programs! These are not for people who are building a business on a shoestring budget. This is irresponsible for the person selling the program and it’s REALLY irresponsible for the buyer. How is this teaching good business to emerging entrepreneurs?

I struggled with this question when creating my Just Jump into Business membership program. I looked at all types of programs and concluded that the PURPOSE of my program was to be able to help more people achieve their dream of business ownership and success. How can I do that if they go broke paying for my program?

As a consumer, I enthusiastically encourage you to search what’s out there to help you grow your business. But search for resources with a critical eye. What background and education do these ‘marketing guru’s’ have? Who do you know has used the program or service? Check all testimonials if you are seriously considering the program. The more expensive the program, the more thoroughly you should investigate. Anyone online today can say on their website or on a phone call that they are rolling in dough. But “What’s behind that curtain”, really? Can you even afford this program, or will it be BEYOND a financial stretch for you? Finally, if you ask them to help you determine if you can afford their program, will they concern themselves with what’s best for YOU, or what’s best for THEM?

Margie

MEG Enterprises

You’ve started your business and am excited to get things up and running. And you may even have a few new clients, so things are moving nicely!

But now you’re wondering what’s next! You hear all about the importance of marketing, but since you’re not a business specialist, you’re wondering just what the best marketing would be for you?

Well, the best marketing strategy will be whatever works!

Where do your clients hang out? What interests them? Who do they listen to, what do they read? What makes them tick? Once you figure out the answers to THESE questions, you can go where they are  and speak to them in a language they will understand, and address the issues that are important to them.

Sounds so simplistic, huh? But it really is that simple. Let’s give you an example:

Let’s say you want to help women lose weight. Where do they hang out? What websites do they visit, what blogs do they read and perhaps post on? Who are they following on Twitter? Get to know the answers to these questions. Then start posting and sharing, yourself. Write articles and submit to these websites, and even submit to various article-submission sites, such as ezinearticles.com.

Does this audience listen to other women, or do they search out health experts? Find this out and determine how to provide them with information in the form they want to see/read/hear it. Do not assume you KNOW without researching, first, though.

Finally, this is a very important point: IF your audience does NOT spend time online, don’t spend time online yourself, trying to find the FEW who are! Go where they are! Busy male executives tend to spend less time online for anything other than shopping or hobbies.  So it’s important to know where your clients are, so you can reach them.

What’s next for you is to grow your business, and by spending a little time researching who and where your clients are, you are increasing your chances for success.

To help you take your business to the next level, or even just get it off the ground, I invite you to come join us for the Just Jump into Business membership program! First month is free, so you have nothing to risk… except success!

Margie