QUOTE: “The more you say to yourself, ‘I am responsible,’ the stronger, better and finer a person you become. And every part of your life will improve at the same time.” – Brian Tracy

One of the themes running through my life currently, and in the lives of my clients, is that of Personal Responsibility. If you’ve been to my workshop and on any of my calls, you know that I believe strongly in Personal Responsibility (I often call it ‘The No Excuses Approach’) and how I do not believe you can ever achieve BIG success without it. It’s a topic that few marketers ever really talk about in depth, but one that is crucial for success.

You see, each time I bump up against a new level of success in my business, a lot of my old “stuff” comes back up. I’ve caught myself in the past comparing my success to others with more success, feeling resentful, feeling less-than, and sometimes even BLAMING others or my own particular situation or for not being where I would LIKE to be in terms of success in that moment. And believe me, it doesn’t feel good. But perhaps you know exactly what I’m talking about… (more…)

In sifting through emails from a recent R&D survey I launched, I read the responses, and honestly, I wanted to cry. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I haven’t been aware that most solopreneurs have very low expectations of what could be made in self-employment (I’ve been at this for almost 9 years after all!), but I just didn’t know how LOW. Until I got the responses to the following question: “What is the most amount of money you see yourself making as a self-employed person?” Not just this year, but EVER.

Close to 200 solopreneurs (mostly female) wrote in and shared with me their “Most-I’ll-ever-make-in-a-year” numbers. What shocked me was that the number itself was really LOW and the majority of people wrote in numbers within a short range: between $50,000 and $75,000. Sure, a couple of them wrote in $150,000, but even THAT seemed like a far cry from what I *know* is possible, when you shift the way you work, get good marketing in place, create systems for everything, outsource, and set up leveraged and passive streams of income.

But what really got me choked up was they didn’t BELIEVE it was possible and worse, some didn’t feel they deserved it. Their MINDSET wasn’t accustomed to thinking BIG, and truthfully that made me very sad, almost depressed. So I went about adding it to my Client Attraction coaching curriculum. (more…)

Imagine you’ve worked hard to market your services; you’ve attracted a prospective client, set up a “sales conversation” and gone through the whole sales process. Great job, but sometimes, no matter how hard we try, prospects don’t always sign up on the spot.

Sometimes, a prospect needs some time to make the decision on whether or when they’d like to start working with you. What I’ve noticed over the years is that when this happens, most always, the sale never happens, probably because life gets in the way and what’s out of sight is out of mind.

Often, this means you’ve lost them for good. UNLESS you use some kind of method to get indecisive prospects to slide right into your practice, instead of slipping through your fingers. So I’ve come up with a fantastic remedy for this, which helps me and my students close the deal 97-98% of the time. If prospects don’t bite on the ‘sales’ call, use what I call the “bookend” method. Here’s how it works. (more…)

Entrepreneur Magazine called not too long ago to get my take on how to be your own best walking advertisement without becoming offensive, off-putting or in people’s faces. There’s definitely a fine line between authentic self-promotion and being pushy. Today, I’ll share with you one of the tips I shared with the editor for making people aware of your problem-solving resources, without becoming ‘Client Repulsive’. The tip? GIVE GENEROUSLY.

It’s easier to promote when you are GIVING something of high-value to a prospect. It’s an approach of SERVICE rather than ‘selling something’ or trying to ‘get something’ from your prospect. GIVING is much more Client Attractive and takes the pressure off of the person (and yourself). Let’s face it; people love to buy, but they don’t like to be sold. So, make it easy on them by giving them something.

When working with private clients who want to quickly build a database of prospects and fill their pipeline consistently, we almost always create something called an “Irresistible Offer”, something that has a high perception of value, offered at no charge. Something that will create the WOW factor and naturally PULL them in. For example, my website offers an audio CD at no charge on the home page. This is my version of the Irresistible Offer.

Instead of trying to explain my work at length to a prospect, which would turn someone off immediately, it’s much easier to say something like, “Go to my website to order the audio CD at no charge and you’ll also get a subscription to weekly marketing articles. My treat.”

When you do that, two things happen. 1) There’s a WOW factor that gets them excited. 2) They’re often impressed that you would give something of such value at no charge, which makes you look even better in their eyes. And, 3) you let the high-content of your ‘Irresistible Offer’ demonstrate the value of what you offer, so there doesn’t need to be any selling.

When you give good content at no charge, people automatically realize that this is just the tip of your iceberg and they’ll get that your paid stuff will be even more valuable. It doesn’t have to be a CD. It can be a special report, an audio download, a seminar or teleclass. Anything that has a high perceived value will work, as long as the content is very good. That way, marketing feels authentic to you AND to the person you’re talking to.

Best of all, if the information on your giveaways is of high-content and high-value, word will spread quickly. They’ll tell their colleagues, their friends, anyone who will listen, but only if you’ve given them something of value. And then it’s just a question of providing more high content on a regular basis through easy stay-in-touch marketing vehicles, until the trust and credibility has been established and the prospect raises their hand when they’re ready for your service or product. You’ll be shocked at how quickly your pipeline will fill when you have the right ‘Irresistible Offer’.

The key is, when you give generously, both in a giveaway and in content, you make it OK to offer other resources that will help that prospect. It’s like reading your favorite magazine. When you love every article, chances are the ads in the magazine will also appeal to you. Same thing here.

Your Client Attraction Assignment:

So, start thinking about how you can give more generously:

* A special report?
* An audio download?
* A CD?
* A live seminar?
* A teleclass?

Once you put it together, make sure it’s high-content (without giving away the farm) and that you have a way of continuing to speak to them regularly with more high-value stay-in-touch marketing vehicles. Then, you avoid being Client Repulsive and instead, you become extremely Client Attractive.

If you’re looking for more ways to create a compelling marketing message and PULL clients toward you, I recommend the Client Attraction Home Study System?. I’ve outlined every Client Attraction technique in detail, and it’s all there so you can start using it right away to get similar results. All the tools, scripts, templates and examples are handed to you on a silver platter. And it’s laid out in a very simple way: do step one of the system, and when you’re done with that, move on to step two, etc. It’s so simple and yet so very powerful, it’s changed the lives of thousands of solopreneurs. You can read the success stories and get your own copy at www.TheClientAttractionSystem.com. (Why struggle when you can just attract clients easily?)

© 2008 Client Attraction LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Want to use this article on your website or your own ezine? No problem! But here’s what you MUST include:

Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System™, the proven step-by-step program that shows you exactly how to attract more clients, in record time…guaranteed. To get your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and receive her weekly marketing & success mindset articles on attracting more high-paying clients and dramatically increasing your income, visit www.ClientAttraction.com.

Let me share a big secret with you that all wealth-y solo-entrepreneurs know: If you want to have an ideal business, work less and make a whole lot more, I can assure you that you CANNOT do it by yourself. You must outsource!

You know how I know this? Because for years, I tried! For years, I tried to do everything in my business by myself, like the good “lone ranger” that I thought I was. You know what? It didn’t work. In fact, a few years ago, I remember getting on the phone with my coach and crying for the first 8 minutes of our coaching call. He listened patiently as I sobbed and then said just one thing to me:

“Fabienne, Frank Sinatra didn’t move his own pianos.” (more…)

Following up on leads is 90% of the game, right? At least that’s what we hear. You spend all this time networking, marketing yourself, making cold calls, looking for the right client, but what’s the point of it all if you don’t follow up on the leads you DO have? This was a major obstacle for one of my clients this week and a shift was created when I shared the Low Hanging Fruit List with her.

Let’s think about Low Hanging Fruit on a tree for a moment, as it relates to its counterpart higher up on the tree. The Low Hanging Fruit is heavier, probably riper and because of that, easier to pick. Think of your warm prospects, those that have already expressed an interest in working with you, as this type of fruit. Ready for the picking.

Yet, many of us focus a lot of our energy on the higher fruit, the harder-to-reach fruit or prospect. We spend a lot of time working on far-fetched Client Attraction projects, when we really could be spending the time contacting and closing the deal with people who’ve already said they’d like to work with us but haven’t been turned into clients yet. Logically, this doesn’t make as much sense, does it? (more…)

QUOTE: “People will go where they are given increase” – Napoleon Hill

Too many solo-entrepreneurs, especially women, tend to downplay their successes. They either don’t stop long enough to see how much they’ve actually accomplished, or they’re too shy to share with others how well things are going, for fear of bragging. And yes, bragging is annoying because it’s usually done with the purpose of making others feel inferior. This is NOT what I’m talking about today. We’re talking about sharing successes and inspiring others through our own example.

You see, deep down, your clients and prospects WANT you to do well. They want to trust that you know what you’re doing and that you’re successful at it. If not, they may feel like your “guinea pig”, become worried that you may have lost your touch and that perhaps they should go look to someone else for expert advice. Here’s what I mean: If you drive up to a client’s house in a beat up, dented, jalopy of a car, their perception of you will be quite different from driving up in a clean luxury car. It’s part of the Perception of 1ncrease. (more…)

QUOTE: “Until one is released, step by step or all at once, from the roots of fear-based thinking, no amount of Mo-ney will give prosperity. This is fact...” – Anonymous

Even though I’m totally unplugged from what’s going on in the world, by choice, stuff is still trickling in. You see, I’ve made a conscious choice for years not to listen to the news, read the papers or listen to talk radio. It’s not just that I’m a very sensitive person and I react to negative stuff more deeply than others seem to, it’s that I don’t like what it does to my mindset. Somehow, I seem to focus on the bad news and then it affects everything else in my life. Some people have told me in the past years that my “unplugging” is foolish, that I’m missing out on what’s going on in the world, or that I’m na?ve, thinking that if I don’t hear it, it doesn’t exist.

Well, in a way, that’s true for me. If I don’t know about it, then it can’t affect me. And so, while the rest of the world seems to be spiraling in a big mess of fear, worry and doubt, I’m oblivious to it, in a good way. Because my mind isn’t tainted with this “stuff”, I’m continuing to prosper, we continue to grow, and more abundance is flowing into my life in every area. And I wish more people would do what I do. Here’s why.

You have to understand that the news media is only interested in one thing, and one thing only: Advertising do11ars (I know, I used to work in advertising.) The more people are tuned in to their show or read their publication, the higher they can charge their advertisers. And to artificially grow the numbers, the media has to do ANYTHING it can to get your attention. And FEAR is the best way to get someone’s attention, and to get them to keep coming back for more, for “fear” of missing something important.

When you understand this, you get clear that there’s a lot of hype out there, and it’s all plugging in to what I call the “collective fear”. And when you’re in fear, you cannot be prosperous, no matter how much money you have. Why? Because prosperity is a state of mind. Let me say that again: When you’re in fear, you cannot be prosperous. Here’s something I read recently in a channeled text:

“Until one is released, step by step or all at once, from the roots of fear-based thinking, no amount of Money will give prosperity. This is fact…”

Listen, I get that fear is a biggie. It’s easy to get sucked in. I know a few people right now who are gripped with fear. They’re holding on so tight to their mo-ney, that they’re “white-knuckling” it through life. They are absolutely miserable. And you know what? They actually have plenty of mo-ney in the bank! But because they have fear, it doesn’t matter. Because prosperity is a state of mind.

The key to attracting prosperity is to refuse to focus on things that cause you fear, and to eliminate fear from your life. Now, some clients say to me, “Fabienne, how can I *not* focus on fear? There is evidence all around me that things aren’t going well.” My answer to them is that you can CHOOSE not to struggle.

Look all around you. Nature doesn’t struggle. A blade of grass doesn’t struggle to grow. It just does. Instead of focusing on all the things that appear to be “going downhill”, shift your focus. Look at everything around you that IS going well. There’s a way that we, as humans, tend to focus on the 2% that’s NOT going well, as opposed to the 98% that IS going well in our lives. What are YOU focusing on?

The best way that I’ve found to get out of fear these days is to focus on the present moment. If I’m in a bad mood or noticing that the collective fear is leaking into my world, I stop everything and I tap into the present moment. However simple this may seem to you, it’s actually miraculous. I throw on a scarf, go down to the beach and take a walk along the water. I put my attention on the subtle scent of the sea air, I listen to the seagulls, I watch my footsteps in the sand. I stay totally present. Why?

Because you CANNOT be in fear AND in the present moment at the same time. It’s impossible. When you are in the present moment, you are in direct connection to Spirit or God or the Universe, whatever you choose to call it. And that is your direct pipeline to love. And love and fear cannot coexist. It’s a universal law.

What does this have to do with Client Attraction? EVERYTHING. Here’s why: If you’re gripped with fear, sitting at your desk, wondering where the clients are or why people are leaving, you are feeding yourself with this collective fear. That stops you from marketing and the energy that you DO put into your marketing when you actually do it is a negative energy. Which brings more of the lack into your life, which then repels prosperity.

Instead, focus on what’s going well. Be in gratitude for what you DO have. Take a break from work, walk away from your desk, tickle your kids, go walk the dog, focus on the air outside, whatever it takes to just take your focus OFF of the fear. When you do that, you will watch the fear literally disintegrate right in front of your eyes. Then, when you go back to work on your marketing, you’ll find yourself coming from a totally different perspective. Instead of coming from “lack”, you’ll be coming from “attraction”. And that’s when the clients come in. That’s when the mo-ney pours in.

Your Assignment:

Take special notice of when you get sucked in to the collective fear. Put yourself in a place of being unplugged from it. Stop watching the news, stop reading the papers, and change the conversation when your friends and neighbors begin talking about things having to do with lack. Shift your focus to what IS abundant in your life.

1) Appreciation and Gratitude

List at least 10 things/people you are grateful for in your life right now:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

2) Choose one item/person and describe “why” you are grateful for this. Describe how it makes you feel:

3) Acknowledge your successes
List at least 5 successes you enjoyed yesterday. These can be very little (like making your bed) to very significant (like getting a new client)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Do this every day. Then, once you’re in a place of feeling abundant again, it’s time to get back to marketing. Remember, you’ve got to take ACTION too. You can’t just sit on your sofa and wish for new clients. You’ve got to implement authentic, compelling and consistent marketing that will have people REACH OUT to you, credit card in hand, wanting to work with you.

Let’s face it: being self-employed, our businesses are fundamentally a reflection of every part of us. It’s not like working for a corporation where you don’t really control the outcome of the business unless you’re at the top. Who you and I “are” as people literally affects our businesses, every day, every minute, every second, with every breath.

Knowing that the “inner” is directly reflected in the “outer,” it’s especially so for those working solo. If there’s turmoil or disconnection within you as a person, it will be reflected in your business. If there’s purpose, acceptance, and alignment, things come to you without struggle.

For me personally, this past year has been a year of reflection and re-gearing for the next level of my business, almost an incubation phase. I’ve come to the realization that I needed to stop listening to so many OTHER people’s opinions of the next journey for my business and needed to look inside. And that included seeing what’s authentic, what my purpose is, and what I’m here to do with my clients. It’s been about healing the past GUNK that’s often stopped me and about strengthening WHO I am as a person, to then best fulfill what I’m here to do (and create an even more delicious business doing it).

Years ago, I thought that attracting clients was 100% about fancy marketing. I was wrong. The longer I am in business and the longer I work on my own spiritual and personal growth, the more I’ve gotten clear that attracting clients and having the business of your dreams is actually more a 3-slice pie. Sure, Marketing is one of those slices, and a very important one (hey, you’ve got to take ACTION to attract clients. No excuses).

But, the other two slices of the pie are not always talked about openly. Honestly, I haven’t always talked about them in public either, for fear of sounding a little too “Woo Woo”, if you know what I mean. Most times I would just hint at them, hoping people would read between the lines and get the point. However, I’d be cheating you if I didn’t tell you more about those two other slices to Client Attraction success, because they’re so important.

If marketing is one slice of the pie, Manifesting is another. And by manifesting, I mean the Law of Attraction, what you focus on with great feeling, you attract into your existence. At its most basic, here’s how it can be described: If you’re continually focusing on having a full practice of yummy clients who pay you what you’re worth, then you will start to attract that. If you’re focusing rather on the LACK of clients and you’re ticked off that people aren’t paying you what you’re worth, then you will attract that also (meaning, not having those clients or not making enough). Simple, yet very powerful.

But, the other slice of the pie that rarely gets airtime is the Personal Growth slice: Clearing out the cobwebs. I’m talking about not worrying what people think as much and being willing to look within to either heal or change the things about you that stop you from being the successful person you were meant to be. It’s about being authentic and taking a really hard look at all the baggage and the unfounded fears you’ve carried around since childhood (trust me, I have them too) and doing something about it.

So, what are we searching for when we go within?

Fears, limiting beliefs, negative emotions, and other unresolved stuff like shame and resentments. The reason it’s so important to look within is that if that stuff is still lingering in your system, you have a more difficult time “manifesting” what you say you want. The fears and other unresolved stuff get in the way of you attracting what you wish for and essentially negate and cancel your wishes. OUCH.

Now, I am not saying you have to run out and see a shrink. That hasn’t been the fastest path to growth for me personally. Rather, it’s about being honest with yourself, really honest, about who you are. And getting to KNOW who you are. Calling out your fears, putting them down on paper. It’s about writing down the things you say to yourself that stop you in your tracks. The more you get clear on this stuff, the more direct your impact on Client Attraction and having the business you really, really want.

It’s about being authentic with yourself, in life, in business, and in your marketing. The more authentic you are in your marketing, the more Client Attractive you become. Whether you call it Spiritual Marketing or Authentic Marketing, it’s super important, because if you don’t do anything about it, you’ll continue to get the same results you’re getting now. Now for some, that’s fine, but I’ll bet that you’re not willing to be living the exact same life 30 years from now, let alone 5 years from now. You probably want an even better situation and you want your wishes granted sooner than later.

Now, you could choose not to do anything about it and choose not to look inside. That’s what I did for a long time. I was really good at avoidance and denial. But what I’ve found happens if you ignore the “growth” slice is that you keep struggling on some levels, wondering why things you want aren’t coming to you faster. It can all seem to be an uphill battle and it can become really frustrating, making you want to throw in the towel and give up your business.

Well, when I started doing personal growth and becoming more authentic many years ago, the struggle started fading away and EASE started showing up. And the more I look at my long-ingrained fears and work on the other gunk that’s previously slowed the next level of success I’ve imagined, the more that success shows up for me.

It’s a process I continue ruthlessly, and help my clients with as well. Yeah, we talk about SERIOUS marketing, but this stuff too, because it all works. And it certainly pays off, in more ways than one. Sure, lots of clients and greater 1ncome are the payoffs, but you also get freedom, joy, and ease as a byproduct. That’s the real payday, if you ask me.

Your Assignment:
Begin by making the decision to look within and be honest about what you find. If you resist it, it will persist. Make a list of the fears and limiting beliefs, the old junk you’ve avoided or that keeps coming up and clogging the pipeline to the success you so dearly want. Be willing to take the same no-excuses approach we talk about with Client Attraction Marketing, and apply it to this as well. It takes a little courage at first, but the more you do it, the easier it gets. I know you can do it and the results will astound you. I promise.

There are some solo-entrepreneurs that market ’til they’re blue in the face, and STILL don’t attract ideal, high-paying clients. They’re seemingly doing all the “right things”: they’ve got marketing materials, marketing plans, they’re speaking, networking, etc. and yet producing no real results. Yes, they have some clients. Yes, they’re making their bills. But they’re not seeing the kind of success they so desperately want. (Are you one of those?)

You might be wondering, “What is going on? What am I doing wrong?? I’m busting my chops, working like a dog, and yet my 1ncome is still NOT what I want it to be… in fact, not even close.” On the outside, everyone probably thinks you have a great business, but YOU know what’s really going on, especially financially. I actually hear this a lot. As I am working with higher level clients (people who have plenty of clients but not the business or 1ncome they really want to be making) I’m noticing that the marketing is only half the problem.

What’s usually happening is two things are getting in the way. Yes, the marketing needs to be tweaked or reworked. Usually, the target audience needs to be narrowed down or changed to a higher level client, and then inevitably, the marketing message needs to become clearer and more compelling. So, we work on that.

But most of the time, it’s something MUCH more drastic and destructive. It’s what’s going on INTERNALLY that’s botching your results: THE MINDSET. And I’ve come to realize that if the INSIDE is not matched to the OUTSIDE, then you won’t get the results you want. Period. Here’s what I mean:

* There’s the OUTER game of Client Attraction: the marketing and the action and the behaviors.
* Then, there’s the INNER game of Client Attraction: your thoughts, feelings and beliefs.

If these do not match, there’s no way you can create the business you SAY you want. Here’s an example: Pretend Susan is a solo-entrepreneur and she’s been in business for almost 4 years. She’s networking, speaking locally, doing an ezine, and everything else she “should” be doing. She’s good at what she does, but she’s just not making the mo-ney she wants to make. Not even close. That’s when we examine her marketing and make tweaks.

But here’s the kicker: we ALSO look at the stuff under the surface too. When we probe deeper, we realize that one or more things aren’t in alignment with her big goal she says she wants:

* The Thought: “I WANT TO MAKE $500,000 this year.”
* The Feeling/Belief: “IF I HAVE THAT MANY CLIENTS, I WILL GET OVERWHELMED AND LOSE MY FREEDOM.   BESIDES IT WILL BE TOO MUCH WORK, SO WHY BOTHER.”
* The Action: SUBTLE SELF-SABOTAGE BEGINS TO HAPPEN, because deep down, Susan wants freedom and ease more than she wants the money. She may not think that consciously, but it’s very real on a subconscious level. And that translates into Susan not doing what it takes, not taking the actions or exhibiting the no-excuses behavior that would create a business that brings her that much money per year.

Essentially, what’s happening with Susan is that she’s driving with the brake on, and going nowhere fast. So, she steps on the gas pedal even more, but still not getting any results. It’s destructive, but most importantly, after a while, there’s going to be a shortage of gas and then the whole car will stop moving. She thinks she just wasn’t meant to be in business and packs it up to go back to working for someone else, feeling like a big failure and taking a blow to her self-esteem. For Susan to create the 1ncome she wants, all 3 need to match and be congruent.

The Thought must match the Feeling/Belief must match the Action and Behavior. If not, you’ll keep struggling, not knowing why it’s all so difficult.

It’s an insidious game and the worst part of it is, you usually don’t know this is going on! Worse, you may not be able to recognize the underlying limiting beliefs, fears and self-doubt that stops your behavior. The solution? Getting really clear on where you’re not being congruent.

This is BY FAR, my most effective thing to work on with a client or workshop participant. Why? Because when you change someone’s inner states (the INNER game of Client Attraction) you begin to immediately see an increase in their business and in their 1ncome. Quantum Leaps begin to happen and it’s as if the vice-grip that’s been holding back the success of your business is FINALLY RELEASED. And there’s just so much more ease and flow (and financial abundance pours in).

I’ve seen it time and time again with my clients and Mastermind members. When we clear the GUNK, the mo-ney follows. I know from experience, because it happened to me. In fact, it keeps happening, over and over again. The more I work on my INNER game, the more I make. And it all becomes easier: I work less and make mo-re. That’s when you know you’re becoming more congruent.

Your Assignment:

If you’re feeling like you’re working really hard but not seeing RESULTS (either in your number of clients or in your re-venues) then it’s time to look at your INNER game of Client Attraction: your mindset. Notice the relationship between your thoughts about your goal, your feelings about achieving your goal and the actions you’re taking to reach that goal.

Are they congruent? Are they aligned? If not, then you’re going nowhere fast. Not until you get yourself a mindset breakthrough. That’s when the marketing breakthrough happens, which results in an 1ncome breakthrough. Once you create those breakthroughs, your business and your life will NEVER be the same. I guarantee it.