QUOTE: “Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine… And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” -Marianne Williamson
During a Mastermind session two years ago, I got clear on the ONE obstacle that was standing between me and tripling my business past the 7-figure mark. Contrary to what I originally thought, it wasn’t a lack of knowledge, of what to do next or a marketing challenge. I actually knew exactly what to do to double or triple my business. For me, it was a question of leveraging my time, my marketing and my resources so that I can help many, many more solo-preneurs get more clients, create systems for marketing, clean up their mindset and give them the tools and the permission to succeed (I teach this heavy-duty stuff in my upcoming workshop ). That’s my purpose and it’s actually fun for me.
What WAS holding me back was something much more internal. It was the deeply ingrained fear that the bigger I got, meaning the bigger my business got, the more I would make myself a target for criticism and “pot shots”. (more…)
To dramatically increase referrals, it’s important to educate the people you consider personal advocates (those who know you, like you, trust you, love you, and want the best for you), and let them know what you’re up to and who your best clients are.
If you’re just starting out, it’s a letter of introduction; if you’ve been in practice several months or years, write an “update letter” on how your practice has grown or new services that you provide.
The fact is, most people who are your personal advocates will be happy to help (people LOVE to give referrals and to help a friend in business, especially when the person is a trusted friend). It makes them feel good, yet most of us somehow feel that we’re being a burden on our network when we do this. The good news is, it all depends on how tastefully it’s done. (more…)
Have you ever looked at your to-do list and just wanted to run away? Sometimes, procrastination gets the best of us self-employed people. It seems that everything is priority and we tend to put some things on the back burner. The thing is, if the items on your to-do list have to do with marketing and Client Attraction, then you don’t want to ignore them (if you do, your pipeline of prospects will be empty in 6 months, or less).
Procrastination creeps its ugly head in my business every now and then. Personally, I think it’s more overwhelm than procrastination and the list can be so overwhelming that I tend to go into avoidance/denial mode, preferring to just not deal with it. (Has that ever happened to you too?) (more…)
QUOTE: “The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one’s self to destiny.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
Have you ever felt on the verge of something BIG in your business, that the next level is just within your reach, and at the same time, wondering if you have what it takes to make it happen, if you can actually handle it? There was a point in time when I curiously observed this with colleagues, students and Mastermind Clients of mine.
It’s a phenomenon that happens to most people in business for themselves after a few years. When solo-entrepreneurs first get started in marketing their business, they have gusto, they have energy, and many take a no-excuses approach to getting clients. They’re WILLING to do what it takes, and they do it often (most of them).
But after a few years, they begin to rest on their laurels, they get lazy, and after a while, they stop doing what they used to do to get clients. Some stop networking; some stop doing free intro classes, either in person or over the phone; some no longer do as much speaking as they used to. They’ve slowed down their marketing, and then they wonder what’s happened to their pipeline: it’s empty.
In practice building (and getting clients) it seems to be that most self-employed people just hope for the best. They simply keep doing what they’ve been doing and don’t have a strategy for creating the practice they’d be truly and deeply happy with. This is a big mistake in my opinion.
I used to write down my goals each year, but it never really worked for me. I just didn’t feel really excited about my new goals. They didn’t seem to propel me in motion and so I kind of viewed them as being useless. I never really looked at them, probably because they seemed like “shoulds” rather than “really-meaningful-wants.”
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 naïve, 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.
[youtube width=”600″ height=”352″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXbXWbVk3lE&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
“Not many marketing professionals out there will talk to you about ‘walking your talk’. But if your own image doesn’t portray what you teach, you’re not going to attract a lot of clients fast. To have your image fit what you do, you must live your message fully. This is just as important as your marketing message.”
To find out how you can learn all the steps to “walk your talk” in your business (and get a sneak of my new office) – visit www.clientattraction.com/officetour
Your capability of achieving really big things is WAY beyond your capacity to imagine them. That being said, you need to do a series of things to set yourself up for something BIG in your life:
1. Prepare – set yourself up, do what it takes to prepare for a miracle
2. Make your wishes known – be super clear about what you want and know that things are being rearranged for you behind the scenes, without you even knowing it
3. Believe – realize that Spirit, the Universe, God (whatever you call it) will always dream a bigger dream for you than you can dream for yourself
4. Surrender – release control. When an opportunity that is so out of the ordinary falls in your lap, surrender the control and say YES
5. Follow the next right thing – Just take action on the next opportunity that feels right when it shows up. Put the fear aside and just do it, with courage.
“Discounting your services is not good news for you and your reputation. A sliding scale is even worse. It shows prospects you don’t value your services and it creates a reputation that says you’re not a true professional and not worth what you DO charge. Instead of discounting, create different offerings at different price points to have something there for different types of clients and different budget levels. It works like magic.”
