This little trick helped me to overcome a huge feeling of overwhelm

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January 5th, 2012 | marketing
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The other day I was challenged to spend an entire day doing only what I wanted at each given moment. At first I was reluctant because I have so much to do. I didn’t feel like I could take away a whole day without accomplishing anything, yet I decided to go ahead with it and see how things went.

My challenge was to spend the entire day listening to each subtle desire, to only do what I want during each given minute. I spent the morning going back and forth to a million things unable to figure out what it was that I really wanted to do. I started reading, then decided I didn’t like the book. I started reading another book. Then I decided I was hungry, so I had a snack. This was all before my shower and before breakfast.

Then I decided that what I really wanted had nothing to do with relaxing at home; I wanted to be out and about connecting with people. So I went shopping. I told myself I was only going to browse, but I ended up buying quite a few Christmas presents. I actually accomplished something while listening to my subtle desires. Have you ever noticed that you usually find your best items when you aren’t really looking for anything in particular? That’s what happened.

After shopping I ended up going out for lunch with my husband who just happened to text me because he was looking for someone to go to lunch with. Then I went for a walk.

The best part of this day, besides the fact that I only did what I wanted, was that I felt so free. My mind became clear of all worries and frustrations. Cooking dinner for my family no longer felt like a chore; it felt fun. For the next 5 days after my personal day, I was extremely productive. I no longer had that nagging feeling that made me wish I didn’t have all this work to do and all these errands to run. I felt ok with doing things because I had my fill of doing what I wanted. I decided I would give myself this gift of one day every month. I actually scheduled it into my calendar. I know this will make a huge difference for me, because I’m usually so swamped with a list of “should do” and “need to do”. These lists are par for the course as an entrepreneur mom of three busy children, but they don’t need to run my life.

As busy women running a business and taking care of children and elderly parents, we often lose sight of ourselves and what we need. We are human, too. We have needs. During this special time of year, schedule into your calendar, one full day of only doing what YOU want. I guarantee you will feel amazing when it is over, (as long as you don’t cheat, and you do really listen to those subtle desires.) I challenge you. Are you up for the challenge? Just do this once and see what happens for you.

Share your results as a comment here. I would love to hear how this works for you. I would love to also hear comments, if you feel you won't be able to fit this in. What are your thoughts?
 

Are you focusing on the right marketing strategies?

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December 20th, 2011 | marketing
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Business Growth and MarketingI can't believe how long it's been since I've last written a blog post. One of the things that I teach my clients is to be consistent with their marketing, yet I haven't practiced what I preach when it comes to my blog. There is a reason for that, which I will mention shortly.

The other thing that I teach my clients is how to focus on the important, most money-generating activities. I stress the importance of tracking your marketing and spending the most of your time on those strategies that are giving you the best return on your investment in terms of money and time.

The fact is I spent several months fine-tuning and improving just a few of my marketing strategies, two marketing strategies to be exact. I spent the past 6 months only using about 2 strategies and this is what I learned; the less you have to do, the easier it is to be GREAT at the few things that you are doing.

When you focus on less, you actually can become much more productive, especially when you are concentrating on only what is working the most for your business.

I encourage you to test this out for your business. The first question you want to ask yourself is this, "If I could only use one or two marketing strategies to fill my practice this year, what would those 2 strategies be?"

The important thing is to make sure that you are choosing the RIGHT strategies. Your marketing needs to fit your personality, your business identity, as well as the needs of your target audience. If you are struggling to decide what the important strategies are for your business and how you can improve on the effectiveness of those strategies, then I can definitely help you work through that decision and learning curve.

Afterall, you are in business to make money and to earn money, you need clients. Marketing is what will get you those clients. Period.

Did you know that the best way to learn how to fill your practice and attract more of your ideal clients is to just contact me? I’m known for my quick response and can help you to figure out the next step to take to fill your practice.

This is something you do NOT want to do

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June 6th, 2011 | marketing
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The other day I was attending a college preparation presentation at my son’s high school with my husband. Well, I guess I should mention that I dragged my husband with me. He wasn’t kicking and screaming, but I know he felt like it. The presentation turned out to be quite informative. We have a son who has been looking at colleges and will be needing to apply next year.

The presenter gave some really great content that got all of the parents realizing how much work we have ahead of us and wishing we had someone to help us and our children through the process. Oh, I should note that the presenter is a coach who works with parent and students in the whole process of researching, applying and getting into the college of their choice.

This was the shocking part. Are you ready? Listen closely. At the end of the presentation, during the Q & A, one of the moms in the audience asked how she could get more help for her and her son in the process. This was the perfect opening question for the presenter to talk about what she does for her clients, as well as maybe provide the parents with several other options besides her self where they can get help. 

I don’t know what she was thinking. I was shocked at her response. I expected her to talk about her own services, to at least mention in a couple sentences what she does, but she didn’t. I know that several of the parents in the room were asking the same question as the other parent, so this coach missed out on a great opportunity.
 
There are many opportunities we may be missing without even being aware of it. I wonder how many times our prospects and clients tell us exactly what they want, yet we fail to respond with action, or we may not even hear that they are asking.
 
I can guarantee that your prospects are telling you what they want all the time. There are clients out there telling you they want to work with you, but they aren’t sure how to get started. Most likely, they are not out right asking for it. Chances are, it is more subtle than, but the more you really listen to their conversations, the more you will understand when they are asking and what they are asking for.
 
What can you do to improve on how you listen to your clients?

Why Are Woodpeckers Good At Marketing?

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April 10th, 2011 | business growth, marketing
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Prefer to listen to this post or download it to your mp3 player?

 Why Woodpeckers Are Good At Marketing? [4:13m]: Play Now | Download (34)

woodpeckerLast summer from around May-November we had a couple woodpeckers literally destroying our house. If you come to visit, you can’t help but notice all the holes they made in the shingles. There must be 50 shingles that need to be replaced. I started counting one day, but lost track of where I was.

I used to think these little guys were quite cute until I realized how incredibly persistent they are. These persistent, little things would spend hours, I mean hours, pecking away at our house. We would run outside and scream to scare them away only to have them come back again and again.
 
They were determined to get what they wanted. They were hungry. First, we thought they were looking for bugs, so I called a pest control company. They didn’t seem to know for sure, but thought the holes resembled a mating pattern for these birds. I was told we don’t have any bugs. The company wouldn’t even spray for bugs.
 
They also told us that these birds are protected by the government because they are migratory. Gosh, if I knew I could be protected, I would have migrated myself a long time ago.
 
Anyway, these birds were pretty darn hungry. Whether it was for bugs or for a new mate, they weren’t stopping until they got what they wanted.
 
Let me repeat that because it’s SO important…They weren’t stopping until they got what they wanted. If your business isn’t as successful as you want YET, then you will want to repeat that sentence a third time.
 
That’s what I want you to do when you are marketing your business. Don’t stop until you get the business you are looking for. Most businesses are not successful overnight, it takes consistency and persistency. It takes coming back again and again and making new holes.
 
When the woodpecker didn’t find what he was looking for in one hole, he moved on and made another hole. He kept making new holes, yet he was also consistent in where he chose to make these holes. He tended to make them in certain places around the house. He knew where his target market was located, he just wasn’t 100% sure how to get in and reach it.
 
As a marketer for your business, you need to hone in on the location and the particular market. Discover exactly what (or who) it is you are looking for. Once you find a group of people in your market hone in and use different tactics to reach that audience. The more holes…er…I mean, tactics you use, the more you will find you are reaching your target.
 
Think of a time in your life when you had to work really hard to get something that you know you just had to have. How did you get it? How long did it take for it to happen? How many hoops did you have to jump through to get there? How did you feel after achieving that goal?
 
I’d love to hear your stories of achievement and success. Post them as a comment to the blog.

 

What Are You Really Worth?

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April 4th, 2011 | marketing, motivation, passion, personal growth
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Dolphin Taking the LeapWhat we think about ourselves becomes a catalyst for our business.  

Have you ever noticed that successful entrepreneurs have a certain air of confidence about them? They just seem to command the room and get people to notice them.
 
The reason they are successful is because they started with the confidence first. They built up their confidence and then the success just followed. Their success can then give them even more confidence, which in turn takes them to yet another level of success.
 
It all starts with the initial confidence you have in yourself. Confidence breeds courage and courage breeds action. Action in your business is what is going to take you to that next level.
 
When I first started out in my first business back in 1995, I quickly built my business to what I called successful at the time. I didn’t get there because I knew the right steps to take. Believe me, at the time, I had no idea what I was doing.
 
In looking back at that moment in my life, I knew it was working for me because I had the confidence to just take each leap as they came up. I knew everything was going to work out the way I wanted it to, and it did. My confidence was reflected in everything I did, and my prospects could sense that in me. They knew things would work out, if they hired me.
 
So how do you get that confidence?
 
Confidence can come much easier to some than to others, but what I have found time and time again is that confidence comes from acting within. When you are acting out of a place of joy and passion, your confidence soars. You know at that time that you are doing what is right, and the results just follow.
 
It’s when we try to follow the path of other people, or when we stop listening to ourselves and start taking steps that worked for someone else that we can start to lose confidence in our own ability to make the right choices.
 
Now, I’m not saying that it’s wrong to listen to the advice of others and follow the steps that they painstakingly lay out for us to follow. They have been there and done that and can offer us some great knowledge. It’s a great thing to be able to use that knowledge to learn from.
 
What I am saying is listen to the advice of several different people and decide for your self what makes sense and what doesn’t. Some advice will resonate with you and some won’t. It’s ok and even important to listen to yourself and realize which ideas and action steps are the right ones for you to be personally making to grow your business.
 
We all have our own personality and strengths, and when we use those individual strengths to our advantage, that is when we will finally see success. Give of yourself and the results you are looking for will start to come.
 
I’d love to hear what you think about this article. Please leave your comments by clicking the link at the top.

Photo courtesy of Doc_ at http://sxc.hu

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