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Why your business needs two types of accountability. The tide's coming in, fast. Your kayak is there on the sand, starting to get gently nudged. Meanwhile you're flat out on a beach towel. Hot sun. Cool breeze. Iced tea. Are you going to get up in time to save your kayak from floating out to sea? Your business may be calling, all kinds of important things to get done. But who can lift a finger when the sun is so bright? Why your business needs a peer-led Mastermind group. Every time I teach a class, and build in the buddy system, people are blown away by how much -easier- everything is, just from not doing it alone. And not just getting stuff done, but the insights, the perspective shifts. Everything changes when you aren't solo. Why You Shouldn't Handle More Than Three Projects. As I write this, my wife Holly, myself, and our assistant Kate are planning to meet in a couple of hours. And why? So we can put a bunch of absolutely amazing and wonderful ideas on the back burner, and do nothing about them. It's probably not such a surprising idea for you, that you're supposed to prioritize your projects, and only focus on a few things at a time. Why you make some business mistakes over and over. Why do you make certain mistakes over and over again? No matter how hard you try to fix or control the situation, they seem beyond your control. For instance, I was working with a client recently who has a number of staff working under him, and wanted to delegate to them efficiently. And the same problem showed up in employee after employee. Why the practical always beats up on the sacred in business. When you're doing your best work with your clients, it's magical, sacred. There is almost something holy about what you do, like you aren't there at all. And that's what your clients love most too- those moments of transcendance. Yet, when you try to talk about this sacredness in your marketing, it doesn't make an impact. It gets swallowed up in the marketplace, like an insignificant cotton ball swept away in a hurricaine. What gives? Why strangers are worried your business is stalking them. There you are at a party, and you notice someone you'd like to get to know. So, you start staring at them. And staring. And staring. You're hoping that your googly-eyed stare is communicating your interest in them. No surprise what happens next. He or she gets up, crosses the room, and whispers to the host, "That weirdo in the corner keeps staring at me... I'm worried... is he a stalker?" Why less passion is better for business. I just googled 'Passion in Business' and came up with 82,900,000 hits. And, according to the first several pages of hits, everyone says that you must have passion to succeed in business. 'Fuel your passion' is the watchword. Why this quest for passion? Of course, passion can feel wonderful, but do you really need it to succeed in business? What happens when you don't have it? Why it's so hard to ask for money and how to make it easier. "What's wrong with me?" Someone in the marketing class was complaining to us, about himself. "My bank account is near zero, and I have twenty thousand dollars in accounts receivable- and all I need to do is send out the invoices." "Why can't I send them out? I feel out of integrity with myself." Why is it so easy to be out of integrity with yourself by not asking for the money you are owed? Why giving clients more choices means they'll never buy. You're really wanting to be thoughtful and accommodating. You want to make your clients and customers comfortable, so they can have things the way they like it. So you start making up offers, each with different options and flavors. Eventually you have a menu of ten options. And no one's buying. Is it your marketing? Or your menu? Why Clients Don't Buy--The Hierachy of Choice So you struggle over getting all the details just right, like pricing and timing, and all the other features included in your offers so your best clients will buy from you. So why aren't they buying? It's because all of those details are actually the least important part of a purchasing choice. Why Attraction is a Mistake in Marketing. Coffee shop. The background beat of some silly pop music. Buzz of conversation. The glow of laptop screens. And then, one near the counter, the other in a window seat, they both look up, and their eyes meet. Attraction! Next thing you know, they're picking out paint colors, and sharing chores in some nice little house in the neighborhood. It's a cozy picture, isn't it? If only your clients would move into your business as easily. Why and how to create an information product. Have you put off, or given up entirely, the idea of writing that book, or creating a CD or DVD, for your business? Maybe you've let that idea slip away because you thought your business wasn't suited to it. I mean, what you do is so individual and personal, or too complicated to explain, or so intuitive in nature, that it can't be captured in a product. When You're Too Exhausted to Run a Business. “Fifteen years I've put into this business, and I'm just spent,” lamented one client. Another told me, “I pushed myself to get my website up, and I went over an edge with my health. It took me months to recover.” It's humbling to realize, but as you age, you just don't have the same ability to go all night, and to push through deadlines and projects as you did once upon a time. When you feel so pressured to make money you can't think. Your marriage falls apart, you or your partner is laid-off, or your spouse gets ill and you lose half your household income. The financial pressures sweep in like a sudden high tide, and as one of my clients wrote me, "I feel so pressured to make money I can't think." What do you do in a situation like this? "Forget about the bladdy-blah-blah of patience and organic growth, man! I need to make the rent like, yesterday!" When To Get Business Help And When To Go It Alone It's a sorta no-brainer when you need help in business: flummoxed, bewildered, stuck. But what kind of help do you really need? It's a big question. Without the right support and education, everything you're working for can fall apart. But, the wrong support can be expensive, time-consuming and overwhelming. When networking events feel like a drag. Going to networking events is kinda one of those things you are 'supposed' to do for your business. Some people love'em, some people hate'em. But, the truth is, especially for a new business, making face-to-face and heart-to-heart contact with people is incredibly powerful. Unfortunately, networking events can seem like pretty gross, low-energy, artificial affairs, with people glad-handing left and right. When Innocent Questions Turn Into Hours Of Unpaid Time. Someone calls you up and is interested in your offer. So, they start asking questions. And more questions. And more questions. Suddenly, you've been on the phone for over an hour. And, when you hang up, they still didn't sign up for your offer. When Following-the-Leader Gets Your Business in Trouble. On a hot summer day in the early 1990's, I was standing in the middle of a California freeway. Four cars were piled up around me, and ambulances, fire engines, and the California Highway Patrol were arriving one after the other. Our paramedic unit had parked where the first-in unit had told us to park, and we were working on the car that first medic on-scene had directed us to. What You Need To Do To Avoid Burning Money On Advertising. Advertising. Curse? Money hole? Or powerful venue? It seems so obvious: where else, for a few hundred dollars, could you get in front of thousands of people? And it's true that many of them are really wanting what you're offering. Unfortunately, the vast majority of advertising ends up being good to wrap fish in, and not much else. People cry up "But it's getting me exposure," and that's true, to a point. Is it really increasing sales? What Moses knew about getting ready to teach. There's a class you've been thinking about offering for some time now. But, you're not quite ready. A little more research, a little more thinking, and you're sure you'll finally be ready. But, despite your passion, it's flat. Even practicing it in front of a friend or colleague, it still feels flat. Oh no! When will you ever be ready to offer this to people? There is a missing ingredient, and Moses knew what it was. The true measure of money in your business. Shiny new cars. Big mansions. The good life. Even if you're not a particularly material person, it's easy to be caught by those images, and to wonder: "Why don't I have that? Is there something wrong with me?" The real reason success is so elusive (Hint: It's not fear of success.) I'm guessing you spend a certain amount of time daydreaming... Daydreaming of what it will be like when you hit 'the big time.' When your finances are really abundant. When you become well-known in your field. When you make that next big step, whatever it is. Dreams of lolling around on silk sheets with peeled grapes and fizzy drinks. Dreams of giving away as generously as you've always wanted to. Dreams coming true. The one project missing from your strategic plan. It's a given for your business: you want next year to be different than this year. And so all kinds of projects and tasks end up on your to-do list. Marketing, office structures, product/offer creation, client care, technology. Very important, this doing of things. Without action, very little manifests, no matter how clear your intentions are. And yet, will next year look different? What gives? Is it too much action? The How and Why of Wrestling Your Inbox to Zero Have you ever ended up TWO weeks behind in answering emails? An inbox full of missed opportunities, deadlines, and people you care about left with the sour taste that maybe you don't like them. Not good for business. Very good for encouraging an unhealthy sense of guilt, shame and pressure. The Curse of Professionalism in Your Business. Have you ever received (or written) an email like this one? "Thank you for your correspondence. We appreciate your desire to contact us, and someone will get back to you shortly." Kinda cold and stale, eh? I'm used to seeing things like this from corporations, and from the back of our refrigerator, but how about us teensy business folks?
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