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You Know Enough…

Starting your own business is amazing.

It’s one of the most exhilarating experiences you’ll ever have.

But are you stuck in the learning cycle? With books, training programmes, advisers and even friends and family telling you what to do it can be too easy to get overwhelmed. Get sucked into thinking you need to know more. You don’t. At some point you know enough. It’s time to implement.

…It’s Time to Implement

If you spend too much of your time and energy learning more, then this takes you away from doing. You’re not doing enough to get the momentum you need to get your new business off the ground. You think you need to plan and to see every step of the route. You don’t. It’s enough to start where you are.

From Inspiration to Income…

You have a great idea and you can’t wait to get going. Or you have a sense of what you want to do but haven’t narrowed it down. Or maybe you have more than one idea and you don’t know which one to go with?

However small you think your idea, you have the passion and the energy and the belief to make it work. That deep knowing that you have something to offer. Something to create and give.

…in 30 Days?

Your first step is just to take one of those ideas, to try it out. Test it. talk to real potential customers about it and see if it will be a viable business. Something that will give you income, of course, but that also gives you the fulfillment and the excitement of doing what you love, contributing and making a difference to those around you.

What’s Next?

I want to take you on a 30 day journey with 30 easy-to-complete exercises to take you from inspiration to income. An action guide. Something to inspire and support you as you go. And a process that helps you get into the habit of implementing. The habit of creating success on your own terms.

“You know enough; it’s time to implement”

Go over and find out more about how you can take the first step on this amazing journey!

How To Step Outside Your Comfort Zone – Lessons From Surfing

At the beginning of the summer, a member of a forum I’m in wrote to suggest a summer challenge – maybe we should learn a new skill? What did we all think?

Well for a while now I’ve been hankering after learning to surf. I saw the surfers out on the waves on a sunny October day last year and for the last nine months the ideas been bubbling away that maybe I could give it a go as well.

And then this summer, a happy set of coincidences put a two week surfing class in my lap. Perfect time, perfect location, how could I possibly say no?

Despite the ridicule of my children and even in the knowledge I would be the oldest person in the class, I decided to give it a go. I knew I was stepping outside my comfort zone but, seriously, how hard could it be??

Well, as it turns out, it’s just a little bit harder than it looks from the beach… Here’s what I learnt:

1. It’s harder than it looks from the beach. No surprises there! With arms and legs to coordinate, new movements to learn, muscles to build that don’t seem to have any other function. Plus all those external factors like waves, wind, currents and speed - I guess it’s a bit more complex than it looks from the beach. And I know it’s obvious to say but isn’t that just like starting a business? How many of us had a great idea and then found there’s actually more to it than we thought? BUT when it finally comes together (and trust me it will!) there are moments of total and utter joy (and just a teeny bit of satisfaction in showing off to the children ).
2. The more you fall off the better you get. Surfing is different from other sports I’ve learnt because you’re pretty much on your own from the start. 0.1% instruction and 99.9% practice seemed to be the format of our lessons! Again, it’s kind of like business – you learn by doing so just accept that you’re going to fall off – a lot! But it’s a soft landing and the more you practice the better – and more confident – you get.
3. There’s always another wave. In business I try to live by the philosophy that “everything’s a test” and if what I’m working on right now doesn’t turn out quite like I expect then I’ve learnt something for the next time. Well nowhere did I find this to be truer statement than on the surf. If you miss a wave then there’s always another one. If you foul it up, guess what – there’s always another one. At times it can seem like the waves are relentless but they keep on coming – so just take your time, take a deep breath and go on the next one (or the one after).

So although I figure that surfing is probably a young person’s sport, I’m already intending to go again next summer. I made new friends, developed a few muscles I didn’t know I had, and above all relaxed and had a lot of fun. There is really no better way to start the day. And as for business, well, there’s always another wave…

I’d love your comments about what you did this summer, where you’ve gone outside your comfort zone and what business muscles you’ve been stretching recently!

You know what to do – just leave a comment or join the conversation on facebook

Want To Get More Clients Easily?

This is a follow on post to how to get clients now, when we ran through Step One of what you should have in place so that you’re all ready for that important first client. To re-cap…

Step One: Get Your Client Infrastructure In Place

There’s an important step between starting a business and actually being client-ready so although you shouldn’t spend a lot of time here, it can be a pretty important milestone to tick off.

I find that it gives you that psychological readiness to get out there and bring the clients back in.

Step Two: Put Yourself Out There

OK I can already hear you saying, yeah, I know this, and I am putting myself out there. But chances are that you’re staying inside your comfort zone and maybe also behind your computer? Be honest! If this is you then it’s time for some tough love - and although you can probably make a pretty good job of this yourself – you do need to really put yourself out there.

Just count up for me how many different ways you are out and about with your potential clients? You’re probably already on the internet, blogging, commenting on blogs, on twitter (that’s four). But are you also doing speaking gigs (highly recommended), networking in person, in forums, on youtube, on other people’s websites, in the newspaper, in magazines, on local radio, on blog radio, doing teleseminars, telling all your friends and relatives, even work colleagues. That’s at least another twelve.

I don’t want you to rush out and do everything in a scattergun way. Think about where your ideal clients are and pick a new way to interact with them that takes you just a little way outside your comfort zone. The go for it. Add one more each week or every couple of weeks until you feel really comfortable in your client’s environment – you know them personally and they know you. Not only is this a fantastic way to get know and build your list, but you’ll also be getting great market research.

Step Three: Snag That First Client

It’s now time for the ask. Don’t just wait for the clients to come to you when you’re starting out. You’ve got people on your list now, you’ve built your credibility and you might even have some written feedback from those speaking gigs to use as testimonials on your website or in your promotional material.  What next?

I want you to try out this one simple technique to ask specifically for what you want (and get it):

1. Decide which of your entry level services best fits the needs of your ideal clients.
2. Identify one group of ideal clients that you are already in contact with – this might be your email list, or it might be a networking group you go to, or your ex-colleagues, friends, or an upcoming speaking arrangement.
3. Contact them and let them know that you want to make a special offer available only to them.
4. Explain how it will benefit them, what it is and what you want them to do. Your pitch should let them know that it’s a new service, you’ve designed it around their needs and you are going to make a special offer only to them.
5. Tell them that you are offering your new service at a special introductory price only for them (if you’re unsure what to offer, start with half price) and that you know it will benefit them (explain how).
6. Also explain that, in exchange you are looking for feedback on the service to help you improve it and maybe a comment or testimonial that you can use as you roll-out the service.
7. This sets up the exchange of value – you’re not discounting your prices because you are new in business but because you are making an exchange with them for their feedback.
8. Make sure that you put some parameters on the offer, and explain them. It’s just for them and you have a time or number limit (tell them what this is, e.g., only if you book up with me in the next week only, the first ten clients, etc).
9. Be very clear about what you want them to do next – do they call you, fill out a form – give it to them.
10. Then be very clear about what you will do next – are you going to call them back, will they get an email from you? Whatever it is make the process as straightforward as you can.
11. And, depending on how you chose to get the news out about this, send them a reminder, or two reminders up until your deadline.

You can take action on this right now by identifying at least one action you can take to get yourself in front of more people more than you are doing already, and you can decide immediately who you are going to offer your new service to.

I’d love to hear back from you about what techniques have worked for you, what haven’t, and what other questions you have. Just leave a comment below.

If you want to make money effortlessly in your business, doing what you love to do, then sign-up for updates in the sidebar.

How To Get That First Client Now – Read On!

It’s so exciting to start a new business. You’re full of creative spirit, working out what your products and services will look like. There’s that whole ‘back to school’ feeling, getting everything organised and set-up just right. But a business isn’t a business until you clients, and it doesn’t take long until you start to wonder where that elusive first client is going to come from. So where are they going to come from?

This is a question that comes up again and again for new entrepreneurs so here are three really straightforward steps you can take right now to start getting clients easily, quickly, and without expensive advertising or waiting forever.

And yep, they’ll also work for you if you’ve been in business for a while and feeling in need of a refresh!

Step One: Get Your Client Infrastructure In Place

You don’t need to spend long on this step but you do need a few basics in place first. In fact I usually advise clients to get the money rolling in right from the get-go, but let’s quickly run through a couple of basics that’ll help you feel confident and client-ready. If you don’t have them in place then a client could come along and you’ll walk away without that crucial first sale.

1. So who are these clients?

Get out amongst them and talk to them. Start communicating. Wherever and whenever you can. Ask questions. Listen to what they say. Really listen. Ask more questions.

2. Work out what they want not what you want to sell them.

A friend of mine says this is like trying to sell sunhats when it’s raining. They might be hand-crafted beautiful sun-hats that we would all go crazy for in the summer. But if it’s raining, who’s interested? Just don’t even try it. Sell umbrellas, re-name your sunhats ‘rain-hats’, or go somewhere sunny where people actually want the sun-hats. Don’t even think about trying to sell your clients something they don’t want – it’s far, far too hard.

3. Think about your service and pricing.

The reason this is in with the basics is so that when that ideal client does want to hire you, you’re not fumbling around thinking what to say or, worse still, saying “I’ll get back to you”. You’re ready right there and then to sell them something. You might be able to do this while you’re in the research phase – how great would that be? Keep this simple and don’t imagine these will be your final packages, but have something short-term, straightforward and relevant that you can offer right now to that ideal client based on what you think he or she is really looking for.

OK so if you spend the next couple of days checking off that you have the basics in place, then you’ll be ready to get out and about in part 2.

That’s it for now. Second part to follow after the weekend…

Next time – now you know what your clients want, go out and get them

In part 2 I’ll tell you how to get more clients covering the one thing you should be doing but probably aren’t doing enough of, as well as the one single technique that’s really simple to implement to get that first client signed up.

If you want to get regular updates and in-depth advice, then sign up for updates in the sidebar.

I’ve noticed that the media – newspapers, TV, magazines – love to talk about doom and gloom. And never more so than when it comes to business. I hear all sorts of numbers quoted to me about business failure rates – some as outrageously bold as the statistic that 95% of business will fail in their first year.

So I did a bit of digging around and found that it’s not actually all that easy to get to the bottom of what the real numbers are. If you’re a small business, sole proprietor or solopreneur you might not be included in these ‘official statistics’ because some of them are based on tax registation rather than business registration – pretty confusing, hey?

What’s fairly certain though is that between one third and one half of those of us who start a business will fail by the end of our first year. So what can we do to avoid it if we don’t want to become one of those statistics and we want to be one of the success stories?

The key to this isn’t the economy, and it isn’t the kind of business you are in (although sometimes this doesn’t help), it’s all about the habit of training yourself for success.

I don’t know if you’ve ever had a pet, maybe a new puppy? I’ve always had dogs and I always have great intentions that each dog is going to be better trained than the last dog. How to walk on the lead, how to socialise with other animals and children, how to behave in the house. Sometimes I even imagine I will do agility training with the new dog. I know for a fact that if I work hard with the dog in his early years, he will reward me with love and obedience and will give the family years of joy. Or, more likely, we will have an unruly dog who rules our lives and pushes us to the point of exhaustion and beyond!

It’s exactly the same with your business – only the stakes are a lot higher. You can train yourself for success – get the right habits in place and build a strong profit foundation, or you can rush around ignoring the important building blocks and set yourself up for a future of money worries and sleepless nights.

And the ideal time to do this is when your business is young – if you train yourself for success from the outset you’ll get into effortless, good habits which then make your business life much much easier, and of course more profitable.

One way to do this is to spend time working on your business rather than in your business. Too often the first year of our business is so full of things to do that we lose sight of the big picture. And especially information. An average business owner thinks they need to read as many as one million words a week just to keep on top of new information, which is the equivalent of reading 10 novels a week. Give me the novels any day!

So why not go on an info-cleanse and let in some space and energy to build your success habits rather than your failure habits! For the next month try out these steps.

1. Every time you look at an email or a paper newsletter and think “oh I’ll read it later”, or “I’ll read it next time”, just unsubscribe. If you’re not reading it, you don’t need it and there will always be the opportunity to sign up again when you need the information.
2. Clear some physical space on your desk. If you can’t face doing this in one go then spend half an hour at the end of each day clearing, filing and, most importantly dumping. It may sound totally radical but why not get rid of your desk completely? If your desk is actually the meeting table as well do you think it would look like it does?
3. Get rid of any nagging essential tasks. Cleaning up is a hugely powerful success habit and I want to ask you to clear up any late payments, service agreements, difficult staffing issues. Allowing them to hang around just causes you more anxiety and it takes energy away from what could be productive time spent on your business.

You might find it a bit tough to give up your info-fix but if you stick with these habits for the next month, I guarantee you will end up with more time, more energy and a more profitable and productive business as a result. Oh, and a better trained puppy!

If you’d like more ideas and tips to help you build an extraordinary business, then sign up for updates in the sidebar.