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3 Ways to Add More Structure to Your Day

One of the things I find that many of my clients struggle with (me included) is being able to structure your day so that you can continually get things done and move forward with your business. There are so many things for us to get done in any given day, that we are often in a state of overwhelm, often coupled with feelings of procrastination and low energy.

In working with clients over the past nine years, I have found time and time again, having some structure to your week and day, can make a huge difference in how you feel and how much you accomplish.

So often we take on more than we can handle, or try and cram everything we need to get done into one long “to do list”. And sometimes we just are plain “out of energy” because we’ve worked so hard for so long. Adding some structure and boundaries to your day can help.

If you can relate to any of these feelings, here are some ways you might consider adding structure to your day to help you get back on track and moving forward:

1-Structure your ideal work week and day. When specifically during the day are you going to work on your marketing? When are you specifically going to see clients? When are you specifically going to work on the administrative tasks in your business? The more you can schedule these activities into your weekly and daily schedules, the easier it will be for you to know exactly what you should be doing at any time during business hours.

2-Plan your next day the night before. Before you leave your office or shut down your computer for the night, be sure you’ve created a list of things you’d like to get done the next day. That way, when you come into work the next morning, you know exactly what your priorities are for the day, where to begin and what you need to get done.

3-Don’t have an overwhelming “to-do” list. When clients first start working with me, they often have really long to-do lists. Sometimes they even have two and three lists, one for business, and one for personal and one for major things. First, I recommend having one to-do list with everything on it. Then prioritize the list, with A’s, B’s and C’s. Be sure and break down some of your larger projects into bite-size pieces. For example, if you have an item that’s listed as “Create new business development idea”, you might want to break that big idea down into smaller more doable parts. Those smaller steps can then be put on your daily to do list. As the old saying goes, “it’s much easier to eat an elephant, one bite at a time.”

Where can you be putting more structure into your day and week to help you stay on track so you can be even more successful in your business?

Mandy works with talented, bright, high energy self employed professionals and very small businesses who struggle to market their business effectively, stretch their capacity and play a bigger game. Mandy’s client’s receive proven, specific information on what they need to do to get more clients and grow their business. As a result, those who coach with Mandy increase their business, get more clients and make more money, faster and easier than they ever would have on their own.Sign up for her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” at www.mandyschumaker.com. Or contact her at 207-653-6977

Are You Waiting for Things to Happen?

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As entrepreneurs, so often we can bump up against obstacles in our businesses. I certainly know I have. We think we don’t have the time, the money, the skills, the experience, the energy, the perfect marketing message, website, etc.

Successful entrepreneurs don’t let obstacles get in their way. They find a way to make things happen. They figure out what they need to do, how to get the resources to do it, and take massive action.

If you are sitting around waiting for the economy to get better, or for your website to get done, or your business cards to get printed, before you feel you can get out there in a big way, then you need to rethink your strategy.

Here are several things to consider, when obstacles get in your way:

1-Break your challenge down into smaller “bite-size” pieces.

Sometimes we look at our obstacles and they just seem too overwhelming that we don’t even know where to start. Breaking them down into smaller chunks, then sequencing them in a logical order can help get you moving and make it all seem more doable.

2-Look for the unexpected resources around you

I recently had a challenge in my business that had me stuck, and really wasn’t sure where to turn. It finally occurred to me, after unsuccessfully talking with others about it, that my daily accountability partner was the person to help me out of my rut. Take a look around you and see where there might be some unexpected resources. Who haven’t you considered before to help or guide you in your business?

3-Instead of saying to yourself, “I can’t afford this”, ask yourself, “HOW can I afford this”.

I’m still practicing this one for myself, and am finding that a simple shift in mindset has been very helpful. Particularly when we are starting out in our businesses, we don’t always have the money to invest in everything we want. But it’s amazing how creative one can get when you ask yourself, “How can I afford such and such”. You might come up with things you never thought about, to raise the cash to pay for something in your business!

Remember, successful entrepreneurs find a way to overcome their obstacles, they don’t give up, and they have made the commitment to keep at it-no matter what!

Mandy works with talented, bright, high energy self employed professionals and very small businesses who struggle to market their business effectively, stretch their capacity and play a bigger game. Mandy’s client’s receive proven, specific information on what they need to do to get more clients and grow their business. As a result, those who coach with Mandy increase their business, get more clients and make more money, faster and easier than they ever would have on their own.

Sign up for her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” at www.mandyschumaker.com. Or contact her at 207-653-6977

Charge What You’re Worth

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It’s very typical for me to get my clients to raise their rates within our first few months of working together. So often when we are first starting out in our businesses, we don’t want to be accused of being “too expensive.” And, particularly since we’ve just started out, we don’t feel comfortable pricing ourselves at too high of a rate, even when we might have years of experience and training in our field. We worry that we might lose business or at least lose the opportunity, if we charge too much.

For example, one of my clients has recently started an IT services company for small businesses. She has nearly twenty years experience in the IT business, including global experience. When we had a conversation about what she was charging for pricing, she admitted she had severely underpriced her first few jobs, because she was afraid she might not have gotten the business if she hadn’t.

These feelings are normal for new business owners, and it’s not unusual to under price one’s services, particularly at the beginning. But it’s really important NOT to do this for several reasons.

1. If you are really good at what you do, you don’t need to become a commodity with your gifts and skills. Figure out what you’re worth – set your prices and sell the value and results you bring to your clients. If someone is in pain, or really struggling, and you can fix that, he or she won’t necessarily care what you are charging – as long as you relieve their pain. It’s about the value, not the price.

2. If you undervalue your services with rates that are too low, you will forever be angry with yourself (and eventually with your client). A client may need some extra attention from you one of these days and you don’t want to end up being resentful that they aren’t paying you enough now, so how could you possibly give them more!

3. Make sure you have some sense of what your competitors are charging. Chances are, you will find a fairly wide range of pricing. Think about your experience, what you bring to your clients, your gifts and skills, then price yourself accordingly after taking in all that information. I like to tell my clients, set your price – then raise it 25% — then you will probably be in the ballpark of what you’re worth.

When people ask you right off the bat what you charge, or call out of the blue wanting to know your prices, you can be sure that these are not your ideal clients. These are people who are price shopping. You do not want or need to get into that. You want clients who can see the gifts, value and results you bring to the relationship, and are confident you are just the person to help them!

If you are wondering about your pricing – if you are charging too little, too much or the right amount for your services – I would be happy to have a quick chat with you to help you determine if you are in the right place. Feel free to give me a call at 207-653-6977, or contact me at mandy@mandyschumaker.com

Mandy works with talented, bright, high energy self employed professionals and very small businesses who struggle to market their business effectively, stretch their capacity and play a bigger game. Mandy’s client’s receive proven, specific information on what they need to do to get more clients and grow their business. As a result, those who coach with Mandy increase their business, get more clients and make more money, faster and easier than they ever would have on their own.

Sign up for her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” at www.mandyschumaker.com. Or contact her at 207-653-6977

How to Find Your Ideal Client

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It’s a common struggle for entrepreneurs: getting really clear on who their ideal client is. When you ask entrepreneurs who their ideal clients are, they may say, “well, it’s this group and that group and a little of some other group,” Sometimes they can’t really tell you.

It’s so important to know who your ideal client is for several reasons:

1-You need to develop marketing messages that speak directly to your ideal group, so you can “pull” in more of your ideal client type.

2-It’s impossible to market to everyone. Trying to attract everyone through your marketing messages will only create unclear messages for anyone who reads them. You don’t need everyone – you just need your ideal client type. That requires a niche message, not an “everybody” message.

3-Being really clear on your ideal client type makes it easier for other people to send referrals your way. If you are trying to market to two or three different client types, it can be very difficult for others to really understand who you serve. That makes it hard for them to truly understand who to refer to you.

One way to really hone in on your ideal client type is to make a list of all your clients, going back one or two years. Then grade them with an A, B, C, D, F. Your A’s will be the ones with whom you love working. They are getting great results, and they refer others to you. Your D’s and F’s are those who, when you look at your appointment book and see their name, that feeling of dread comes over you again.

Next, you want to look at the things the A’s and B’s have in common. What are their common personality traits, problems, obstacles and challenges? The next step is to interview some of your A and B clients to find out from them what they were experiencing before they worked with you, and the results they received after working with you.

Look for the common words and phrases they use. Write down verbatim their answers to your questions. In order for you to attract more A’s and B’s into your business, you want to use the language that they use to describe how you helped them.

Do yourself (and your business) a favor and stop trying to serve everyone, or even several client types. Try to narrow your focus to one or two ideal client types and see what a tremendous difference it can make it attracting new clients to your business.

Mandy works with talented, bright, high energy self employed professionals and very small businesses who struggle to market their business effectively, stretch their capacity and play a bigger game. And who would like to overcome their fear of sales, change their mindset, increase their self-confidence, and create a step-by-step strategy for taking their business to the next level. Mandy’s client’s receive proven, specific information on what they need to do to get more clients and grow their business. As a result, those who coach with Mandy increase their business, get more clients and make more money, faster and easier than they ever would have on their own. Mandy offers one-on-one coaching and consulting, as well as facilitates workshops and teleclasses and speaks on a variety of topics.

Get a copy of her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” at www.mandyschumaker.com. Or contact her at 207-653-6977

Are You Willing to Do What Others Aren’t?

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“If you’re interested, you’ll do what’s convenient, if your committed, you’ll do whatever it takes”

John Assaraf

I have always been fascinated by what it takes to get to the top of your game. Whether you are an athlete, coach, musician, poet, it’s really interesting to hear people’s stories on describing how they reached the level that most of us would describe as “incredibly successful”.

On a recent drive I made from Maine to Connecticut, I had the opportunity to listen to an interview with Nastia Liukin, the 2008 Olympic all-around champion. She was asked what she attributes her successes to and she said two things: doing whatever it takes and doing what others aren’t willing to do. She went on to describe how she trains with her father, 365 days a year, which means training on Christmas, New Year’s, Thanksgiving. Including, giving up weekends with friends, late nights out and other social events that interfered with her training schedule.

She talked about this with absolutely no regret, saying she was really clear on the goal she wanted for herself, which was to win the Olympic Gold Medal, and wanting to become a nationally known gymnast. And when she received the Gold Medal, it made it all totally worth the time, energy and effort to get there, including the things she gave up.

How about you? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to meet your goals and visions? Are you willing to do what others aren’t willing to do to get there? Sure, it can get really hard and challenging sometimes and there are certainly a fair amount of roadblocks in the way, but the people I see who are “really making it”, those who are becoming the “really successful ones” are the ones who do whatever it takes-consistently.

Assignment:

How would you answer the following?

1-Are you willing to make the commitment to your business to do whatever it takes to reach your goals? Not just being interested and doing what’s convenient, but really being committed.

2-Are you spending time on “busyness” or “business”?

3-Are you doing what your competitor’s aren’t willing to do?

By modeling, studying, and implementing what the really successful athletes, entrepreneurs, musicians, artists etc do to reach the top of their game, is one of the best ways for you to play a bigger game and connect with your full potential.

Mandy works with talented, bright, high energy self employed professionals and very small businesses who struggle to market their business effectively, stretch their capacity and play a bigger game. And who would like to overcome their fear of sales, change their mindset, increase their self-confidence, and create a step-by-step strategy for taking their business to the next level. Mandy’s client’s receive proven, specific information on what they need to do to get more clients and grow their business. As a result, those who coach with Mandy increase their business, get more clients and make more money, faster and easier than they ever would have on their own. Mandy offers one-on-one coaching and consulting, as well as facilitates workshops and teleclasses and speaks on a variety of topics.

Get a copy of her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” at www.mandyschumaker.com. Or contact her at 207-653-6977

5 Best Cold Calling Tips EVER!

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I once asked a training class to describe how they felt when I said the words, “cold calling.” I got the typical answers, “scary,” “hate it,” “don’t do it,” “necessary evil.” But interesting enough there were a couple of entrepreneurs in the room who had a different take on cold calling. Their answers were, “possibilities,” “helping others,” “opportunity to make things happen.”

Cold calling, just like selling, is how you see it and 90% of your success at it is in your mindset. If you believe it’s hard, scary, difficult, no fun, and challenging – that’s what it’s going to be for you. But if you can shift your mindset to see how it can be full of possibilities, reaching out to help others and an opportunity to grow, then that’s what it’s going to be for you and you will have a lot more success at it.

Cold calling is necessary to grow your business, particularly in the first few years of starting your business. But it certainly doesn’t have to be seen as a pressure-ridden nuisance by your you or your prospective clients.

Here are five great tips that can help you become more effective around cold calling:

1. Shift your mindset away from “making the sale” towards whether there is a “fit” or not.

Too often when we call prospective clients, even on the first call, we are trying to sell them, even before we’ve determined whether or not they are an ideal client. If your intention on the call is to get to know the person better and to determine whether or not you can help them, or even want to work with them, you will be far more likely to be successful. You’ll know if you want to begin to enter into a deeper relationship with the prospect, or you’ll figure out quickly that they are not the client for you.

2. Be a helper, not a pitcher

Understand where your prospective client is struggling, what is keeping them up at night, and how can you help solve their problems. Too often, I see people begin the calls talking about all the features their product or service offers, well before they have a good understanding of the potential client’s problem!

3. Focus on the beginning, not the end

You are probably not going to close the sale on a cold call. It’s not totally impossible, but it’s not likely. That’s okay, so get that out of your mind and stop trying so hard. Be real. Be authentic, and think about slowly building a relationship with the client that could last a lifetime. Creating trust with your prospect should be your initial goal, not making the sale.

4. Stop chasing prospects, start solving problems

This is a mindset. You are not chasing people; you are reaching out to people who may have a problem that you can solve. It’s like that quote from motivational speaker Bob Proctor, “Sales is not something you do TO someone, it’s something you do FOR someone.” Don’t think of it as “chasing” a prospect. You have a product or service that could change someone’s life, end a struggle, help them make more money, save money, or save time. If you aren’t reaching out to people and letting them know what you have to offer, they may continue to go without solutions to their problems. You don’t want to be responsible for that, do you??

5. Connect with your prospects

Make sure you fully understand your prospects problems, so that they feel you get what they need. Think about beginning a long-term relationship with them. Drop the “sales speak” and relate to them in a natural, authentic way that makes a genuine connection. Cold calling is the only way to increase your business. You must let people know about you and your products or services. You have to get them to trust you to help them solve their problems.

If you can learn to incorporate these five strategies into your mindset about cold calling, you will quickly increase your number of solid prospects and start to build the long-term client relationships that will fuel the growth of your business.

Mandy works with talented, bright, high energy self employed professionals and very small businesses who struggle to market their business effectively, stretch their capacity and play a bigger game. And who would like to overcome their fear of sales, change their mindset, increase their self-confidence, and create a step-by-step strategy for taking their business to the next level. Mandy’s client’s receive proven, specific information on what they need to do to get more clients and grow their business. As a result, those who coach with Mandy increase their business, get more clients and make more money, faster and easier than they ever would have on their own. Mandy offers one-on-one coaching and consulting, as well as facilitates workshops and teleclasses and speaks on a variety of topics.

Get a copy of her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” at www.mandyschumaker.com. Or contact her at 207-653-6977

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