Business

Sorry, It’s Not About You…

I attend a lot of networking events and currently belong to two different networking groups. I finally figured out what can make them feel tedious and drawn out at times: When people make it about themselves instead of other people, namely their customers or who they serve, I lose interest in what they are saying.

You’ve heard it before, “I’m an attorney and I practice criminal law, the usual, DUI’s, domestic violence and I also handle civil cases”. While this describes ‘what” they do, it is totally focused on them and not “who” they do it for.

Other examples of making it about you, is in website copy. Or sales pitches, or through email when contacting someone you don’t know.

The cardinal rule: Don’t ever make the conversation about you…make it about them- 100% about them.

All of your marketing material, emails, promotions, website copy, letters, elevator speeches, networking meetings, should be 100% about your audience-what you do for them, what you can do for them, and what you will do for them.

People are only interested in “what’s in it for me”, and the more you can make your message about “them” the more successful you’ll be. They want to know what results you bring, what value proposition you bring.

Derek Halpern, of Social Triggers has a great downloadable pdf, called, “How to Email Influential People”. He talks in great detail about this exact issue and while his article applies to emails, it is relevant for everything else as well.

Assignment: I challenge you to take a look at your website copy, marketing materials, previous email you have sent out, and your elevator speech. Look closely-have you made it all about you? Where can you make the changes to make it all about “THEM”.

See if this doesn’t make a huge difference in making connections with others and getting more “yeses” in your business!

Mandy works with talented, 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” right down below.

3 Ways to Bring More Focus to Your Day

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“At some point you start seeing the difference between what you really want, and what is your priority order. I feel that today I know what I want. That’s the problem with perspective, as well as focus and concentration.”

Nick Cave

Imagine. Coming into your office in the morning, sitting down at your desk, beginning to work on that big project that’s been hanging over your head. You spend three hours, and get at least 80% of it done. You take a little break, then come back to your office and work through all the things on your to-do-list for the day. You end your day feeling productive, accomplished and pleased with yourself.

Sound like your typical day? If you’re like most of us, probably not.

Keeping focus on our big goals and tasks is one of the most challenging things we face as small business owners. Because we have to do everything, marketing, bookkeeping, invoicing, networking, follow-up, oh and yeah-we have to service our clients as well, being able to focus on the big vision stuff that will really move us forward in our businesses, often takes a back seat to everything else.

Here are three tips that may help you get your focus back, and start on those bigger vision projects that will help you play bigger in your business.

1-Be Clear On “The What”
You need to be laser-focused on “the what”. Having a to-do list that is a mile long, is not going to help you get focused or frankly on getting anything done. I urge my clients to choose three priorities for the day-and ONLY THREE! It really is difficult to focus or accomplish much more than that. I find, choosing the three things I want to work on, the night before, helps me jump right into it when I reach my office.

2-Start with the Big Stuff
Do you always leave the “big stuff” for last? Perhaps you find it easiest to start your day with email, making some phone calls, checking in with clients, then before you know it-it’s 4:30 pm and the day is almost over! Try beginning your day working on a big project (you know which ones I mean). The ones that have been hanging over your head for a while and are “zapping” energy from you because you keep thinking about them. Pick one, put a quick three or four step tactical plan together on how to complete, set a timeline and get at it!

3-Chunk Your Time in 90 minute Segments
If you’re anything like me, you want to wait until you have big chunks of time (like a half or full day) to work on what you deem, your “big stuff”. The problem becomes, when do we ever have a free half or full day available-rarely, right? I have found that when I first enter my office in the morning, instead of looking at email, or doing small tasks, I take the “big stuff” and make it a priority and spend an uninterrupted 90 minutes on one of the priorities. Uninterrupted time means turn off email, phone, social media and anything else that’s a big distraction to keeping you on task. Set a timer for 90 minutes and work only on that one project. You will be amazed at how much you get done and how far along you get. Oh, and be sure to block out your calendar for these 90 minute work periods and stay true to the appointment with yourself!

It’s so easy to let resistance get in our way; you know what you need to get done. I challenge you today, to pick one or two things you’ve resisted doing even though you know that taking action on them would be beneficial. Write down how it would “feel” to accomplish these, then take action on them TODAY. Even if it’s just the first step!

Are you working with YOUR ideal client?

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I remember when I first started my coaching business; I was so THRILLED when someone wanted to work with me that I just “took them on!” In fact, I would work with anyone and everyone.

But then, as I would look down my appointments for the day, I started to dread some of the calls I would have coming up.There would be the woman who always complained about EVERYTHING and never took action on ANYTHING. Then the man who missed practically every other appointment, or cancelled at the last minute, and NEVER did any of the homework assignments.

It was maddening!

Then I attended a workshop where we created our own ideal client profile and after that everything changed. I had a business with ALL ideal FABULOUS clients that I couldn’t wait to talk to every week!

How about you? Is your business or practice filled with clients you enjoy working with? Are they ALL ideal?

If not, you may want to consider building an ideal client profile for yourself.

Step one: List 10-15 clients you’ve had in the past year or so on a sheet of paper

Step two: Grade them A-F. You’re A’s are the ones you absolutely LOVE working with and the F’s are the ones you absolutely are CHALLENGED in working with. And you obviously may have some in the middle that are C’s and D’s, and your B’s are the ones that are nearly perfect.

Step three: Now, circle you’re A’s and B’s and really study the list. What do these people have in common? Are they all women, all men, of a certain age, and certain occupation. Find everything you can that they have in common.

Step Four: Now you can start building your ideal client profile from the list of commonalities with your list of A and B clients. You will certainly need to add to this list as time goes on, but it’s a great start. Start looking for more people who fit your ideal client profile, think about where they may be hanging out, and start networking or speaking there, so you will be in a place where you will attract MORE ideal clients.

Step Five: Continue to add to your ideal client profile. Interview some of your “A” clients, find out what they read, eat, do for fun, what magazines do they subscribe to, what apps are on their phone? All of this information gets added to your profile in order to really narrow down who you want to work with.

I guarantee creating an ideal client profile for your business will make a huge difference in the kind of clients you attract AND make doing business a whole lot more fun!

Mandy works with talented, 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” right down below.

What’s Your Superpower?

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This wasn’t the first time he had mentioned it. In fact, he’d brought it up several times over the past year. My five-year old son has said to me he’s really sad he doesn’t have any superpowers.

When I’ve asked him what kind of superpower he wants, “Something with fire, or with ice” he replied. “And I’m never going to get them.”

I tried to explain that I thought he had superpowers, that his ability to quickly figure things out or his natural ability to mimic most anyone or anything were superpowers. But he disagreed. Those weren’t special enough he said.

I think at some point or another, we all wish we had a kind of superpower we see in the cartoons and movies. And while it might not be fire or ice I believe that we all do carry our own superpower. And it’s important for each of us to figure out what it is.

What makes you unique? What makes you stand out? What are your gifts and talents and how can you use them in a way that helps us be of service in the world in a bigger way?

They may not be fire, or ice (this is what my son wishes his were), but I’ll guarantee the one you carry can ignite a movement or a change in the world or community in which you live, or cool or chill off a situation that has been contentious or challenging for some time.

Your superpower is the role that you are put on this earth to contribute. It’s what you do better than anyone else, and tapping into it more often will not only help your business, team, family etc, but you’ll find your work and life more satisfying too.

I asked my son to give some thought to what he thought made him different, made him stand out amongst everyone else. He said he had to think about it. He later told me he thought he was “pretty good at numbers and football”.

So tapping into your superpower, what will you create? What difference will you make? What will your mark be?

Planning-It’s the Only Way to Get There!!

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“Your achievement can be no greater than your PLANS are sound.” ~ Napoleon Hill

What’s possible for you in 2013? Well, quite frankly, I believe ANYTHING is possible for you in 2013, once you are clear on a vision and have a solid plan on which to move forward.

Without a vision, plan and action steps, it may be a challenge in getting to where you’d like to go in your business or your life. When I start working with a new client, I’ll ask them, “Where would you like to be in six months, or a year, or 3-5 years?” And so often, it’s not something that they have thought about or are even very clear about. And if you’re not clear on where you’re going-you most certainly won’t get there.

I’ve experienced that in my own business, where I either didn’t create a plan to help me achieve or get to a place I wanted to be, or I didn’t stick with the plan. Both of these are crucial to your success. Not only do you need a plan-you must stick to the plan, which can sometimes be very challenging for entrepreneurs who have “bright-shiny-object syndrome.”

Many people this time of year start thinking about New Year’s resolutions, but I must say I have found for me and my clients, that reflecting, visioning and creating a roadmap to get there, have more staying power than creating New Year’s resolutions.

Visioning is the first step to planning. You have to know where you’d like to end up, before you can write the plan. So, take out a piece of paper and give yourself the luxury of taking 15-20 minutes to do this exercise.

Step 1- Create a vision for yourself and your business.

Imagine that it is December 31, 2013 and you are going to write yourself a letter talking about all that you accomplished in 2013. Where do you live, what do you do, who are you doing it with, how much money did you make, where are you working, who are you working with, what do your clients look like? The more details you can provide in your letter the better.

Don’t judge yourself as you write. Whatever comes to mind put it down on the paper. Do not worry if what comes up doesn’t seem possible, or you can’t afford it, or you can’t figure out “how” you would accomplish it. Just write the letter in present tense and pretend the date is December 31, 2013.

Step 2- Fold it up, put it in a sealed envelope.

Mark on the outside of the envelope your name and Vision 2013-then put it somewhere safe, in your desk drawer, dresser drawer-someplace where you won’t lose it.

Step 3- Mark a reminder in your calendar or smartphone

Put the reminder on December 30 or 31st of 2013. The reminder will say, “Find your vision letter for 2013”. After you’ve read the letter, note what actually happened, what’s different between reality and your vision, and be grateful for all of it. Then rinse and repeat, by writing a new letter to yourself putting yourself at December 31, 2014.

Now that you’ve created a vision for 2013, you may want to put some action steps into place with timelines that will help ensure you get there. If you feel you’d like some support and guidance on doing this, be sure and sign up for my teleclass, “Planning for 2013-Your Best Year Ever!” on Thursday, January 3, 2013. It costs you absolutely nothing except your time and commitment to showing up and I can guarantee, it will get you started on the right foot for a successful 2013!

Mandy works with talented, 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” right down below.

Having a System is Everything

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This morning, as I struggled to find my black pants, dug through a box to find my black shoes, struggled again in the kitchen looking for the frying pan and trying to find the salt for my eggs, it occurred to me that having a system is everything.

Not that I hadn’t realized this before, but I finally realized this week after my family moved into our new house, what makes it so hard about moving is the lack of systems and lack of an organized environment. Not only do I find it stressful and frustrating, it’s also very time-consuming and I’ve spent hours the last few days, walking around in circles (or so it seemed) looking for a particular object or item.

The same can be said for your business.

WORK ENVIRONMENT: Is your work environment organized in a way that makes it simple and easy for you to find what you need? Or do you have piles on your desk, business cards you’ve picked up at networking events strewn all over and several empty coffee cups? Is the aesthetics of your work environment pleasing to your eye and makes you feel good just by being in it? Or, are you using mismatched furniture, with boxes piled around you?

It’s important to have an efficient, pleasing (to your eye) looking office area or work environment. It not only makes you feel better, but studies have shown it increases your productivity three fold.

MARKETING SYSTEMS: It is important to create the systems you need so you will consistently take action and create great results in your business. You will always need to market and keep your pipeline filled with potential clients-which can sometimes feels overwhelming and draining. By creating and implementing tried-and-true systems you will develop a more organized and productive approach to running your business and achieving your financial goals.

INVOICING AND BILLING SYSTEMS: Have you created a system for invoicing your clients and paying your bills? Or do the bills sit in a pile on your desk? And you are always doing last minute invoicing to your clients when you have a spare minute? There are lots of great systems out there to help you systematize the financials for your business.

I challenge you to look at your work environment and your business to see where implementing a system could help reduce your stress, overwhelm and free up some time so you can work on the important things like getting more clients and making more money. If you think getting some support around these areas might be helpful to you and your business, feel free to schedule a get acquainted call with me (no strings attached, I don’t work with everyone, so this is just a get acquainted call) to see if I might be able to help you “systematize” your business!!

Mandy works with talented, 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” right down below.

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