Whew! I just got home from an AMAZING weekend in Austin, Texas, with over 800 of the most successful and brilliant marketers in the world — people that are making things happen, no excuses.
When my girl, Marie Forleo, was nominated for “Marketer of the Year,” the handful of women at the event (it was primarily men) stood up and cheered! But, despite our enthusiastic support, the award went to the founder of BrainHost. He did acquire 140K new customers in 18 months, so he deserved it.
As you’ve probably noticed, over the last year the landscape for small businesses has changed. But in many ways, succeeding in small business has become easier!
You just need to know how to effectively leverage your available tools and resources.
This past weekend, I learned a whole LOT about how to do just that – leverage available tools and resources — and I will be sharing ninja strategies with you in future issues of P.O.P. If you’re not yet on the list, get on it now by entering your first name and email in the green box at the end of this blog post.
Now for today’s Tip!
Every business needs a marketing calendar.
You need to map out specific dates for your:
• client attraction strategies – creating sources of clients and customers that keep your pipeline full
• promotions
• launches
• editorial content
Many of you have asked, “What type of calendaring system do you use for your businesses?” So, I’m taking you inside my home office to show you.
If the video does not appear, click here.
There’s no right or wrong calendaring system. You just need to find one that works for you and use it!
The more consistent your marketing efforts, the more successful you will be. A calendar keeps you on track.
If your marketing calendar is looking a little grim these days, then revive it.
If you’re not sure how to revive your marketing
Let’s make this year you’re most Productive, Organized, and Profitable year yet!
How to Activate Your Money Flow
One of my girl crushes is on Angela Jia Kim, of Savor The Success. She is amazing! In addition to running Savor The Success, she is an accomplished concert pianist, and the founder of Om Aroma & Co., a successful organic skincare line, organic spa, and lifestyle gift boutique based in NYC.
In one of her videos, Angela addressed the intention behind investing in yourself. Is your investment a form of empowered spending? Or do you invest with a grudge because you think you’re wasting money? Find out! Angela shared an exercise for you to keep track of your investments to prove to yourself whether the intentions for your investments are working for you!
Here’s Angela’s intention:
“Money flows out. Ten times flows back. Where do I choose to energize the money flow?”
Take two minutes now to watch her video (if the video doesn’t appear, click here).
Then, for each investment, she writes down the following information
- What is the investment? (book, program, new website, etc.)
- How much does the investment cost?
- What is the potential return on investment?
That exercise will EMPOWER your choices for spending your money.
Now let’s get to my main message: Investing in your business is smart. Really smart.
Let’s compare investing in your business to investing in the stock market.
If you were to get a 15% return on investment in the stock market, then
a) Wow! Keep investing! or
b) it’s too good to be true – pull out, or
c) you’re in a movie called “The Return of Madoff, Part 2, ReDeux – Maximum Exposure …Again”
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If you were to spend $2000 per month on advertising, then:
a) You would moan about it (I’ve done that.)
b) You would worry that it wasn’t worth it (I’ve done that.)
c) Repeat each month (Yep, I’ve done that. That’s how I know you’ll do it.)
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I see that a behavior a lot, DESPITE MAKING a 150% return, repeatedly!!!
If you got a 150% return on your stock portfolio EVERY MONTH you’d be singing all the way to the bank, or to jail. For some reason, investing in the stock market just seems so damn sexy! Because of the risk, it’s like winning the lottery. Investing in your business is boring. It’s so predictable.
So, would you rather be risky and maybe rich, or boring and certainly rich?
If your competitors are kicking your butt, it’s probably because they are marketing more than you.
It’s been said many times before, but it bears repeating:
“Invest in yourself, in your education. There’s nothing better”
– Sylvia Porter
Sylvia Field Porter was an American economist and journalist. At the height of her career, her readership was greater than 40 million people. She wrote Sylvia Porter’s Money Book, subtitled “How to Earn It, Spend It, Save It, Invest It, Borrow It and Use It to Better Your Life”.
“I want something not just to invest in. I want something to believe in.”
– Dame Anita Roddick, DBE
Dame Anita Roddick, DBE was a British businesswoman, human rights activist and environmental campaigner, known for shaping ethical consumerism. By the way, her title, DBE, stands for “Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire” which makes her equivalent to a Knight.
“Our mind is the most valuable possession that we have. The quality of our lives is, and will be, a reflection of how well we develop, train, and utilize this precious gift.”
– Brian Tracy
“Invest three percent of your income in yourself (self-development) in order to guarantee your future.”
– Brian Tracy
Brian Tracy is an author, marketer, and respected authority in the self-improvement industry. He has written many bestselling books, worked with famous company Nightingale Conant, and is a speaker that has addressed millions of people.
Take a few minutes now to do this exercise now. In the comments below tell me how it made you feel and if you have any a-ha moments in the process.
As you are making your list of investments, consider investing in the Marketing Blueprint program. This program is a labor of love from me. It’s exactly what I wish I had when I was growing my first business. It would have saved me hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on trial and error and lost revenue. This Blueprint will show you how to triple you revenue in the next six months (and it’s under $100 – talk about a HUGE return on investment!)
You can get the details and grab your copy now by clicking here.
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The Secret to Achieving Any Goal
The year 2012 is just getting started. How is 2012 looking for you?
At Clear Simple Marketing, we are committed to P.O.P. – Productivity, Organization & Profitability. If you’re committed to P.O.P., the you’ve probably set some goals to POP your business! I want you to achieve your goals – that’s what I’m here for! And I have a strategy that will get you there.
I achieved my goals by setting S.M.A.R.T. goals! I set Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bounded goals.
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-bounded
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1. Specific Goals
Language has power. Goals that are general and vague are achievable but impotent. For example:
“I want to build my business.”
You’re goal is to “want.” Perfect. You’re done! But you haven’t POP’ed your business. Here’s an example of a more specific (but still slightly generalized, in order to make a point) goal that has POP potential:
“I will use email marketing, increase my monthly revenue, and get a healthy amount of sleep.”
The beautiful thing about this (more) specific goal is that: you must ask yourself “How the heck am I going to do that?” Continue specifying your goal by answering the classic investigation questions:
- Who?
- “My virtual assistant (VA) will write and send the marketing email.”
- “I send the email to my list.”
- What?
- “My VA will send 1 automated email each week.”
- “Increase monthly revenue by $1000/month”
- “I sleep at least 8 hours.”
- Where?
- “I will work from my home office.”
- “The $1000/month appears in my bank account statement.”
- “I sleep in my bed.”
- When?
- “I will send weekly emails in every week of 2012.”
- “My monthly income will increase by $1000/month for each of the last 6 months of 2012.”
- “I sleep at night, for 8 hours, at least 5 days every week of 2012.”
- Which? (specific requirements and constraints)
- “I use X email system.”
- “$1000/month from 10 sales per month of product Y.”
- “8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.”
- Why? (reasons & benefits)
- “Useful emails make me feel good about serving others by sharing knowledge.”
- “I will buy a new car, and take that specific vacation.”
- “I will feel invigorated, and productive, every day!”
Answer the obvious questions Get over how stupidly simple they are, and notice how answering the obvious questions (“I sleep in my bed.”) makes you feel the result of attaining that goal and motivates you.
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2. Measurable Goals
If you cannot measure your goal, then you can’t know if you have achieved your goal. Measurement is preceded by questions like: How much? How many? How long?
The goals above are measurable – you can count how many emails have gone out, how much more you are making each month from products sales, and how many hours you’ve slept in your bed at night.
Track your progress. Either you will feel good about making progress, or you will feel motivated to get going.
Break bigger goals into smaller ones if necessary.
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3. Attainable Goals
Your goals, however difficult, must be attainable. If you’re goals would seem unreasonable to even a highly accomplished person, then maybe you’re setting yourself up for failure (maybe even subconsciously, to play the game “I told you this wouldn’t work!” or “Poor me.”)
Remember your previous commitments: Keep them, or break them to make room for your new goals.
How many marketing emails can you really send out in a week? Is there really a clear path to earning a million dollars this year? You can sleep 8 hours per day, but you will have to learn to be highly productive for the other 16 hours every day.
If you’re goal is challenging, just start – you will build momentum and find out whether the goal is attainable. (You will also see whether you’re willing to give what it takes.) Start creating content for those weekly emails, or finding a VA to do it for you (or of course hiring us! Click here for details). Start marketing the product. Start going to bed at 10:00pm.
Again, break bigger goals into smaller ones if necessary.
Beware of clichés that leave you feeling empty, or with no where to go. Perhaps it’s “I will make a million dollars.” Everyone says it. Almost no one wants to do what it takes (besides win the lottery). If you cannot see yourself taking specific, achievable actions to accomplish this goal, then you will have no where to go. You won’t be able to answer the question “How the heck am I going to do that?” in any meaningful way.
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4. Relevant
Your goals must fulfill your main purpose. They must fulfill your “Why?” Otherwise, the goals are irrelevant. Let’s revisit the “Why?”
- “Useful emails make me feel good about serving others by sharing knowledge.”
- “I will buy a new car, and take that specific vacation.”
- “I will feel invigorated, and productive, every day!”
Compare the purpose to your goals and see if these “mission statements” hit home.
- My VA will share my knowledge by automatically sending 1 marketing email per week
- I will earn the money for a new car and vacation by increasing my monthly revenue by $1000 by selling 10 units of product Y each month
- I will feel invigorated and productive every day from getting 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep in my bed 5 days a week
Your goal may be irrelevant if it sounds hollow like this:
- I will share my knowledge by opening a social media account and collect 3 fans (likes) per day
- I will earn the money for a new car by wanting to increase my income
- I will feel invigorated and productive every day by clearing out my email inbox everyday
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5. Time-bounded Goals
Would you get on a plane to Hawaii if the arrival time was “someday?” No. And if you did, you’re probably asking for trouble.
“Someday” never comes – or at least not fast enough. When you set a goal without time boundaries, you leave it open for happening never, or after you die – both of which I assume are undesirable to you.
Create deadlines that are achievable. If you want to “make a million dollars,” then set a deadline. The book “Seven Years to Seven Figures” is an example of a time-bounded, attainable goal.
In the examples above, we’ve set goals that are bounded by the days of the week, and months in the year 2012. Without deadlines, you’ll never know when you should achieve your goal.
If you want to achieve your goals, be S.M.A.R.T. about it. When I was just starting out, I wasted a lot of time and money on goals that did not bear fruit. I finally figured it out for myself by creating a Marketing Blueprint.
“Your Marketing Blueprint” is a fill-in-the-blank blueprint with easy-to-use checklists for S.M.A.R.T. goals for your small business. If you’re tired of spinning your wheels on goals that never seem to go anywhere, try the Marketing Blueprint.
Save $50 by using coupon code: ActFast50 before January 29th at mid-night CNT.
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3 Things Successful Business Owners Do
When talking with a business owner, I can usually tell how successful they are, or aren’t, within a few hours of conversation. I have consulted with dozens of small-business owners and found that the most successful owners do three things.
#1: They focus on the right things. They spend their time and money on things that will get
them the best results in the shortest amount of time. They always consider and calculate the ROI (return on investment) before deciding to spend their time, energy and money on a specific project or marketing endeavor.
#2: They are excellent time managers. Almost all great time managers map out what they need to get done each day, and by when. They map it out the night before. They block of chunks of time to complete their most important revenue-generating projects.
#3: They have a marketing plan. Instead of trying different marketing strategies in a willy-nilly fashion, they have a clear path, or blueprint. They track their efforts and correct course as needed.
Check out our brand new, fill-in-the-blank Marketing Blueprint that outlines the 3-step system for TRIPLING your business in the next six months.
Grab your Marketing Blueprint before January 21st and use coupon code: ActFast50 to save $50 (more than 50% OFF)!
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Get the details and grab Your Marketing Blueprint now at:
http://clearsimplemarketing.com/marketing-blueprint-program
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It’s the holiday season and, in the last week, I’ve personally seen about a dozen people make a big marketing mistake. It’s a common mistake that is most often observed this time of year. It can have a BIG affect on your revenue, bigger than you may realize.
If you want to make more money next year than you did this year, then start by fixing this one little mistake.
The one little mistake is: reaching out to your center of influence (COI) just once or twice a year.
You are filling my inbox with generic, holiday message that took you 15 minutes to create, after a whole year of radio silence. I want to feel special, and you may think you are adding value to my life. But, actually, your rarefied card indicates that I’m NOT special to you, and that you’re NOT adding value to my life. You’re just cluttering up my Inbox because you think you should at least say something once a year.
If you’re guilty of doing this, or something similar, here’s how to fix it:
Get in the spirit of giving value, and stay there.
- Give regularly: Communicate with your COI often. Give the gift of communication once per month, at minimum, ideally once per week.
- Give gifts: Provide value. Give helpful tips & resources, interesting information & statistics, special discounts, and so on. Gifts give value.
- Give yourself: Come on. Who wants to see a generic holiday photo with a generic message? Show me a photo of your family, or your staff, and say something funny, or heartfelt. Put some thought into it.
People want to do business with people that they know, like, and trust. People want to work with businesses that give value. If you want more people to do business with you, give more people a chance to get to know you, to like you, and to trust you. Find ways to make their life better by providing them value. A gift gives value without asking for value in return. Paradoxically, you will see returns.
If you want a step-by-step plan on how to do this effectively, grab my brand new program – Email Marketing that WORKS! Click here for details.
I will take you through a simple, doable plan that will generate amazing results for you.
In the comments below, share with me some ideas and ways that you are providing value to your Center of Influence.
Are you taking care of yourself?
As the new year approaches, I thought this week would be a good time to talk about caring for yourself.
(Can you believe it’s the middle of December already? Is it just me, or is time flying by!?!)
I just started reading “Super Rich” by business magnate, Russell Simmons. The book is about living a rich life – which has
nothing to do with how much money you have, or don’t have.
I got the book from Russell himself. I was at an event in October where he was being interviewed. He gave out copies of his book to those of us in the attended the interview. During the interview, he said the more people you serve, and the bigger impact you make on their lives, the richer you will be. He also went on to say:
“You cannot be a good servant — until you take care of yourself.”
That statement got me thinking – am I taking care of myself?
The answer was: not as well as I could be. (In other words, no.) We all know that an overnight overhaul of our routines for diet, exercise, and wellness never seem to work. So, instead, I chose to create just one new daily habit. I call it my NNA (Non-Negotiable Activity). It’s one small thing that I do, everyday, no matter what.
My NNA is to have a green smoothie every morning. I got the recipe from Kris Carr. It’s packed with nutrients and good alkaline greens. Plus, it tastes yummy, which I know is hard to believe. The recipe is below if you want to try it for yourself.
A few weeks ago, I added another NNA to my daily routine. Now, I run three sprints everyday. I may or may not get in a full workout, but three sprints is doable (it only takes 11 minutes). If you’re interested in knowing the health benefits of sprinting, check out this article by the NY Times.
My sprint routine:
5 minute warm up walk
45 second sprint
45 second recovery walk
45 second sprint
45 second recovery walk
45 second sprint
2 minute cool down walk
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To see another type of “burst workout routine” that only takes 15 minutes, click here.
Your one cool strategy this week is to incorporate one non-negotiable activity (NNA) into your daily routine.
Beyond that, consider adding one new healthy NNA to your daily, or weekly routine, once a month, for the next 12 months. If you did that, by the end of 2012, you would be taking pretty good care of yourself .
What new NNA are you creating for yourself this week? Tell me in the comments below.
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Kris Carr’s Green Smoothie Recipe:
serves 2
1/2 cup of CocoKefir or coconut water
1/2 cup filtered water
A dash of blue agave or stevia
2-3 handfuls of spinach
1 large cucumber
1 avocado
1 banana
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My Secret Weapon
My team and I are busy creating our 2012 marketing calendar and setting goals – and maybe you are, too.
This year, we are going to be doing quite a bit with social media – Facebook in particular.
Stop by our brand new Facebook page, click the like button and we’ll share some hot tips and juicy marketing strategies with you. We haven’t pimped the page yet, but will soon. Take one second to head over and “Like” us.
–> https://www.facebook.com/ClearSimpleMarketing
Often, I get asked “can I outsource my social media marketing?” The answer is: yes, and no. There are a few small parts of it you can, and probably should, outsource, but you can not effectively outsource your relationship building.
Outsourcing your relationship building is like
A couple weeks later, your new networking “friends” reach out to you to do business — only to find that you are not the same person they met at the networking party.
Social media doesn’t have to be hard or complicated. In fact you can get a tremendous amount of high quality leads for your business by spending just 15 minutes per day on Facebook. But here’s the catch, you need to know EXACTLY what to do for those 15 minutes.
To help us maximize our new Facebook page, we got Lewis Howe & Amy Porterfield’s new Facebook marketing program – FBInfluence.
And ooooooh baby, it’s the best investment we’ve made in a while!
It’s fast and easy to learn and implement – and it’s all about getting results. You can grab a copy today for ONLY $97 bucks!
This sale price ends soon (I think tonight, but I’m not for sure on that). Take 10 minutes to check it out, watch the free training video (which is quite good), and grab this secret weapon for yourself.
Lewis’s Facebook Marketing Program
Tools & Vendors We Use to Run Our Business
For most businesses, Facebook marketing should be part of your strategy. As you map out your marketing calendar for 2012, do you know how you’re going to:
- generate leads on Facebook,
- convert those prospects into paying customers,
- generate referrals, and
- maximize your relationships with your current customers?
If you answered no to any of those questions, then check out Lewis Howes’ new Facebook marketing program.
I review a LOT of programs and I think it’s the best one out right now. The program is very easy to follow for beginners, and it’s got plenty of advanced techniques for savvy biz owners.
Go here now –> Facebook Marketing Made Easy
Have you noticed a daily increase in the amount of information and paper coming at you?
I have! Fortunately, the smart people at Evernote figured out a way to help us easily capture and organize it all.
Gone are the days of sticky notes, 10 random half-used notebooks, article and recipe clippings, big thick project files, lost travel itineraries and outdated to-do lists. You can now quickly capture all of your information and paper in an organized, cloud-based app, which you can access from your computer, smart phone and iPad. And you can share select information, to-do lists, and projects with your co-workers, family and friends.
Evernote can store and organize anything that you can find on the Internet, take a snap shot of on your Smart Phone, scan, email, type, record or drag. Plus, it automatically syncs on all of your devices through the cloud, so you don’t have to worry about remembering to plug it in.
For example, I keep a running grocery list and Target list in Evernote. It automatically syncs with my phone so I never have to remember to grab the grocery list or Target list on my way out of the house. If I’ve got my phone, I’ve got my lists. And if I get emailed a coupon or run across one online, I simply “clip it” to my Evernote shopping list – so I’ve got my lists and coupons with me at all times.
Below is a short video (by my girl-crush Carley) on how Evernote works and her Evernote review.
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Carley’s Evernote Review
Now that you’ve seen Carley’s Evernote review and the basics on how to use Evernote, I am going to show you how I use it everyday to keep my life and business organized.
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Heidi’s Evernote Review
To download the free version of Evernote, click here.
Then check out these two great articles on more ways to use Evernote to keep your life and business organized and running smoothly:
Evernote for Busy Moms with Businesses
Evernote Tips for Entrepreneurs
I am typically not a fan of “email forwards”. I’ve asked my friends and family to only forward me short laugh-out-loud jokes, and to only do so on a VERY limited basis.
Any other forwards I receive I automatically delete without reading. However, a few weeks ago a friend forwarded me a short story. Although my typical reaction is to delete, I felt called to take a peak at this one.
It’s a sweet story about a coffee bean. It illustrates that there IS a productive way to handle challenges and upsets. As business owners, we typically have far more challenges each week than most people. How we handle them directly impacts our business, our staff, our profits and sometimes our immediate family (significant other and/or kids).
Last week I faced quite a few challenges, far more than usual. I found a helpful little strategy for implementing the “coffee bean technique”, which I share with you at the end of the coffee bean story. If you have your own effective strategy for implementing the coffee bean technique, please share it in the comments below.
This week your one cool assignment is to find a way to be the coffee bean every time you face a business or life challenge.
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The Coffee Bean Technique
(As it was sent to me, author unknown)
“A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how growing her business was so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.
Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.
Twenty minutes later she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ‘ Tell me what you see.’
‘Carrots, eggs, and coffee,’ the daughter replied.
Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.
Then the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, ‘What does it mean, mother?’
Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently.
The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak and limp.
The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.
The ground coffee beans were unique. They changed the water, the very circumstance that brought the adversity.
When the water gets hot, the coffee bean releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when you face challenges, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? Do you choose to handle adversity like a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; but they make the most of everything.
The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can’t go forward in life until you let go of your past failures.”
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I like how this story ends with “let got of your past failures”. As business owners, we have all made bad business decisions, spent money on ridiculous things, and have challenges every week.
For the success of your business it’s critical that you forgive yourself for all of the bad decisions you’ve ever made, that was part of the cost of your education – the real world business education that got you to where you are today.
The little strategy I developed this past week was to stand up, take 10 deep breaths and then sit down and analyze the challenge as if it was someone else’s challenge and I was hired to consult them on how to handle it.
In my business I have found that to be the coffee bean, it requires me to emotionally detach from challenges so I can handle them as a level headed business owner.
Do you have an effective strategy for handling business and life challenges – for being the coffee bean? If you do, please share it in the comments below.
