To accelerate your business success, it is important to surround yourself with the right people: People who are all moving into the same direction and who and are either on the same path as you, or more successful than you.
Last week, In a previous post I talked about the power of associationand concluded that surrounding yourself with other successful people is a sure way to reach your goals and dreams much faster, because they inspire and motivate you to take action on your own plans.
So, today I want to give you a list of what I consider as the top 4 ways to quickly and effectively surround yourself with people that can help you progress much faster in business.
Here they are
1. Work with a Coach or Mentor
As a solo-preneur, the absolute quickest way to progress in business is to get out of your own way. The problem is, we often stand in our own way because we are too stubborn or have too many excuses for not getting the help we need – I know, because I was one of those stubborn people, but I quickly realized how foolish it is. As one person you only have limited knowledge and experience and it often becomes a situation where you don’t know that you don’t know. This is where a coach and mentor can be a great help. They can give you an outside perspective on your business and help you clarify how to implement existing strategies in your business or they can open up a lot of new strategies that you might never even have thought about before.
2. Join a Mastermind Group
Joining a mastermind group with individuals that are on the same path as you, can prove to be invaluable for growing your business. You receive valuable input from so many different people on challenges you experience in your business. And by listening to what the other members in the group do in their businesses, often sparks many new ideas on how to grow your own business faster. It furthermore lead to quicker results, because you leave each mastermind session with more wisdom, a better perspective on your own business and a truckload of motivation to take bigger risks and start implementing new things that enhances change and progress in your business.
3. Mingle With Advancing Entrepreneurs at Industry Specific Live- and Virtual Events
Whether an event is live (in-person) or whether it is a virtual event (via the internet), attending events where you surround yourself with a group of like-minded individuals can be one of the most inspiring and transformational ways to boost your business results. It gives you the opportunity to mingle with a variety of advancing entrepreneurs just like you. Simple discussions with people at events, not even mentioning the valuable learnings from the event host, can inspire, revitalize and motivate you to reach bigger heights in your business.
4. Read Great Books
Sometimes it might happen that you are in situation where, due to your location, it is difficult to reach out to the right people in person. I know, because it often feels that Qatar (the country I live in) is worlds apart from the people I admire and would like to hang out with. But what I found is that the next best thing to surrounding yourself with the right people is to surround yourself with their trainings and books. Many influential entrepreneurs have excellent training programs and have written great books that contain a brain dump of their knowledge. And as Rene Descartes once said “The reading off all good books is like conversation with the finest men of the past centuries”.
So this is my list of how you can grow your business faster when you surround yourself with the right people.
In the end, I am a true believer in the fact that people can achieve more together. Think about it for a minute, every single successful person always had some form of help along the way… and when you hear their story, it was mostly due to the people they associated themselves with.
Your take-away assignment: Evaluate your current business and make a decision today what your next step will be to put the power of association to work in your life. You can choose from the list I’ve provided above or use any other way that works best for you. But just do not procrastinate on this. Your business success is too important for you to leave this to chance.
To Your Success!
PS: Tell us in the comments section who are the people you surround yourself with. Who can we add to this list?
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As a solo entrepreneur, whether you are just starting out or in business for quite some time, you often encounter the following problem: “Running out of time”.
There are just so many different things that need to be taken care off on a daily basis… and sometimes the most important things like building your business and getting more clients easily slip through the cracks OR are intentionally put on the back burner.
This not only causes frustration, but also hinders your success.
With only 24 hours a day to your disposal, how can you ensure you get everything done, be more successful and accomplish more in one day?
Developing a smart and effective time management strategy is a great start to get the important things done and still have enough time to do marketing and grow your business successfully.
5 Ways I Use To Create a Smart Time Management Strategy
1. PLAN & PRIORITIZE YOUR DAY:
Spend 10 minutes at the beginning of the day to plan and prioritise all tasks / projects you want to complete that day. Ask yourself: Of all the things that are on your to-do list, what 3-5 things will you complete before end of day to get closer to your goals? Those will be your priorities for the day.
2. ALLOCATE SPECIFIED TIME PER TASK
For every project/task you intend to do, allocate a specific period of time in which to do it. If you do not have a specific defined work period you will find that work will expand to fill the time available and you will not be managing time – it will be controlling you. If the task is large, break it down to ‘bite size’ pieces and allocate a time to each piece. By breaking a big task into smaller sections will help you to assess the results or outcomes and you’ll feel good about your achievements.
3. SCHEDULE SPECIFIC TIME IN YOUR DIARY EACH WEEK TO WORK ON YOUR BUSINESS
As a service professional, most of our time is spend on working with clients. But when you want to grow your business, you have to make time to work on your own business as well. Thus make time each day or each week for business development and marketing activities. These specific time slots can be used for re-evaluating your goals and plans; developing new plans for growing your business and getting more clients & taking specific actions to implement all those plans.
4. IDENTIFY YOUR 3-5 BIGGEST TIME WASTERS DURING A TYPICAL DAY
Take note of all the activities during a normal work day that eat away your time. This can be things like watching TV during the day, spending hours on social media, lunch / coffee with friends, emails, searching the internet, playing online games, running to the shop etc. Make the decision to set boundaries and put a pause button on these time wasters at least during your normal working hours.
5. SET UP SYSTEMS TO SUPPORT YOUR TIME MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
To dramatically increase your productivity and profits, start using and leveraging systems to automate or make your routine tasks easier to handle. These systems can include things as simple as making lists; using a calendar to effectively plan your time and managing your yearly/monthly/weekly projects; creating templates for routine activities like answering questions via email and automating some marketing activities like social media updates.
Charles Bruxton wisely said:
“You will never “find” time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.”
Thus, if your income is stagnating and you are not making progress in your business, it is most likely that you can spend your time more effectively. Successful time management i.e. making time for the important things in your business, getting your focus back and spending time on those things that will have the biggest positive impact on your business and eliminating all the time wasters is a really smart strategy to more clients and a growing business.
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When you decide to take your business online, creating a website is usually the first step. A website acts as a 24/7 online representation of your brand and allows people to interact, engage and become familiar with you, your products and your services.
Your site is often the first impression potential clients have of you and it is the perfect place for your target audience or potential clients to get to know, like and trust you – even when you are not around. Thus you want it to portray the right message.
In order to get the right message out, it is important to understand and know the “why”, “what” and “who” behind your site: Why are you creating a website? What do you hope to accomplish with it? Who will you be writing for?
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To help you, here are 5 Website Strategy Secrets to think about when you plan and set-up your website for attracting more clients.
1. Know your clients and who you write for.
Let’s think about it. With over 2 billion people on the internet, what will make your site stand out and grab the attention of your visitors so they want to know more? A beautiful design might do it at first, but it is really the content on your site that will entice your visitors to take action. An important thing to remember is that your website isn’t about you and what you do, it’s about the problems you solve for people and the difference you can make in their lives. So the better you know your clients, the more specific you can get and the more your audience will feel like you understand their problems and you’re speaking directly to them. When this happens, they’ll recognize you as someone who can help them and will happily spend time on your site and start to connect and interact with you.
2. Know what you want to accomplish online
For me, the #1 goal of your website is for your visitors to take some action – and the #1 action you want them to take is to give you their contact details. So, make sure you have a way to capture their information (e.g. via an email list service like Aweber or similar) for you to continue building a relationship with them.
Apart from capturing contact details, it is also important to strategically lead your visitors through your site. Think about the process and flow of your website. e.g. What do I want my ideal client to see first and foremost before anything else? Once they see that, what do I want them to do next? Once they do that, what do I want them to do next? And then?
3. Display positive results from people who have worked with you.
Testimonials can become one of your best marketing materials because it provides social proof of how good you are. It is not only you telling prospects about what you can do, but through testimonials, your previous clients emphasize it…. and to tell you the truth, your previous clients can sell you better than you can. Success stories from your clients create trust and prove that what you say is actually true. So get testimonials and prominently display them on your site so prospects can see how you have helped other people that were in a situation similar to theirs. You can have a dedicated page for testimonials, and also use them strategically throughout your site
4. Be You
One of the best ways to differentiate yourself from anyone else out there, is to let your personality show through your website. Just be you. Also show visitors who want to get to know you better, how they can connect with you in other ways as well. If you are connected on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Youtube etc. invite visitors to join you on those platforms so they can engage with you in other ways and build an even a stronger relationship through connecting with you.
5. Have control over your own site
Your website should not keep you in chains. There are many instances – even daily that you want to update or change content on your site and you do not want to ask a web designer to do it for you all the time. When you have full control over your site, you have the freedom and flexibility to do what you need to do online anytime and anywhere.
Very important. In cases were you want to use a web designer, don’t let them build your site on some proprietary content management system (CMS) that only they know how to use. I recommend getting a designer that can use WordPress as platform. It’s popular, easy to learn and use and in the end you can have full control over all your website needs – even when your designer is out of reach for a 2 month vacation in Hawaii.
Okay, it’s reflection time… Which one of these website strategy secrets can you improve on? Let’s hear about it in the comments below…:)
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“If you want more clients, you need to do more marketing.”
Well, that is not the whole truth!
Marketing alone and getting the word out about your business as far and wide as possible, won’t necessarily bring in more clients!
The truth is…
To get more ideal and high paying clients you need the missing link!
You need to “Create Client Chemistry”…
…and Client Chemistry is all about the connection, interaction and relationships you have with your prospects and clients.
But to understand what it really means, it’s important to understand the word “chemistry” first.
From a scientific point of view, chemistry is the study of the interaction, relationship and behavior of matter – all things that we can see and touch, but also things we can’t see and touch like atoms, molecules and energy fields.
So, chemistry truly embraces everything we do!
You find “chemistry” in the food you eat, the air you breathe, the soap you use, the fuel in your car, the furniture in your house…
…you even find chemistry in you and in how you think and feel.
In humans chemistry exists in the form of energy and is visible in our emotions – how we feel about things.
For example, all emotions such as fear, hate, love, like, trust, etc. are a result of chemical messengers in your brain.
Thus, chemistry within you, dictates how you feel about most stuff out there and it dictates your interactions, behaviors and relationships with other people – also those with your prospects and current clients.
And because chemistry is already part of you (and your clients), you can use it to create client chemistry and attract more ideal clients.
How to CREATE client chemistry
Client Chemistry is about creating a connection and bond between you and potential clients so that they are eager and willing to work with you.
It is much more than just marketing and attracting clients.
It’s firmly build on the following…
1. Create An Instant Positive CONNECTION
Any chemical reaction, whether it is in science… or with your clients, starts with an initial contact and subsequent reaction.
For example, initial contact is made when people see you for the first time, hear you speak or read about you. Then subconsciously they form an impression of you and who you are.
That is why the saying “first impressions count” is so true.
Within those initial moments, people either instantly “connect” to you, or they don’t.
In business, both of these are good!
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An instant positive connection happens when someone, (even if they do not know you yet), feels somehow connected:
they feel you understand them or their situation,
there’s something that just naturally flows,
you share the same values,
they like you,
they enjoy and are enthusiastic about what you say,
they just “click” with you…
…and all this makes them respond positively.
They want to know more, find out more, click on a link, sign up for your freebie, get in touch, send you an email, call you, etc. etc.
That’s the start of client chemistry!
It can however also happen that there is no real connection between you (as a service provider) and people who get in contact with you, hear about you or read you stuff.
That’s super okay too! Because in reality, not everybody will like what you have to offer.
You anyhow just want to work and focus your time and energy on ideal clients – people with whom you have a positive connection and with whom you can build a client relationship.
So if there are people you don’t see eye-to-eye with regards to your services, it’s great.
That means you’ve carved out a niche and target market, and people outside this group won’t necessary “get” or understand what you offer. That is what you want, because you only want to attract ideal clients that instantly “click” with you and what you offer.
How to Create This Instant Connection…
In chemistry we use the term “like attracts like”.
This means in the plain sense of the word that there should be something your prospects “like” about you.
It can be some similarities between you and them: same values, experiences or interests. It can be that they see themselves in what you offer: they feel there is something in it for them, something they can benefit from, something that can make them stronger or better, something that can solve a problem for them – in essence just something they “like”.
Thus, to create this instant connection with ideal prospects, you need to really understand who they are, what they want, and what makes them tick… and then authentically incorporates it in your marketing messages and weave it into your website.
2. Build “Know, Like and Trust”
After this initial “positive connection” it becomes a matter of them getting to know you better, liking you even more, starting to trust you and eventually working with you.
In some instances, you will get clients that just instantly “click” with what you have to offer and they will immediately decide to work with you after the first contact. That’s great!
But the majority of people will first want to get to know you better before they trust you enough to work with you.
How to facilitate this “Know, Like, Trust” process…
i) Know You:
This is where it starts and this step can basically be broken down into 2 aspects:
First: People know about you
Second: People get to know you
In order to get more clients and create that first positive connection, prospects need to know about you – they first need to know you exist.
So, this is all about visibility. Getting you message out there with marketing and building relationships with key influencers – people who can help you spread your message.
Then after the first positive connection was made, it’s about nurturing this relationship by staying in touch on a regular basis so they can get to know you better.
ii) Like You:
People mostly do business with people they like.
But your goal is not for everyone to like you.
In business, you only want your target market and ideal clients to really like you.
Remember, as a solo-preneur, you are your business, and likeability comes from being authentic and expressing the real you through your content, service, marketing and all your interactions with prospects and clients.
People don’t like a faceless company. Thus, put a photo of you on your website, tell people more about yourself (in a friendly, professional way that adds to the relationship).
Invite them to engage with you via social media, to comment on your blog and to respond to your newsletters.
Truth is: when prospects “like” what they hear and see, and start to interact with you, there is a natural progression toward them starting to trust you.
iii) Trust You:
Trust is built between people when you keep your promises – when you do what you say you are going to do. It’s that simple.
For example: When people see that others experience the results of what you “promise” in your marketing, it builds trust that they can get the same results when they work with you or buy your products.
So client testimonials are great for building trust as it provides the social proof that you walk your talk.
Also be true to your word. E.g. if you say you’ll stay in touch or send out a daily, weekly, monthly newsletter, then just do it. Breaking that promise disappoints you followers and impact on their trust.
Remember, not everyone you connect with will want to work with you or want to buy your products – even if there is some “chemistry” in place.
But, people who trust you, will (in their own time) choose to work with you or refer others to you.
Thus, when you can connect with prospects on a deeper and emotional level and build on it with know, like and trust, you’re in the best possible position to create real client chemistry that leads to long-lasting client relationships and real prosperity.
Running a solo business is great fun! You can make the rules and you can steer the course of your business.
The fun and excitement is especially huge when you just start out. You are so full of plans and ideas and can’t wait to start implementing all of them and seeing the results.
Then at some point, the unthinkable happens. You get so caught up in your business that you can’t see the forest for the trees any more. Even when you work really hard and try you utmost best, your business and income starts to reach a plateau – and you might be happy with that for a while, but to move past this and experience another burst of growth you often need to get a new fresh perspective on what to do.
Why? Because alone, you only have so much knowledge and experience, and can only take your business so far. Sometimes you need someone else to steer you in the right direction. Sometimes you need to seek knowledge outside of your own.
Here are 5 ways I use to gain a fresh perspective on my business:
1. Take some time off. From time to time all you need is to take a break from work and do something different. Stepping away from your business enables you to clear your head and help you be creative again.
2. Talk to someone about your business.One of the barriers to growth in a solo-business is that it often feels there is no-one you can openly talk to about your business – mostly because they don’t really understand exactly what you do. However, occasionally it’s good to talk to a friend or a family member about what you want to achieve. Since they are not wrapped up in the day to day workings of entrepreneurship, they can often provide alternative or fresh insights to stimulate ideas and help you see things differently.
3. Attend regular networking meetings and business events. Talking to other business owners – even when they are not directly in your industry or line of work is a great way to tap into advice and expertise that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to get hold of. Listening to speakers and talking to other attendees at business events can also stimulate your thinking, allow you to look at things differently and help you generate new ideas to implement.
4. Join a mastermind group.Finding a group of like-minded individuals (e.g. other solo-preneurs) that regularly meet and with whom you can brainstorm and discuss new business ideas, can do wonders for your business. It is important to get the needed support and be able to learn from others who are in more or less the same situation – all participating with the mutual goal of growing their businesses.
5. Work with a mentor or coach.Having a fresh pair of eyes that focuses specifically on helping you grow your business is invaluable. The right coach can help you define the actions you need to take, act as a sounding board, help you define your goals, give personalized support , share appropriate know-how, systems and tools you haven’t thought of before, give you the necessary confidence and hold you accountable to implement the plans for growing your business.
Re-energising your business can be as simple as taking advantage of every resource you have. Put the fun and excitement back in your business by finding a fresh perspective – one outside your own head.
Share with us below how you gain a fresh perspective on your business.
How consistently do you market your services? Are you perhaps like many other solo-preneurs who rely on a combination of word-of-mouth and occasional marketing and networking activities when time permits?
Did you know that consistent marketing to get the right message to the right people is one of the many secrets in the arsenal of highly successful entrepreneurs?
It’s true…
Successful entrepreneurs do not only rely on others to send them clients or referrals and they don’t do marketing only when the appointment book looks a bit empty.
No, successful entrepreneurs take control of their marketing actions. They create a plan and a process that ensures they are regularly promoting themselves.
They know…
Consistent marketing allows for measurement
When marketing is done haphazardly (or only when you need clients), it becomes increasingly difficult to judge if a specific marketing techniques is really effective or not.
However, when you are consistent in your efforts you have more control over your business and the results you achieve. You can make better decisions if something is working for you or not.
Consistent marketing allows you to measure where your clients come from; what marketing methods and tactics work best for your business; what to focus on and what to improve. Thus you stop doing marketing that might not be right for your business and /or the clients you serve.
Consistent marketing inspires accountability
When you get into the habit of doing marketing consistently, it helps you to stay accountable to what you’ve set out to do… and we know that accountability inspires action and action leads to results.
For example, let’s say you’ve decided to attend a regular networking meeting and you’ve scheduled the meeting dates in your calendar. Then each month when the reminder of that networking event pops up in your calendar, you will most probably attend it. Why? Because if you don’t attend, you’ll feel a ping of quilt since you’ve let yourself and your business down.
So the system you’ve created by simply scheduling the dates helps you to be consistent with your marketing and inspires you to stay accountable to what you’ve decided to do.
Consistent marketing builds trust
Consistency removes uncertainty. When you are consistent in your marketing – consistent with your messages, and consistent in really everything you do – your clients know what to expect and they’ll trust you more.
If you build a marketing system that consistently and regularly stay in touch with your prospects and not only provide them with valuable info, but also inform them of ways they can work with you, you will significantly increase the know, like and trust factor. Thus, the odds escalate that your name will be at the top of the list when they do actually decide to work with someone like you.
Here are 5 tips to stay consistent with your marketing
Develop a clear action plan to keep you motivated;
Focus only on a few marketing activities at a time until they are fully implemented, then move on to the next one;
Create systems that take care of the repetitive marketing activities and put them on autopilot;
Schedule your daily/weekly / monthly marketing activities in a calendar and set reminders;
Work with a coach to keep you focused and accountable to implement consistently.
I know consistency isn’t really the sexiest or most exciting word in your business right now.
But, sticking with your plans and doing things consistently – not just when you feel inspired or need more clients – is a very, very powerful marketing strategy. It gives real results.
“In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.”
~ Anthony Robbins~
Your Assignment for the week.
To get into the habit of doing marketing consistently, choose one of your marketing activities, decide how often you want to do it, schedule it in your calendar for the rest of this year, set up a reminder and then stay accountable to yourself and your business to actually follow through and do it as planned.
Francis van Wyk is an experienced business and client attraction mentor who supports women solo-preneurs with planning and achieving business success online.
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