3 Hot Ways to Communicate with Your Customers Online!

By Wendy Burge

It used to be that having a website URL address was the way to show you were hip to the new online movement by having a web presence for your business. However, things are changing rapidly and with the help of newly emerging, user-friendly technology, it is much easier to establish more ways to build good customer relationships. The Internet can offer more than a place to host your website for your business. It can also give you more powerful and creative ways to engage and communicate with your customers. Here are the top 3 hot ways to infuse online communication into your marketing toolbox. 

Blog – Be Read
 
Web logs otherwise known as Blogs are a journal type website. Their structure is quite different however from traditional websites. Blogs allow people to post their ideas, thoughts, expertise, and commentaries on an open site which they can set up through one of the many free, blog hosting sites where people around the globe can read it. Blogs are web-based journals written by anyone and everyone with an opinion to share.

People who write blogs are known as Bloggers. Blogs are often written by only one person and are usually intended to share a point of view about a particular subject. Unlike an on-line magazine or other forms of journalistic commentary, blogs allow the everyday person to take a position in it-globally!  Newbie bloggers be warned, do not post ideas that aren’t your own because active blog readers will let you know they caught you. Just remember that when deciding to create a blog, authenticity is key. Also, not everything you read should be believed. Bloggers are not journalists, but people openly offering unsolicited opinions, much like people standing on a street corner sharing their ideas and latest experiences. It is up to you to stop, listen, and believe or not believe their credibility.
 
Blogs are finding their way into the business world by means of bloggers who post opinions about businesses, products, and services. This can be a good thing as their posting act like testimonies and can be used to actively drive traffic, the prospective customers, to a business. On the flip side, a small business owner who blogs can easily create an expert position by posting about their business ideas, intentions, and desires in a way that positions them with a transparency for viewers to read and learn more about them. Likewise, as a blogger, yourself, you can post feedback on other people’s blogs that are relative to your industry and or target market of customers as a means of positioning your expertise.

Readers can post commentaries, when allowed, and interact within the co-creation of their experiences with your business by offering their feedback. Blogs can easily allow for customers, prospects, and the world, in general, to discover more about your business in a less “salesie” way. 

Podcast – Be Heard
 
Broadcasts of audio that are downloaded to listening devices like an iPod, the most common, are called Podcasts. Podcasts are sound bites of audio content that are broadcasted to people through a subscription service. People can receive regular updates of audio created by the host person or podcaster. Podcasters can create unique “talk-radio” content on any subject with which they have experience– lasting anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour-long show.

Like having your own radio station, podcasts allow a person to create “radio shows” that people can listen to at their own convenience by downloading show segments to their computer or other listening devices like an iPod or MP3 player. With a few pieces of equipment; a computer, a mic (microphone), and the Internet, anyone can create a podcast. These small sound bites of audio, or podcast shows, are then uploaded on to iTunes. (That’s right–you do not need to be a band, book or movie to get on iTunes.) People can then subscribe to your podcast show. New podcast segments are finally uploaded to the hosting distribution site and are sent to subscribers who can download the podcast to their preferred listening devices.
 
Podcast are equivalent to blogs, in the same way that they are open to anybody who wants to talk about a topic of choice. Small business owners can easily convey their expertise by broadcasting their knowledge through their own podcast shows. This is a great way for small business owners to update and offer timely topics of interest to their followers.
 
Podcasts are great for people who prefer talking over writing; however, some planning and prep work should be done before hitting the mic. Spontaneity can be okay, but, tightening up on a topic with a scripted show outline allows for clearer content to be communicated. URL links to your shows are generated and can be posted on your website, blog, Twitter, Facebook, and within email marketing pieces to your customers.

Podcasts are great “calling cards” in positioning your expertise. Once podcasters are up and running and their shows are getting exposure, it is common to be asked to be interviewed as a guest expert on other podcast shows related to your industry. You can not find better PR than that! 

Video – Be Seen 
 
Web video is probably better noted through sites like YouTube. However, it is slowly making its way as a new, hot online marketing strategy. As advancing technology makes it easier to create video clips and upload them to sites like YouTube, video allows people to capture content with relative ease for others to see and for the videographer to be seen. While we have all seen the stupid-person antics caught on video and posted on YouTube, video as a communication media is catching on with other people besides the amateur, candid-camera enthusiasts. Again, with just a few pieces of equipment– a computer, a video camera, and the Internet, anyone can create simple video clips to convey their messages.
 
The business world is starting to catch on that this simple tool is great for delivering personalized messages about updates, product enhancements, and promotional offers. Some organizations are going as far as creating a themed series of video clips, often humorous in nature, in hopes that these small mini-videos go viral, and will be sent by viewers to each other around the global-net to see. They are often relatively inexpensive to make and offer a flexible way to create non-written content on a weekly basis to share with consumers.
 
You do not need to be a large corporation to take advantage of this new communication tool, either. Because of the reasonable cost, mostly in equipment, it is easy for a small business owner to start creating video clips about a topic specific to their industry. By posting it to a YouTube account, they can offer links to customers through a very personal and interactive media that goes beyond the written word or voice-only recording. This is great for businesses and organizations which naturally don’t lend well to the other formats above. Because it is so easy to create, it is used for product demonstration, speeches, and sales training.
 
Video is also popping up as an add-on to blogs as it is easy to create and upload along with a posting-of-commentary about the topic covered for the viewers to also read. It conveys more personality than just the written word alone. This is called Vlogging, short for video blogging. And like a podcast, video content can be added to iTunes and this is called Vodcasting. Again the idea is that each video is created, uploaded, and sent to subscribers who download it to watch at a more convenient time.
 
As you can see above, the numerous words bolded constitute a whole new vocabulary developing to explain this wonderful, marketing phenomenon which we are finding and creating online. Become familiar with them and their meanings because your customers and clients are learning them, too. 

© 2009 Wendy Burge – Radiant Edge Consulting.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Radiant Business & Marketing Coach Wendy Burge publishes the On the Edge! weekly ezine–Where business, marketing, and lifestyle meet. If you’re ready to have radiant marketing, make more money, and have more freedom in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.RadiantEdgeConsulting.com

 

How Do You Fill Up Your Marketing Funnel?

by Wendy Burge

Many solo entrepreneurs that I meet often express the challenge of finding new ways to make passive revenue without having to find more clients or work more hours. Recently, I consulted a service professional who was interested in generating more money and business, but she was unsure how to develop a strategy to do this effectively. Her website was more like a brochure of her services posted online– people would read about them this way. Then, shortly into our conversation she admitted she had written a book. However, she had made little money selling it and wasn’ t sure what to do with it or if all her efforts had any relevance to our talk.

It was at that point that I shared the outline of a MARKETING FUNNEL. Imagine a funnel, like you’d find in your kitchen or garage, turned upside down with the widest opening on top and the tip narrowing at the bottom. Now imagine the larger opening at the top as the place where you will generate your most PROSPECTS possible. At the opposite end of the funnel, where it narrows to the tip you would be place your EXCLUSIVE, high-end services and products. The middle area would contain the other, varying levels of services priced accordingly from least at top to the more expensive flowing down to the bottom.

The whole idea of the MARKETING FUNNEL is to get people to move through your business by offering services/ products at different price points along the way. The further down into the funnel the higher the price points go. Think for a moment about going to your favourite ice cream store where they give you those little spoons to taste the ice cream. Once you find a flavour you like you get a scoop of it in a cup. The next week you go back because you liked the flavour so much that you are more than willing to get three scoops of it on a waffle cone. Then on your next visit into their store you decided to order that nice custom made ice cream cake with your new favourite flavour again. This is a sample of a Marketing Funnel at work. It’s a simple marketing strategy that pays off every time.

Going back to my client, her marketing funnel at this time had her book and her higher end services. There was nothing in the middle of her funnel. I see this often with service professionals too. They will have a free or low cost product or service and a larger, high-end service with nothing else to offer in the middle. Most prospects are not willing to jump from free to a high end services. This often leaves few client conversations for many solo professionals because they have too few choices in how someone can work with them.

How do you create a marketing funnel?

First get people into your funnel by having a FREE offer of a give-away item like a report, ezine, CD or maybe even a tele-class. PROSPECTS easily access the item by signing up on your website and giving their email or mailing address (or both) to you. This allows you to contact this prospect in the future.

Next, turn your knowledge into INFORMATION PRODUCTS. Info-products are a super way to let people get a taste of your expertise for a fraction of the cost. They also help fill in the middle section of your marketing funnel. By offering these products on your website, you now turn your site into a silent, sales force 24/7 –generating passive revenue for you without your working any harder.

Here are a few of the suggested types of information products you can make.

Books
E-Books
Special Reports
Manuals
Workbooks
Journals
Audio (digital downloads or CDs)
Video (digital downloads or DVDs)
Home Study Courses or Tutorials (usually a mix of media; written, audio, and visual)

As well, you may want to consider offering tele-classes, tele-seminars, and webinars online as a way to reach more prospects that may not typically be able to afford your high-end services at first. This maximizes your time and leverages your income by offering a lower priced service to more people all at once.

A Sample Marketing Funnel

In the end, a sample marketing funnel could look similar to this.
 
TOP OF THE FUNNEL:
Free e-zine or report

MIDDLE OF THE FUNNEL:
Book ($29)
Book with Workbook ($49)
Tele-seminar ($79)
2-CD audio program with Transcripts($97)
4-week tele-course ($249)
4-CD Box-set with Transcripts and Handouts ($497)

BOTTOM OF THE FUNNEL:
One-hour private consultations ($250)
Specialty Service Package ($500)
2-day live workshop ($997)
One-to-One Live One Day Session ($1500)
Personal consulting/coaching/mentoring program ($3,000/mo.)

Now how will you fill in your Marketing Funnel?

Take some time and examine your current service and product offers. Where do they fit on your marketing funnel? Do you see where you can now add a few more items to help fill up your funnel? Consider where you can offer more value by adding your own information products so that your prospects can experience your expertise easier and be able to buy from you more often.

© 2009 Wendy Burge – Radiant Edge Consulting.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Radiant Business & Marketing Coach Wendy Burge publishes the On the Edge! weekly ezine–Where business, marketing, and lifestyle meet. If you’re ready to have radiant marketing, make more money, and have more freedom in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.RadiantEdgeConsulting.com

Pump Up Your Profits With Out Working Harder

 

 by Wendy Burge

It can be a real challenge to increase profits for small businesses and solo-professionals whose sales are based on an exchange of time. However, with the power of leverage it is possible to increase revenues without increasing more time in your daily schedule. Implementing any of these powerful strategies will help put more money in your bank just by strategically using the ability to leverage your services and knowledge.

1.    Sell multiple sessions as a package

If you offer services that are by an hourly rate add an option for your clients to buy special packages of multiple sessions of that service instead of one session at a time. Let us say you offer massage therapy services at $75 an hour. By developing a package promo to buy multiple sessions you can offer them a saving (and start to fill your books quickly with a set series of client appointments). For example, you might offer “Buy 5 sessions and get the 6 for free or reword it as buy 6 sessions at $450 and save $75–like getting the 6th free. This is great to pump up your cash flow in a short amount of time.  Create a marketing plan to re-offer special package savings again just about the time a majority of your clients are needing to purchase their sessions again or run it consistantly as a purchase option.

2.    Bundle specialty services at a higher price

Have you ever really sat down and broken apart what kinds of activities you really do for your clients? If you have not done this lately you may want to take a look at how each of the service features you perform can be turned into specialty items on their own. It is easy to just do things for people, and then realize you have put in more energy, time, and effort into a client and have not exactly been compensated appropriately for the amount that you charged. Let’s say, for example, if your small business offered printing services, it is likely that for some of your clients you will provide advice on layout, design, and creating a “look and feel” that best represent their business. This is knowledge that could be leveraged into a specialty service. For this example let’s assume printing of business cards costs $95, letterhead costs $200, and brochures cost $350 on their own and this information is shared each and every time but is not being compensated in proportion to what is being billed. However, when these items are bundled into a Complete Professional Business Stationary Start-up Kit, you could charge a higher, combined rate that would allow you to also leverage your printing knowledge about logo design and colour options at a price that actually compensates you for your time and expertise.  It also allows you to give better service as you have the ability to work more exclusively with one client at this higher fee instead of multiple clients at a much lower fee/rate.
 
3.  Create VIP programs for clients

In most small business the 80/20 rule applies to clients-that is, 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients. Recognizing these people can become a great way to leverage your profits by developing special VIP programs exclusively offered just to them. Here you can create special promotions, incentives, and services packages up-sold exclusively to them. Leveraging existing clients with new service and product sales is a great way to increase your cash flow without having to spend a lot of energy and effort finding new clients. Again, this also allows for a small business and solo-professional to enhance their clients’ experiences by acknowledging that they appreciate their business and wish to serve them better, as well, strengthening their long term relationship with that business.

4.  Cross sell complimentary services and products

Leveraging profits doesn’t necessarily come only from customers. Finder’s fees and affiliate fees can also generate new streams of income for small businesses, as well. Compensation for cross-selling complimentary services or products is another option to pump up profits without working harder. If your small business is a flower shop you may want to create a referral fee program with a local bakery, photography studio, and bridal store to cross-sell each other’s services to newly engaged couples.

Like a referral fee, affiliate fees are becoming a big income generator for many small businesses online.  Maybe you are a specialized professional who regularly promotes certain products and tools to your customers. You may want to contact the parent companies of the products you recommend to determine if they have an affiliate sales program. Each time your clients purchase the affiliate’s products, you receive a percentage of the sales. If you have a website or web presence with a blog, an html code is embedded into a tag that tracks sales from your site. There are tons of great digital products available in just about every industry possible, too if you are not sure what you could offer. Check out www.clickbank.com to discover for yourself what is out there. Not only that, if you have information products which you have created, like e-books, CD series, or training DVDs, these can be sold on other people’s sites, as well. Again, you would give them a tracking number and pay them a small percentage off each sale. To set up your own affilate sales you can use a site called www.paydot.com.
 
5.   Develop a joint venture

Possibly, a joint venture would work better between your business and other complimentary businesses. Creating a service or product that both of your businesses develop together is another way in sharing the cost and time on the marketing and promotion. In the end, both companies split the profits for the new service. An example might be an estate planning package put together by a financial planner and an estate attorney. They would share in the promotion and split the agreed upon percentage of the profits.

 

© 2009 Wendy Burge – Radiant Edge Consulting.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Radiant Business & Marketing Coach Wendy Burge publishes the On the Edge! weekly ezine–Where business, marketing, and lifestyle meet. If you’re ready to have radiant marketing, make more money, and have more freedom in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.RadiantEdgeConsulting.com

Resource Disclaimer:
Radiant Edge Consulting and Wendy Burge do not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any of the third-party recommendations above or the quality of any products, information, or other materials displayed, purchased, or obtained by you as a result of an offer in connection with any company listed. Please do your own due diligence before purchasing any product.

Friends, Followers, and Tribes: Social Network Marketing 101

by Wendy Burge 

In this day of digital communications, an evolution of social networks have emerged connecting people without geographical boundaries. Social networks in their purest form let people connect who have a commonality. It’s these commonalities that create “tribes” or groups of people who relate to their similar aspects, collectively. Social networks have become the greatest marketing tool for businesses to utilize because of their targeted, cost effective strategies for relationship marketing. However, social network sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn do have cultural distinctions that must be considered when choosing them for marketing purposes.
 
Let’s start with MySpace. This social site is largely dominated by 17- 25 year olds. Personal profiles host commentaries, video, and music. Musicians, bands, and artists often use it as a multi-media gallery to showcase their works. However, the nature of MySpace tends to feel “noisy” as profiles have individualized personalities. In general, MySpace feels like a voyeuristic glimpse into a teen-ager’s bedroom where friends come to hang-out and anything goes. MySpace has very few privacy features and profiles are open to full public viewing so businesses geared to younger consumers could take advantage of interacting with them on this site with relative ease.
 
Facebook, on the other hand, is like the office water-cooler where people share stories of their lives and things they’ve done. The median age on Facebook is 35 years old, and with 1 million users a week signing on, it’s the fastest growing social network site. It hosts 200 million active members and is predicted to hit ½ billion within the next 2 years, if not sooner. This makes it one of the best places to do business online.
 
A person is limited to having only one profile listing on Facebook and only 5000 ‘friends’-those people who are linked to your profile. As a privacy feature, people may not read your profile until you both agree to be ‘friends’. ‘Friends’ can make comments to your posts which run like news feed to your Facebook networks. For small businesses, this news-feed profiling becomes viral throughout networks that can consist of your customers, prospects, and colleagues and read by their networks attracting new clients. Their commentary to your posts allows them to co-create the experience with your business. For this reason careful consideration should be made about the content of posts, in general.
 
Your business may not host a profile page itself, but you may set up a ‘fan page’ where information relative to your business including updates on product or service offers, special events, and or activities your business may be involved in can be listed. Fan pages are open for full public view, have no limits to the number of ‘friends’, and offers target-specific broadcast of information directly to people who are interested in what you have to offer.
 
If Facebook is the office water-cooler, then LinkedIn is the corporate boardroom. As one of the largest professional network sites online, members showcase their career profiles, ‘link’ to others within their industry, and connect with people from jobs they have held or done business with. The adage “Its not what you know, but who you know’ that best describes this site. If you are a solo-professional, LinkedIn is an important site to join as your profile is like a virtual resume for other to see. It’s a great site to target other businesses for joint ventures, collaborative opportunities, and or add as referral resources too. On a note, LinkedIn has become the hottest place to be “headhunted” because companies can easily check out potential candidates who might possess the skills they are looking for.
 
Last, but definitely not least, is Twitter. Described as a micro-blog, it allows people to post up to 150 characters of information about themselves at a time. Twitter hosts over 8 million users and has no limit to how many people can follow your profile. Like a cocktail party where you share sound bites of information within a group conversation your ‘followers’ or “tweeps” can and do make comments or contribute to your posting and overall discussion. As a marketing tool, it can be used to post info regarding business products, services, or offers. Innovative businesses are using it to drive traffic back to their websites for special promotions to their consumers.

Social network sites have given businesses an innovative and new way to reach their consumers. Building upon relationships-even those without borders, considerations and courtesies should still be kept in check because potentially the whole world is watching.
    
© 2009 Wendy Burge – Radiant Edge Consulting.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Radiant Business & Marketing Coach Wendy Burge publishes the On the Edge! weekly ezine–Where business, marketing, and lifestyle meet. If you’re ready to have radiant marketing, make more money, and have more freedom in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.RadiantEdgeConsulting.com

How to Eat a Marketing Elephant!

By Wendy Burge

A big challenge for small businesses is often having the time to stay on top of their marketing; the planning, prep time, and implementation. Marketing can be the white elephant in a business that needs to be addressed because it has the largest impact on the growth of the business. However, like the old saying goes, to eat an elephant you take one bite at a time. So, how do you eat a “marketing elephant”? By breaking it down into bite-size pieces to allow for more efficient and effective marketing strategies without overwhelm. The following steps will help you capture, tame, and maintain the marketing elephant in your business.
 
Bite 1. Commit to the end goal

What kind of growth do you want to achieve over a calendar year within your business?
Your objective will directly impact how and why you are developing a marketing plan. If you are in a start-up phase it may be as simple as acquiring a certain number of new clients, addition of client resources and services, and a specific dollar figure that gets you up and running. If you have been in business for a while, your goals may focus on higher profit -margins, positioning yourself as an expert within your industry, and leveraging your time more effectively. Understanding your goals also allows you to track and monitor how effective your marketing is in helping you reach them. Knowing what you want and, more importantly, why you want it, will increase your personal investment into making it happen.

Bite 2. Break it into quarters

How do you want to achieve your goals for each 90-day period? Once you know what you want, it’s just a matter of working backwards at making it happen. Take a 12 month wall calendar and break it into quarters; within each quarter work on a specific goal. If you want to increase your client volume early in the year, then over a 90-day period all your marketing focus can be on targeting this goal with special incentives, offers, and referral programs. Maybe you want an infusion of cash in your business at specific times of a year because your work is seasonal. Determining which quarter to focus your marketing to do this is, now, defined and, again, all efforts are then focused on making profits grow during a specific period of time. Working this way also allows you to be flexible and able to insert special announcements or last minute sales to increase your quarterly profits. As well, extending the launch time of a special marketing campaign can grow the anticipation and excitement of your customers about the upcoming promotion or special sale item which planning like this can create. Whatever your goal, you now have more power in making it happen when you take each quarter to develop, launch, and track your marketing efforts.

Bite 3. Map out notable events, holidays, and specials

Mapping out when to schedule events and sales promotions proves to be more effective when you plan ahead of time what you will need to create a ‘rolling’ campaign for an annual or semi-annual event. Furthermore, every quarter is filled with all kinds of marketing opportunities which you can take advantage of. The most obvious are seasonal holidays where marketing can be easily tied into the collective consciousness of the season. However, what if there are special events or days that are relevant to your industry? You can now build them into your marketing campaigns to help support your overall objective. Let’s say you have a chiropractic office and you know that in September the profession celebrates it’s ‘birthday’. This can create a great educational opportunity, as well as, a profitable one if leveraged as a special birthday savings to patients which schedule appointments on that day. Great days to honour for your business would be business opening anniversaries, owner or employee birthdays, special days important to your industry, and current or annual events that happen in your community. Have fun and get creative when it comes to making your marketing map!

Bite 4. Build in multiple contact channels

Knowing what kind of marketing campaign you are going to host and when it will occur over a quarter, now maximizes your marketing prep time. Instead of rushing last minute to pull something together, you can plan out a series of email, direct mailers, and phone or social network announcements ahead of time. This is where saving time and money becomes possible because you now have time working on your side. Direct mail pieces can be put together for the quarter by having them printed, labelled, and stamped ahead of time. As well, email marketing can be programmed ahead of time to automatically go out on specific times and dates which can co-ordinate with the direct-mail marketing pieces. If your marketing plan includes social network marketing there are applications that can now be used to schedule posting on your selected sites ahead of time, too. Leveraging time like this allows you to create more ways to get your message across effectively– instead of a one-time hit at the last minute. Furthermore, the more ways you can reach people and stand out in their busy lives the more success you will have with your campaigns.

 © 2009 Wendy Burge – Radiant Edge Consulting.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Radiant Business & Marketing Coach Wendy Burge publishes the On the Edge! weekly ezine–Where business, marketing, and lifestyle meet. If you’re ready to have radiant marketing, make more money, and have more freedom in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.RadiantEdgeConsulting.com

Getting Paid What You Are Worth

As an entrepreneur one of the hardest places to establish a set value is around being paid what you are worth. Taking the step into business for yourself means it is up to you to determine the value you have in people’s lives through the service you provide. But how do you know what that value is? How do you determine if you are charging the amount that is best for you not what an industry standard may be? The topic of money triggers all kinds of emotion and psychological responses when it comes to determining your worth, asking to be paid for your service, and evaluating the real value it creating. 

However, the topic of money is essential because you are in business and the whole point about being in business is to make a profit not merely float through life in survival mode.  A true shift in one’s thinking about money is necessary for any entrepreneur to grow a thriving business and increase their value so they are being paid what they are worth. Distinctions need to be made between some very core concepts in order to fully embrace the topic of being paid what you are worth by the people who value your service. 

Industry Pricing vs. Knowing Worth 

In the initial stages of opening a business it is easy to price your services based on the industry standards. While this may work initially people soon discover that they are trading their time for a standard set dollar amount as a general guideline, but, it just may not sustain them in the long run. If the services you offer are based on an hourly wage, you will never break through a glass ceiling that is limiting you.

However, if you know that the service you provide is worth much more than you are charging because you go beyond the typical standard, then, it is this value upon which you must base your fees. For example, if you are a book keeper who is experienced in retail and can help merchants make better choices in their spending, help them save on taxes, and show them where the money has been hiding in their business, you can provide greater value to that client  than someone who just “does the books”.  Once you determine what value your clients receive as a result of your services, then you can set your prices based on the value you offer.

Surviving Economy vs. Thriving Economy

The beauty of being an entrepreneur can be that you have to ability to create your own economy. However, once again, if you do not see the value you have to offer to clients then doing business means that you are constantly searching for the next new client to sell your services to. Unfortunately, this is the part that most people hate about their business– they do not like to feel as if they are selling, so they will under-cut their own rates and value. This is where the shift starts.

You must pinpoint exactly what you bring to the table to your clients as it relates to the business they do with you. When you have clarity about this, you can position your marketing message to directly demonstrate your value. This naturally attracts the right clients to your business and there is no need to run around trying to convince people why they should do business with you. You can clearly demonstrate this within your marketing and this then allows you to price your services higher—thus, creating a thriving economy.

Generalist vs. Specialist

The largest issue most new and some seasoned entrepreneurs have about restructuring their fees based on their worth is the fact that they have yet to claim their ‘gifts’ which only they possess and can offer. When an entrepreneur remains “general” in their services, they limit their ability to generate higher fees. However, let us stop a moment and take a look at what got them to this point. Did they up-grade skills at any point? Do they have any first-hand, personal experience in the solution offered to clients?

 Most entrepreneurs are experts at what they do and with a little ‘re-packaging’ those experiences allow them to be an industry specialist within a room of generalist. Think about this—if you were having specific health issues which involved your heart would you see a general practitioner or would you prefer to see a heart specialist? Exactly. Even if it meant you had to pay a top dollar for the specialist’s services, you just might find a way to pay for them—especially if you knew you were getting the best care from an industry expert. Remember people are paying as much for you and your knowledge as they are the technical service you offer.

Building a Business vs. Transforming Lives

Understanding the structure in which a business is created and, even more, why a business was started in the first place, is where this distinction must be addressed.  If a business was built to remove the conditions of working for others, then the point of building that business is based on the idea of “job creation”. In that situation, many of the same ‘rules’ will be applied because the only thing done was to replace the environment while maintaining the same familiar structure from the past work experience. 

Alternatively, if an entrepreneur spends the time to really evaluate the transformative value they can achieve being in service to share and, as well, to experience themselves through a lifestyle business model, then the value in the freedom it offers has a higher value.  There is then no need to compare your service with others as the more value you provide the more people will be willing to pay. Hiding behind old beliefs around your worth will only be damaging to your business growth. To ensure that you are charging in relation to the value you offer also means that you must invest in your own growth. The more you stretch your personal operating system with the help of therapists, coaches, mentors, and such, means you value growth in the process of your own business in relation to the transformations you experience, too.

Earn Money vs. Claim Money

This is the biggest shift for people to comprehend when it comes to charging what they are worth. Essentially, the majority of people have been conditioned to believe that we must be in the process of doing “work” to earn money. Our value is based on external feedback, opinions, and assessments of our worth by others. Often people feel inadequate or that they have not become enough yet to be paid for their worth in relation to what others project back to them.  People are in a constant state of competition to earn the right to make more, to have more—let alone receive praise and appreciation.

However, if you are authentically setting the wheels in motion to create a business that provides your service with intention to support and transform client’s lives then the issue is less about earning and more about knowing your value and worth. Furthermore, by setting fees that serve both the clients and you means you are so claiming this. If you are still operating from an ‘earn money’ belief and are not aware of this belief, it will trip you up as you will run around trying to create more value by doing more. You do not need to earn more credibility through certification to prove your worth. You will represent it with your gifts of service and knowledge in the value you have to offer others. Believe and know you are enough today!

Clarity between all the distinctions provided helps small business entrepreneurs build external structures in their business that supports their fees through the value, customer experience, and their overall knowledge. As well, increase the internal structure of confidence and self –worth which radiantly shines through their business and service.

© 2009 Wendy Burge – Radiant Edge Consulting.

 

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Radiant Business & Marketing Coach Wendy Burge publishes the On the Edge! weekly ezine–Where business, marketing, and lifestyle meet. If you’re ready to have radiant marketing, make more money, and have more freedom in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.RadiantEdgeConsulting.com

Crafting a Lifestyle Business Blueprint as a Model for Success

by Wendy Burge

It used to be that if you wanted to start up a business a lot of planning was necessary to get the lending institution to finance the location, the over-head expenses as well employees, and the money to develop a marketing profile. This valuable process allowed businesses to establish an overall blueprint of their projected revenue and used it as a benchmark to mark their growth. Because there was a high amount of accountability to the lending institutions involved in the seed funding of their businesses the practicalities of this planning was essential.

Nowadays, with a bit of ingenuity and time someone can start up a business with little relative cost involved in location, over-head expense, or for employees. All they really need is a computer and internet access. This has opened up new opportunities for solo-professionals, service providers, and even product-based businesses to work ‘virtually’– leveraged by help of the internet. The value of this model has been the freedom to allow more people to look at the option of becoming a small business entrepreneur and to step into the ownership role without having to develop huge strategy planning, funding or extra support from employees. The basis of this business model is focused on the lifestyle-flexibility being built into the structure.
 
Although this has been a true gift by offering more people the opportunity to run their own businesses without all the costly over-head, a lifestyle business model must be adopted to set the benchmark for obtaining constant growth and profitability with the focus on flexibility and the needs of the owner.
 
Investing in a business and marketing coach who works to develop a system exclusively serving you and your business can be the best strategy in designing a custom fit blueprint and structure to create a lifestyle business model. The objective focus of an outside source–such as a small business and marketing coach-is to specialize in this ability to build a bridge between personal happiness and professional success with strategies to support three areas primary to the overall business structure.

Market Position
 
It is common practice, initially, for young, small businesses to cater to the needs of their clients. As with any venture there is an excitement to see a profitable transaction as quickly as possible after start-up. While it is important to offer good client and customer services, it can also be taxing on a small business to adapt to each specific need of their client. Additionally, it makes it difficult to clearly direct the right clients to your door if there is no clear distinction as to what makes your business different although offering similar services or products to that of your competitors. By clearly creating a targeted customer niche, small businesses can hone in on who they serve best easily and more effectively, especially now with the help of social networks like Facebook and Twitter. This market position then allows them to dictate how each product and service offered fits into their “marketing funnel” of how best to serve the niche and remain profitable.

Additionally it is much easier to attract the right kind of clients, those ready and willing to use your service, because every offer provided by your business is created to support the success and happiness of your clients. Case in point, a hairstylist who creates a small shop out of their home would be more successful declaring a market position based on their specialty let’s say, long-hair styling and care; cut, colour, and conditioning. By targeting this specific type of client to work with they are more successful in attracting that client which allows them to specialize and offer service just to that niche with whom they enjoy working with rather than just handing out business cards with the word “hairstylist for women.”
 
System Leverage
 
The largest challenge for small business owners is to not get easily overwhelmed by the amount of operational and administration duties necessary in maintaining their business. They spend more time working in their business than on its growth plans. Developing systemized plans which create an “office bible” of how every task necessary is performed becomes critical for a number of reasons. First it creates consistency in the daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly actions necessary to operate the business and provide the best client experience. Second, it provides insight into areas where delegation of a task would better be served by outsourcing it to a virtual team member or employee. Third, this allows the business owner to focus more on higher pay-off and profitable activities in their business-which they usually prefer to do anyway.

Systemizing a lifestyle business further provides long-term business strategies by leveraging web-base software, marketing automation tools, and social network media which then allow a more flexible “built to go” business that can be operated from home or on travel without a lot of complication or disruption.
 
Money Making Activities
 
Traditionally, most people were employees before they stepped into the world of entrepreneurism. It was common for them to have a salary component or sales target which meant there was consistency in income on a biweekly basis. Unfortunately, this comfortable flow of money coming-in takes strategy to “turn on” again when they go into business for themselves. The reality hits that there are only ‘24 hours’ in a day in which to handle all aspects to the administration and operation, including networking, service, and sales, within the business so focusing on higher pay-off money making tasks is essential to turning on their money tap. A business clearly needs creative ways to generate revenue with the limited time an entrepreneur usually has then. Selling a service on a client to client basis may be beneficial at first, but it’s virtually impossible to generate high revenues that way. Let’s say that you are a massage therapist or specialized service provider where time is a factor in the transaction with the client. 

Assessing how to develop packages, cross-promotions, and ‘up-sells’ will be but a few of the ways to leverage more money in the time you have with clients. Additionally, it may be that your services or products can be repackaged and sold as information products or digital training courses in order to reach a larger audience online through specialized websites. Again, these are only a few of the multitude of ways to generate additional income streams online which would allow a small business to leverage time by being ‘open 24 hours a day’ on the internet to people around the world now who may find their information beneficial.
 
The focus on money making activities falls into the idea of a ‘marketing funnel’ as well  because it gives small business owners the ability to capitalize on creating better service offers and products to meet the needs of their clients. It’s a known fact that when a customer has a good experience with a business, their lifetime value to that business has a huge impact on the growth of the business because it is easier to re-sell to existing, happier clients than it is to convince new, potential clients to do business with you–(but then again that is why you create your targeted niche market!).
 
The success of any business is based on its planning, marketing, and ability to take effective action for growth. If your lifestyle based business is starting to become “the job you never wanted”, then it’s time to take action and hire a business and marketing coach to restructure your business for success.

 

© 2009 Wendy Burge – Radiant Edge Consulting.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Conscious Business & Marketing Coach Wendy Burge publishes the On the Edge! weekly ezine–Where business, marketing, and lifestyle meet. If you’re ready to have radiant marketing, make more money, and have more freedom in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.RadiantEdgeConsulting.com

Leverage the Internet for More Freedom and Profitability in Your Business

by Wendy Burge
 
Whenever we start a new business there is a sense of excitement, maybe even a bit of fear, and always a massive learning curve.  All the new experiences of running a business can be taken in strife, as we tell ourselves, “This is just what it takes to get things rolling.” However, how long after starting your business did you begin to notice you were losing your days to working? Not just the stuff you did with your clients, but, all the other items that take time and are necessary for running a business?
 
I know from first-hand experience that it was not long after starting my business I realized I had not created a new business for myself, I had actually created multiple new jobs! My idealistic sense of entrepreneurial freedom was quickly vanquished by the on-going tasks of running my business-bookkeeping, administrative tasks, marketing, product and service development, and, networking-on top of working with my clients.  It was then I began to look for help as I just could not keep my head above everything.  Fortunately with some help, I discovered the power of leverage-the secret to freeing up time, getting more things done, and the key to making more money in business. The best tool available to do this in small business is the internet. Because of the internet small businesses have more resources at their finger tips with just the click of a button.
 
Here are three ways you can use the internet to help leverage your business in gaining business growth and keeping you sane as a small business owner:

1.      Outsourcing tasks to virtual team members has become the best trend in small business to happen in many years. Virtual professionals offer their services like an employee-but without the added cost. Through the help of the internet, email, virtual business tools, and communication technologies like Skype, it is easier to utilize the services of a well-qualified person to assist with your administrative duties, marketing, bookkeeping, customer service, and more. Solo-professionals can hire a VA (virtual assistant) by the hour or by the task to help free up time-consuming administrative duties which are taking much of their days. By identifying tasks that can be delegated to someone else, business owners can focus on higher pay-off activities like working with clients, developing products or services, or focusing on those things you love to do in your business. In Canada, associations like the Canadian Virtual Assistant Connections and Canadian Virtual Assistant Network are helping change the frontiers for small businesses by creating a resource hub for virtual assistants to connect with businesses in order to assist with their specialty services. (And for some of my readers in other countries, this holds true as well in your area, just Google virtual assistant associations in your country and you will find numerous resources.)
 
2.      People power is not the only gift with which the internet has blessed small businesses. There are numerous web-based tools allowing businesses to take advantage of programs that can put communication and marketing systems on auto-pilot. Tools like auto-responders can be programmed up to a year in advance with communication emails, online newsletters, and special announcements to prospects and clients. This can greatly help with marketing campaigns. Communicating with prospects and clients on a regular basis is easy to do with these types of programs. Best of all, once the content is in place and scheduled, you know they will get effective follow up in the marketing of your services with specific messages continuously strengthening your business position. These systems can be added to your website leveraging your sales message 24 hours a day, regardless, with programs like Getresponse orAweber.
 
Case in point, I was able to format my ezine and schedule it for mail out today – Wednesday March 18, yet, I am out of my office today while I spend some time with my boys this week for spring break. For the past 5 years, I have used an email marketing program called Constant Contact that has allowed me to provide consistent email campaigns with newsletters and event promos; I love that I can schedule items ahead at times when I want to take time off as well.
 
3.      Making money for your business on line, 24 hours a day, is also now possible by monetizing your websites with shopping carts and affiliate programs. Long gone are the days of websites as digital brochures. Nowadays, websites can act like your own personal sales force open to do business on your behalf 24/7/365 around the globe. Websites can inform people how you can help them with your services or products. Then, by leveraging this with a shopping cart feature, viewers can purchase right there and then online. Well known programs such as PayPal.com or 1Shoppingcart.com do great jobs in assisting this process. There are many other programs too, that also offer multiple functions to support shoppers as well.

Furthermore, you are not limited to selling your own services or products either. Many larger businesses, programs, and information marketers offer affiliate programs; these are referral programs.  If you feature their product on your site and someone chooses to purchase it, each sale pays out a commission. For example, let us say that you want to recommend books on your website. An affiliate account would be established with a company like Amazon.com. On your site you would place your book recommendation along with a link for the option to purchase the book through your site. The reader is taken to Amazon to purchase that item. For each sale a commission would be made.

There are thousands of products out there that are accessible for affiliate programs.  A well-known site called Clickbank is a hub for businesses and people offering affiliate programs for their services and products. If at all appropriate for your site, placing Google Adwords is also an option to monetize your website. Your site is used as a “billboard” of sort for ads related to your site’s content. Each time someone clicks through an ad, again, you gain a commission.
 
In the corporate world, leverage happens efficiently because of the vast resources they have to tap into helping move business growth quickly. Now, the power of leverage is no longer out of reach for small business owners anymore either, thanks to the help of the internet. Small businesses can leverage growth with great resources helping them bring more freedom and profitability to their owners.

 © 2009 Wendy Burge – Radiant Edge Consulting.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Conscious Business & Marketing Coach Wendy Burge publishes the On the Edge! weekly ezine–Where business, marketing, and lifestyle meet. If you’re ready to have radiant marketing, make more money, and have more freedom in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.RadiantEdgeConsulting.com

Keep the Conversation On-going with a ‘Warm Prospect’ Marketing Campaign

by Wendy Burge

If you are like most solo-entrepreneurs, you attend anywhere from one to three events a month. That is a lot of networking with a lot of new business cards at the end of the month! However, while getting out meeting people is essential to growing your business, how many of those business cards end up in a pile on your desk without any follow up? I would wager that the percentage is high.
 
Why is this?
 
First, there are no established follow up marketing systems in place which promote continuing the dialogue with the warm prospects.  Second, there is lack of clarity in how your service might help the warm prospect right now.  And, third, time slips away and a few days or weeks have passed since the meeting, so now, it feels like a sales pitch if you call -and not wanting to sound pushy you don’t call.
 
While many people may stick to the hot leads for immediate business, they are leaving money on their desks by not continuing the conversation with the rest of the people they have met.  Implementing a follow up marketing strategy is a sure fire way to turn those new contacts into warmer prospects, clients, and referral generators. 
 
It is a known fact that it takes seven contacts before a person will purchase – so, consistency is the key. Often the reason people struggle maintaining on-going marketing systems is due to this point.  With a few simple steps, create your ‘warm prospect’ marketing campaign today and watch it work for you again and again-easily and effortlessly. As the old business adage states, “The fortune is in the follow-up!” 

Develop a Warm Prospect Marketing Campaign
 
Create a system to cater just to that new contact who thought you and your business were “interesting” – like the ones you meet at events, seminars, workshops, or the hundreds of other locations you have that dialogue “What do you do?” With a relationship foundation bound by their interest in you-well, enough to keep them speaking with you and in turn, offering you their business card build on this initial meeting and conversation by showing them you are the best person to call if ever they should need your services or products.  Incorporate into the system the three contact points they have on their business cards: physical mailing address, direct phone number, and their email address. Each of these can offer you three unique approaches to re-establishing your conversation with them.

Care to share then leverage with an offer

No one likes to be sold to unless they are ready to buy. But, sometime people do not know they “should buy” as a matter of being “ready”. Offer tips, articles of interest, and timely pieces that provide information for new leads to become better consumers when it comes to using your product or service in their life.  Develop short information pieces for direct mail and email using this simple formula: 

Create a Catchy Title
 ”7 Tips for Prepping Your Lawn In-Time for Spring”
“Stop Money from Slipping Through the Cracks – 5 Ways to Energy -proof Your Home”
“How to Save Time in Your Business Without Hiring Employees”
“Where to Find Lasting Love Just by Looking at the Stars”
 
Tell why they should know this information
“Pump-up the appeal of your home value and aesthetics with early planting and seeding.”
“Save up to 35% on your energy bills just by caulking the drafts around your doors and window.”
“Increase your productivity and profits by outsourcing to a virtual team.”
“Discover your long term love compatibility by assessing star charts and astrological signs.”
 
Show what they can do about it
This is where you would explain the steps, process, and or action they should take to make this a benefit for them. Keep this section brief and simple. Use short paragraphs and bullet points that are easy to read.

Leverage how to make it happen
In closing, your expertise can be offered if they should need help implementing any of the information you shared. Leverage this with a free consultation, free trial offer, free information package, free assessment, and or coupon. Furthermore, invite them to follow you on social network sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Linked-In to establish more trust by getting to know you better.
 
Automate your conversation

The gold within business cards is the amount of contact information they contain. Use this information to reach out and keep your conversation going by putting it on auto-pilot.  Thanks to the internet, there are numerous tools to help automate your follow up messages after initial set up.

Email
Auto-responders allow you to develop a series of emails that can be scheduled ahead of time for specific mailings dates. A series can last as long as you want – often up to a year out. (Talk about convenience.) Just add the new contact’s name and email address and it initiates the email series. Many programs also allow for particular information to be extracted about the email receiver so the email looks and reads more personal -like using first names.  Auto-responder programs such as Getresponse.com, Aweber.com, and Constantcontact.com allow you to create continuous email communication easily and with a “set & go” philosophy.
 
Direct Mail
In spite of the cost of traditional direct mail used to market, businesses should still blend-in some postal mailings as a component of their marketing puzzle. People do not like junk mail but will appreciate follow up cards, postcards, and letters. Sendoutcards.com is a great way to automate the direct mail process allowing you to upload your own hand-writing sample that can be imprinted with a message; you create, on any one of their thousands of templates for greeting or post cards. Once the warm prospect’s name and mailing address is uploaded in your account database, you can create a series of greeting cards for a more personal touch -again they can be scheduled up to a year out. Thank you cards, well wishes, invitations to special events, workshops, or seminars now have a personal touch. Best of all, card services print and send the cards out for you saving on time, as well.
 
Voice Broadcast
Reach more warm prospects with the ease of voice broadcasting. Create follow up specials, invitations, and announcements that can be generated to your warm prospect list over the phone. Voice broadcasting simply allows you to record your own message and have it distributed to your phone list on a scheduled date.  Create your account, set up your message, and broadcast it out to warm prospects.  Review your current phone systems. It may have a broadcasting option. There are numerous, resource companies online which also are able to meet your specific volume needs, as well, and many offer optional payment systems like IfbyPhone.com .

Now decide who is “hot” and who “is not” without losing all the great leads you have created while out networking. Just a little bit of front end effort can open the door for sales down the road by having established yourself as the expert to turn too when it’s time for that warm prospect to need your service or product.
 

 © 2009 Wendy Burge – Radiant Edge Consulting.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Conscious Business & Marketing Coach Wendy Burge publishes the On the Edge! weekly ezine–Where business, marketing, and lifestyle meet. If you’re ready to have radiant marketing, make more money, and have more freedom in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.RadiantEdgeConsulting.com

Strengthening Faith Management Systems In Your Small Business

By Wendy Burge

Recently, I was speaking with a woman who was considering starting her own small business. As we talked, she stated her husband’s concerns over her idea and then remarked, “Who would start a business in this economy right now, anyway? I mean, there is so much going against this idea during this economic time!”

My response surprised her. “I would.” I replied, and then I explained my position as she listened. Shortly thereafter, I wished her well with her decision, and we went on our ways.

Her concerns for stepping into the world of an entrepreneur were definitely warranted yet, before she even could let her dream get off the ground she had already shot down her idea with all the reasons why it would not work. And in my experience, it surely would not, because she lacked an under-acknowledged ingredient to being a small business owner: Faith.

During the 16 years I have been a small business entrepreneur, I have experienced many challenges that directly have affected my business. Over this period, I have discovered that if I wanted to keep my doors open I needed to stop focusing with worry about potential external influences that may or may not directly impact my bottom line. Instead, I learned what I call risk management systems that allowed me to weather through a variable of challenging times.

However, to step into the domain of entrepreneurial stewardship requires more than business acumen, it requires faith. Faith is essential to moving any business venture forward. It means you clearly trust not only yourself in serving high quality skills that you’ve developed to help others, you have faith that this is the path you are intended to walk in alignment to fulfill your life’s purpose.

While there are many factors to how faith can be applied to business, I have found the following 5 points are essential to creating a solid faith management system as an entrepreneur – many of which are keys in “recession proofing” small businesses. I have even offered a series of questions at the end of each point to help you create your own faith management system in your business.

Clarify Your Real Values

Many solo-professionals and small business owners often refer to their businesses in terms of what they do: accountant, personal coach, massage therapist. However, their real value is found not in the service specifically, but in what they personally solve as identifiable problems their clients have. Consider why you chose your profession in the first place-what was that calling? What were you trying to achieve by being in service?  This will often show up in your conversations with clients or how exactly you enjoy working with your clients. The value you create in people’s lives is often tied to the purpose you felt compelled to follow. This makes your market position unique and not mainstream. And if you are unsure what exactly this is, do not hesitate to ask your clients. They will often provide incredible insights into your business that you can utilize to enhance their experience and your value. Now, answer this question for yourself and see how it applies to your business and marketing: “What is the intention in which I created my business that is a refreshing alternative to my competitors?”

Strengthen Client Relationships
          
It has taken larger corporations a while to catch on that people like quality, competent service; however, small businesses know this fact all to well. It is incredibly costly to attain a new client initially at the front door, so strengthening relationships with your clients is essential if you want to keep them. Once a business owner understands the real value of each client, they can enhance their experience with them through more personalized services and close the back door from their leaving. (Starbucks does this incredibly well, in spite of being a large corporation.) Hand written thank you cards, special VIP incentives, and customer appreciation days are just a few ways businesses can recognize the value of their clients while adding more value to their service. The client experience becomes less about ‘making the sale’– as it is now about enhancing their lives with your service or product. People love personalized recognition and they want to see those businesses succeed that make them feel special and valued. And, because this is the purpose of passion-based entrepreneurs, it is a natural extension of their work to treat clients as if they were dear friends. Now, answer this question for yourself and see how it applies to your business and marketing: “How can I personally make my clients’ lives better because of my business?” 

Leverage Your Expertise

A mentor of mine recently stated, “It takes guts to follow your passion–to fulfill your soul’s work, so while it’s important to pray for guidance, you must still move your feet into action if you are to take your message into the world.” Positioning yourself as an expert is an absolute necessity for your success and empire building. Showcasing your divine gifts is essential in this process and there are many ways to start building your credibility as an expert in your field. Developing your own systems, courses, and digital teaching tools are now even more easily do-able with web based software – especially when it comes to accessibility and deliverability. There are traditional methods that still work just as well, like speaking, book publishing, and writing articles and ezines.    If there are still things that you feel you must understand about your industry, then invest in learning. It is often the marketing not the mastery that catapults expertise status. There are people already waiting for your help right now – you just have to find them and lead the way. Now, answer this question for yourself and see how it applies to your business and marketing: “What problem can I best solve for my clients that will enhance their lives and others?”

 Understand Your Goals

Traditionally, goals are set as a measurement of success. Attainment of a material, monetary, or professional status is also a sign of success in our culture, as well. Unfortunately, we often see public figures reach these heights only to be jaded by personal feelings of un-fulfillment with their status. They chose to play out destructive behaviours and the world watches wondering “why?”- when it appears they have “everything”! I believe goals are misunderstood. Most people create their goals based on the concept of their worth. They get caught in the trappings by questioning if they are worthy of their goals and whether they will ever achieve them. Although, as a conscious entrepreneur, one who has mindful intention to the purposeful service they offer, there must be a belief that the success you desire in your life is based on the utilization of your divine gifts. Goals serve a completely different purpose then. The real question of goals becomes more of a statement “Are your goals worthy of you?” You must have confidence in yourself, your ability, and the vision you hold for your life. Then with big dreams, step into it with the confidence that the Universe has gifted this space for you to achieve your goal. Therefore, the purpose of any personal or professional goal is meant for us to step into our personal greatness-it is a way for us to tap into the gift of living life to its fullest expression. This is evident when you have big dreams about your business-how it looks, acts, and responds to the care of people. Now, answer this question for yourself and see how it applies to your business and marketing: “Are my goals worthy of me and the purposeful path I am on?”

Accept Your Profits

Spirituality and money are rarely seen in the same sentence, let alone the same topic. However, the concept of being spiritually sound in your service, but living barely within your means does questions the intention of a fulfilled life purpose. While miracles and manifestation are a means to tapping into the divine, payment for service is essential to tap into the human soul. Money can actually be seen as a spiritual experience. Yes, you heard me correctly! Let me explain. Choosing the path of purpose-filled work required an openness to tap into your connection to the divine – through mediation, prayer, or a calling. In return, you discovered that you were actually good at a skill, talent, or gift–if you will. The highest respect to life then, is to live out your purpose in service using this divine gift. In exchange of honouring your gifts people must pay you for your service. Money is a Universal form of appreciation in return for offering your gifts. I must also address the value in receiving payment. The deeper you understand this concept, the more you will see this enhancing your self-worth – it honours your soul’s purpose. Over time this leads to wealth generation allowing you to move into greater offerings where money can make substantial differences in people’s lives through charitable contributions, foundations, grants, and sometimes by just being able to fund the initial start-up of another project that will directly impact the well-being of people. Not having money is counter-intuitive to living a life full out! Now, answer this question for yourself and see how it applies to your business and marketing: “What value do I place on my own services in order to increase my worth, which allows me to be profitable in my business?”

 To be an entrepreneur takes courage, an openness to learning, and faith that this is the best opportunity for you to express your divine gifts. To have a faith management system in place allows you to trust this path. While, it does not mean you will not encounter challenges in your business, it does however, make it much easier to course correct when you are solid in your belief and understanding about your business intention – for this truly is the soul of your business.

 © 2009 Wendy Burge – Radiant Edge Consulting.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Conscious Business & Marketing Coach Wendy Burge publishes the On the Edge! weekly ezine–Where business, marketing, and lifestyle meet. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.RadiantEdgeConsulting.com