I’ve lived through a number of economic downturns and recessions and after a while you start to accept the up and down cycles as normal. But the most recent developments regarding Lehman Brothers, together with inflation, the mortgage mess, gas prices-well you know the rest-is really a bit much.

Will things get better? Yes, but most likely after the election. Will there be some discomfort? Yes, there always is. I can remember waiting over an hour in the freezing cold in gas lines back in 1974 when I was barely out of college. Things got better then when it seemed they never would, and they will now. But at the moment it may not feel that way. So here is what you need to do to keep your business prospering.

• Don’t hunker down by resisting change and thinking that if you keep doing things the way you always have you’ll be fine. Be creative in developing new ideas, products and services
• Do increase-yes, increase your marketing. But only do marketing that gives you a direct return on investment. No marketing just to increase visibility or for branding purposes.
• Think strategically. Plan exactly how you will make money over the next year and make a plan including details like marketing, budget and financial projections. Sound hard? It’s really not. Every small or solo business that does this out performs their competitors by a mile.
• Be conservative with your cash-make sure your cash flow is good. No impulse buys right now. Spend money on marketing and necessary marketing materials, mentoring to learn ways to fastrack your business, and product development.
• Take higher priced services and information products and break them down into sequential, lower priced services and “knowledge nuggets” to increase sales, as lower ticket items will sell better right now.
• Work hard to increase customer service and customer loyalty by following through on what you say you’ll do and producing stellar results. Also provide personalized customer support.
• Develop strong referral and joint venture systems and strategies that will dramatically increase sales.
• Stay optimistic and focused - it won’t serve you well to spend time worrying and then going in ten different directions trying out would be opportunities. It’s a recipe for failure

If you want to know exactly how to implement this “recession proof” business advice, go to Maximize Your Profits Now and learn about a business mastery system that will help you create a solid 6 figure income and sail through this tough period with flying colors.

My colleagues and I often rant about the unfortunate amount of alluring hype that exists online about making money fast. It’s so easy to actually believe this stuff if you are a small or solo business struggling to survive, or even if you’re just tired of working so darn hard.

Make $1,000,000 in seven days! 

Yes I actually saw this on a website and undoubtedly some people were falling for it. Why would someone make a promise like that? Because they are afraid that you won’t buy from them if they don’t and because they are touching their readers’ hot button-financial freedom.  Don’t fall prey to this ridiculousness.

This is a lesson for all of us about integrity in marketing. It’s also a sad lesson about how we don’t like hearing the naked truth and we search for the easy way out.

What’s Real?

The truth is that if you started a business and thought it would be easy, you’ve definitely been misled. Many businesses fail to flourish because the real truth is:

• You’ll need to work really, really hard-especially during the first few years
• You will go through a steep learning curve that may take you outside your comfort zone
• You’ll need courage, unbelievable determination and laser like focus

Chances are you’ll face many of these roadblocks

• You will procrastinate
• You won’t know where to start
• You’ll think, dream and do research, but will fail to take action
• You’ll feel overwhelmed with ideas begging to be turned into projects
• You’ll be confused as to what to pursue next
• You’ll be bombarded with daily tasks and your to do list will never end
• You’ll sometimes make excuses, like not having the time or money you need to succeed
• You’ll sometimes think you don’t have what it takes to succeed
• You’ll sometimes fail to follow through or feel stuck
• You’ll even settle for less than you deserve sometimes, just to get the business
• You’ll skip the planning and strategy because you think you have no time.

You might be nodding your head in agreement, but using language like that would probably discourage sales.

That’s why some marketers make promises they can’t keep. However, facing the truth will set you free to reach a level of success you can’t even imagine. I know that from first hand experience and from what I’ve seen my clients experience.

We’re all human, we all face these roadblocks. Acknowledging them and seeking solutions instead of looking for a quick fix is the only way to get past them.

Depressed yet? Here’s the good news.

First of all, I’m assuming that if you’re reading this, you are determined to be your own boss and build a successful small business, no matter what it takes.

The good news is that you can overcome every one of those roadblocks with the right support and help. You are not an island. With the right mentoring,  coaching and resources from someone who has been in your shoes, experienced what you’re experiencing and moved forward to achieve success, you will be able to bust through roadblocks quickly, be held accountable, kept on track and accelerate the growth of your business in a big way.

That’s why I love being a coach and mentor. When I see someone breakthrough it’s the biggest thrill in the world. When a client starts making the money they dreamed of and they feel great about their accomplishment, well, there’s nothing like it.

If you want some powerful guidance that can move you toward a solid 6 figure income-and a rock solid step-by-step system that will get you there, go to

Maximize Your Profits Now

If you haven’t already done so, sign up for the free audio and videos. Check out the Maximize Your Profits Program and see if it’s the help you’ve been looking for. No hype. Everything there is possible because its already been done. Let this be the time to stop thinking and wishing and take action!

It seems like every week I learn about some new online tool that can automate some part of my business, enhance my marketing, make research easier or help me reach more of my target market.

It’s truly amazing what’s out there, and how many small and solo business owners have no idea that these tools exist. It’s so easy to get caught up in the day to day operation of our businesses and put research, strategy and systems development on the “I’ll get around to it next week” list.

Well here are a few tools that are worth checking out now. See how you can put them to work for you right away. All are either free or low cost.

Keyword research: My favorite tool is NichebotClassic. Open an account and keep your best keywords in an “account basket”. Keyword research is crucial for every business. You need to know what keyword phrases are the right ones for each web page, online article or blog post, and what your potential clients are searching for on the web, which will help you develop and position new products.

Tele-classes: Book a teleconference line for free at FreeConference for up to 150 attendees. Tele-classes are a great way to connect and share information with prospects and clients anywhere. There are many ways you can use tele-conferences to grow your business.

Automated phone calls: Use an customized automated voice message to alert customers of special events and offers or to invite them to an event. Even set up a virtual receptionist at VoiceShot.

Social Bookmarking: make bookmarking your web pages and blog to social bookmarking sites much easier and less time consuming at SocialMarker. It’s free.

Video submissions: Submit your video to multiple video sites all at once and be able to track how many viewer you get on multiple sites at TubeMogul.

Search Engine Optimization: Want free traffic from the search engines? Here’s a free tool that will help you see how you can improve the SEO on you web pages- SEOQuake.

Track your online reputation-this is great if you want to monitor what people are saying about you and your business. TrackUR

Check your website traffic ranking: Alexa. At the top, click on Traffic Rankings and enter your URL in the search box. Your Alexa ranking tells other business and potential clients how busy and popular your website is.

Get your website graded compared to others, and learn how to improve your website at WebsiteGrader. This tool doesn’t always work properly, buy hey, it’s free.

See how your website looks in different browsers with BrowserShots. You may find that your web pages look great in Internet Explorer, but not so great in Firefox, for example. It’s important that they look great in all major browsers so that you don’t loose visitors. This is also a free tool.

Just a few cool tools. I’ve got many more I’ll share with you in the future. Do you know of a cool tool? Please include it with your comment or join my free marketing forum at:

http://greatmarketingideas.ning.com/  and share it there.

For almost every small or solo business owner I’ve worked with as a coach, how to keep a steady stream of clients rolling into their business is the main challenge . But not for all.

Some businesses seem to soar quickly. They seem to have a secret that everyone wants to know. They call me because they are growing so fast they need me to help them put the automated systems in place that will reduce their workload and give them their life back. This is not a bad problem to have!

The businesses that have a flood of clients with seemingly little effort actually have a lot in common because they have several or most of the following factors in place.  Any of these can be the key to astonishing business growth. Take a few of them together and the results are truly impressive. Here’s what they did:

• Found an underserved niche with a group of hungry buyers
• Found buyers who had money to spend and were willing to spend it
• Found a niche where competition was minimal or manageable
• Developed a repeatable system for connecting and selling to these buyers that worked again and again.
• Developed a compelling, benefit laden marketing message
• Developed joint ventures and strategic alliances to dramatically increase sales
• Developed a strategy to get repeat business.
• Protect their time relentlessly
• Outsourced simple tasks as soon as possible

As you can see, there is no real secret. Measure your business against this list and see what needs to change.

I’d like to invite you to a free tele-class, How to Fill the Client Funnel Now, on August 12^th at 4PM ET.  This content rich class will show you a business building system that is designed to stop you from worrying and feeling overwhelmed and get you feeling powerful and profitable.

If you sign up now, you’ll also gain access to my Maximize Your Profits Now videos.

http://maximizeyourprofitsnow.com/

I think this class could be a turning point for you.

 My 13 year old daughter and her friends are totally into instant gratification. They are the sound byte generation.

We live in an instant gratification society. I admit to wanting things instantly because I feel I don’t have time to wait. I’m working on becoming more patient, I swear. Where did this come from? I grew up with snail mail, without fax machines and e-mail and without computers. As technology speeds forward, just about everything becomes instantly available. We begin to expect it and then feel annoyed when we have to wait.

The problem occurs if this way of thinking spills over into our business.  Being an instant gratification junky doesn’t serve you well if you expect an instant response to your marketing, instant results from what you learn from courses and books, instant response to your e-mails, newsletters, and offers. Instant success. You know those offers that promise to make you an instant fortune on the Internet in days if you use their system? They’re just playing a psychological game that feeds into our natural desire for instant gratification.

It’s easy to start a project or a business and feel excited, enthusiastic and motivated. It’s hard to accept delayed gratification, to stick in there until you reach the finish line even when you don’t see dramatic results right away. The most successful people I know spent several years seeing small, unimpressive results before they really took off. They don’t often tell you that but it’s true. This has been my experience with every business I’ve owned in the last 20 years. There were times when I wanted to quit, times when I thought I must be doing something wrong. But I stuck with it, made re-adjustments when necessary, studied and learned from mentors who were already succeeding, and it paid off every time.

So don’t fall into the trap. Buy into the dream instead. Persist.