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.

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Opening and running a small or solo business is a daunting task that takes courage, passion and grit. It often takes a while before you hit that sweet spot where clients and profits start to flow in and you begin to breathe a sigh of relief. You look forward to that feeling of elation that takes over as you realize that your dreams are coming true. You’ve climbed a mountain and reached the top.

If you feel like it’s a struggle just to keep your business chugging along and you’re wondering when you’ll get to that point, you’re not alone. Here are some important things to look at and think about now.

• Make sure you’re key products are something for which there is a clearly expressed need in your market-something for which people are hungry. Your prospects and customers will let you know what they want and you need to give it to them, rather than what you think they want.
• Check to see if your niche is overcrowded. Competitors may be crowding you out and you may need to re-focus in on a less crowded niche within your area of expertise.
• Carefully measure the results you get from your marketing efforts. Are you creating a flood of interested leads? If not, your marketing approach isn’t working and needs to change. You need a powerful, new strategy.
• Your message may be getting lost in the flood of information with which people are bombarded. Making your message fresh, unique and benefit focused-even remarkable and memorable- is key
• You’re great at what you do, but are you struggling with the “running a business” part, like marketing, selling, website, bookkeeping, systems? These Entrepreneurial skills will make or break you no matter how good you are at what you do. They need to be mastered.
• Do you have difficulty managing your time and staying focused on profit generating activities? The most successful 6 and 7 figure income Entrepreneurs are time masters.
• You’re great at the daily details, but are you good at big picture planning? Remember, no one else can be the CEO and strategy maker but you.
• Persistence and follow-through are key. Don’t give up if something doesn’t produce immediate results. I’ve seen people throw an ad in the paper and expect the phone to ring like crazy. When it doesn’t they pull the ad and move on to the next short lived idea. Have a strategy, then stick to your plan. Follow through and you’ll see results.
• Are you feeling some resistance to doing tasks you know are essential to your success? Many business owner clients have told me that they know what they should be doing but every time they try they find themselves procrastinating of doing a non-priority activity. That can lead to inertia. Tasks that drain your energy may be better outsourced so you can spend your time on profit generating activities. Outsourcing is a success strategy and more inexpensive than ever. Or break the task down into 10 minute segments. Anyone can devote ten minutes to a task, even if they don’t like it. What’s important is to keep taking action! Keep moving forward. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

If any of this rings true, know that you are definitely not alone. Every business owner has experienced some or all of these roadblocks at one time or another. And all of them can be over come! If you want to breakthrough to a new level of success and reach the top of that mountain you need a solid, proven business and marketing system that works.

Try answering this question: “What is the one thing, which if I did it, would make a huge difference in my business now?” If there’s more than one thing, write it down. Voila! You know what you need to work on beginning now.

To access a series of free videos that will show you a solid, proven business building and marketing system that can take you to a solid 6 figure small business income, go to http://www.MaximizeYourProfitsNow.com/

Janis

I constantly get contacted by clients, subscribers and people seeking coaching who have a fear of technology and it’s preventing them from moving their business forward.If you’re under 35 this is probably not an issue, because you grew up with technology and it’s in your blood. If you’re over 35 read on.

The reason so many small business websites are not very good is not just because it may have not been designed by someone proficient in web design. It is just as likely that the business owner only put up a website because they realized they couldn’t really have a business without one. It’s like not having any business cards.

A static, boring, non productive website is just one casualty of the technophobic. The list of business building tools you’re missing out on may be daunting. Here is a random list of technology tasks and tools you may be avoiding but which may be crucial to your business growth.

• An autoresponder, with an opt-in mailing list and an opt-in form on your webpages
• A database software program to keep all of your business network contact information organized and easily accessible
• Scheduling software or an online calendar for your clients to schedule appointments with you or to share your schedule with employees
• Social networking-using the amazingly powerful, mostly free online marketing social networking websites,  groups, and tools that are a must today if you want an increasing stream of interested leads and an ever expanding network and reputation.
• A shopping cart on your website
• An understanding of how to use your website’s control panel to track and analyze traffic to your website.
• Simple time saving technical knowledge, like how to organize your e-mails in Outlook, or how to make simple changes to your business website
• How to upload and edit photos
• How to upload or even create simple videos
• How to scan and file documents to decrease paper clutter
• How to use Quickbooks
• How to convert documents to PDF format
• How to do keyword research.

These are just a few of the real life tasks that people have told me they have no idea how to do and are scared to death of learning.

Well I want you to hear this—your fear is much worse than the learning process. Mastering any technology is simply a matter of learning a series of steps. After you do it once or twice it’s a breeze. Honest. I promise. If I can learn it so can you.

Every day, think about how technology could make your life easier and your business stronger. Then take a deep breath and have the courage to find someone to teach you what you need to learn.

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They always say that the teacher teaches what they most need to learn. Lately I’ve had a number of my coaching clients who are struggling with using time effectively. As a result they feel the frustration of not moving forward as quickly as they could.

I’ve certainly struggled with using time ineffectively myself and each time I introduce them to a Time Effectiveness Model I teach that will catapult their business to a whole new level, it reminds me to stay on track with my time.

Yes, I used to fall into the time trap and end up feeling like I was spinning my wheels. Have you been there? What I’ve learned is that treating  time like your most precious possession, like gold, like a million bucks, will make the difference between struggling and succeeding beyond your wildest dreams.

There are so many time traps that can rob us of the ability to focus obsessively on priority activities that will express us toward our goals. I once heard Michael Gerber speak. He’s the author of The E-Myth Revisited, one of my favorite books about how to build a small business. He said that successful entrepreneurs focus obsessively on their goals and persevere even when they don’t see immediate results. I couldn’t agree more.

You need to be aware of these time traps and avoid them at all costs.

1. E-mail - a blessing and a curse, e-mail can consume hours each day. I try to check e-mail only 3 times daily–mid-morning, after lunch and at the end of the day. Even that’s probably too much and I’m working on getting that down to once a day. I will soon be adding an autoresponder message to my e-mail that lets people know that I may not respond immediately because I only check e-mail a few times a day. This is a smart way to not get sucked into the e-mail trap.
2. Answering every phone call–some people answer their phones every time they ring no matter what. This means you are constantly interrupted and it’s often a tele-marketer, or someone who wants to  make their urgent problem yours. Use caller ID and return calls at a certain time each day. This way you’ll have protected work time without interruption.
3. People interruptions-from colleagues, friends, children, neighbors (if you work from home).  You need to let people know that they cannot disturb you during your prime work time. Close your office door, don’t answer the doorbell, give your kids ice cream. I don’t care, just find a way. My daughter has learned not to enter my office when the door is closed and your’s can too.
4. Surfing the Internet with the excuse that it’s research. If you want to check out someone’s offer or website, if it’s not a priority do it at the end of day when your brain is fried anyway!
5. Playing on Facebook or MySpace and convincing yourself it’s all part of your marketing. Some of it is and some isn’t. You know the difference.

All of these interruptions are time wasters because they keep you from finding new clients, making phone calls to prospects or gatekeepers, networking, blogging, product development, or whatever else will propel your business forward.

 Want to share some of your time tips! How are you maximizing each work day? I’m sure we’d all be grateful.

 Warmly,

Janis

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Did you ever see that Toyota commercial where the Dad was giving a first driving lesson to his son. The son is so excited about the Bluetooth technology, the GPS system and the Engine Start button that he keeps telling his dad that driving is going to be “so easy”. He’s convinced he just pushes a button and steers and he’s good to go.The Dad exclaims in frustration, “It’s not easy! Just get out of the car”.

That sounds similar to the conversation I’ve had dozens, maybe even hundreds of times with smart, skilled people who want to start a business. Just like the young boy, they don’t know what they don’t know. But what you don’t know CAN hurt you.

Here are some basic tips that will help you make building a home-based business a reality:

1. Create a plan, even if it’s just a few pages. It will force you to think through your ideas and decide where you want to be a year or two from now, who you want to work with, what products and services you want to offer, and how you’ll meet your financial goals.
2. Create an ideal client profile and compile a list of possible marketing activities you think would reach this market.
3. Decide on a start up budget and figure out where to get the money. You can bootstrap in the beginning and start with very little, but you will need some money-at least a few thousand dollars.
4. For one week, monitor how you spend your work time to see how productive and efficient you are with your time. How much of your time is spent on business building, potentially profit generating activities? This does not mean checking e-mail, doing administrative tasks or surfing the Internet. How you use your time will absolutely determine how successful you’ll be.
5. Make a list of which family or child care obligations are non-negotiable for you and outsource the rest. For example, maybe you’re willing to put your kids in after school homework club, but you absolutely want to spend time with them after dinner. Or, maybe you’re willing to work Saturday morning, but want Saturday afternoon and evening with your family. This will help you determine how your current situation can be changed to accommodate uninterrupted work time. You will have to make some compromises, so be clear which ones you’re willing to make.
6. Prepare an office space that is large enough to accommodate your business needs. If you can find a space where you can close the door to indicate to everyone that you are at work and not to be disturbed, all the better.
7. Don’t answer your personal phone or doorbell when you’re working. That’s what caller ID is for. If it’s an emergency call or someone you really need to speak to, you can answer. If it’s your friend calling to say hi or a neighbor dropping by, you’ll be tempted, but don’t respond.
8. Find a coach or mentor who can guide you through the start up process as quickly and efficiently as possible, who can show you how to avoid unnecessary struggles, stress and wasted time and money.

 You’ll feel so wonderful when you fastrack to your first $100, then $1,000, the $10,000!

 Janis