Archive for the ‘Growth strategies’ Category

In the previous installments of our series, we have addressed the key factors for a brand new business. Now we move into the expanding business with the elements of Story and Simplification.

7. Story: Taking a Stand, Refining Your Purpose

As a business grows, its purpose must be revisited regularly to be sure the expanding market and growing line of products and services still express that purpose. In addition, the business’ position in the marketplace may need to be honed and narrowed even further to remain relevant – which means taking a stand to polarize the audience. Once you do this, those who love you really love you – and those who don’t resonate with your business will leave. This is a distilling process that greatly increases the impact and staying power of the business. Gathering success stories of happy customers and sharing them with prospects is also key here.

This factor answers the question “Who are we/what do we stand for?” for the established business.

8. Simplification: Getting Back to the Basics of Purpose and Vision

Growth inevitably means chaos – sometimes a lot of chaos. This factor examines how you have simplified – or could simplify – all aspects of your business. Often this means letting go of things that no longer serve the purpose of the business, whether that be staff, products, or ways of doing things. The Pareto Principle is useful here: 20 percent of your business will be generating 80 percent of your results. So what comprises the 20 percent, and how can you let go of the rest?

This factor answers the question, “How do we feel about what we do?” for the established business owner.

Evaluate all 12 factors of Purposeful Entrepreneurship in YOUR business with our Purposeful Entrepreneur Compass today: http://www.purposefulentrepreneur.com/assessment.html

In our series thus far, we have explored Purpose, Passion, People and Presentation – all important to build your foundation. But if they don’t lead to Profits – our 5th factor – and connect through Promotion – then what you have is a hobby, not a business!

Both of these factors deal with attraction: drawing to you the people and resources that form the “meat on the bones” for your Purposeful Business.

5. Profits: Attracting Money

The Purposeful Entrepreneur’s beliefs about money are often challenged in this factor. Old programming that “you can’t be spiritual and be rich”, as well as what amount of money is acceptable to charge and to make, must be revisited for the business to prosper. If revenues are lacking, or if money is not managed well, this factor will score low. More people become wealthy through self-employment than nearly any other avenue…but it is always a path of discovery, facing and overcoming old beliefs, and upleveling one’s awareness and consciousness when it comes to money – not to mention learning the tax benefits and wise money management strategies to be used in running a business.

This factor answers the question, “How do we manage our resources (especially money)?” for the new business.

6. Promotion: Attracting Your Tribe

A business is only viable when its message reaches its market…and promotion is about all the ways you do that in your business. Whether it is online or offline, working with energy, magnetizing, and Law of Attraction or marketing techniques like email broadcasts, speaking or article writing, all of those components comprise the essence of the Promotion factor. How clearly you communicate, the overall vibration you send to your prospects and customers, and how effectively you draw your ideal customer or clients to you – including your sales process – all are measured here.

This factor answers the question, “How do we communicate what we do?” for the new business.

Watch for more of this dynamic series next week!

Welcome to our continued series in which we reveal the 12 factors that are required for you to create a successful Purposeful Entrepreneur™ business, with factors 3 and 4.

3. People: Finding Your Tribe  

The “tribe” or target market served by the business must be identified very specifically, even as the business is forming. The success of the business will be directly related to how clearly the market is defined. Many entrepreneurs struggle to define their niche even without considering their purpose and how it may relate to the niche. A business must have both a horizontal and a vertical niche in order to stand out as unique. For the Purposeful Entrepreneur, defining the ideal people to be served by the business takes on yet a third dimension: will these people benefit as the target of the purpose we have identified as the foundation of the business? Do these people share the problem, challenge or issue around which the owner’s purpose is based? If so, they are the right market. If not, they probably are not (but further inquiry will be needed).

This factor answers the question, “Whom do we serve and what do they tell us?” for the new business.

 4. Presentation: Allowing the Vision to Take Form

Once the purpose, passion and people are clear, the business is ready to “present” itself to the world! Presentation involves all of the logistical steps to start-up (business name selection and filing, legal entity, contracts, internal bookkeeping and phone systems, product creation, and the like). But it also includes the shifts in mindset required to become a self-employed entrepreneur instead of an employee. For the Purposeful Entrepreneur, this step is about action…and the challenge is that not all steps will become clear at once – the plan for the business unfolds in stages. It is only possible to see the second step once the first one – the one in front of you – is taken.

This factor answers the question, “How do we organize what we do?” for the new business.

To assess your business on all 12 factors, take the Purposeful Entrepreneur Compass assessment here.

Many coaches and other information-based business owners are not making the kind of income they would like to make.  But you don’t have to be one of them!   The following principles are a proven way to double (or more!) your income in the coming year – if you not only read them, but implement several of them in your business.  Some of the rewards will be increased revenues, increased number of clients, and even a greater enjoyment of the work you do.

I will assume, since you are working in the coaching field or another information business (or want to be), that you are doing work you love and want to share that with others in one way or another.  Whether you are a coach, consultant, author, speaker or other infopreneur, your business provides a service to others.  And unlike many fields, your service to clients fails to ring true unless you, too, are passionate about what you do.  Not making enough money can zap any passion you had when you started your business, fast!

So here are 3 of my proven ways to increase (by at least 100%) your income – while  actually working less time than you do now! 

 1. Choose to challenge any aspect of your life or business that is not what you want.  Even those of us who enjoy our work may have areas that we would like to change.  The best way to find these areas for yourself is to reflect on what you repeatedly feel frustrated or upset by (or ask your spouse what you complain about the most!).  While we can’t usually change our lives overnight, we can change one thing at a time.  How?  By choosing to do so!  If you don’t feel successful, what would have to happen to change that?  Consider this quote from Spiritual Economics:

“Success is the most natural thing in the world.  The person who does not succeed has placed himself in opposition to the laws of the Universe.”

When we feel that urge to make change, to improve, to get better (which is what New Years’ resolutions are all about, right?), author Eric Butterworth tells us that “your desire to get ahead, your urge to succeed, is your intuitive awareness of something within you that wants to succeed through you.”  And the factor that distinguishes someone who feels successful from someone similarly situated who does not is on the inside of the person.  It’s like the person who says “My job is not imaginative; there is no future in it.”  In fact, “there is no job with a future in it – the future is in the one who does the job!”

Question to Ponder: What one thing in your life or business, if you changed either the activity itself or your attitude about it, would make a significant difference in your coming year?

2. Give yourself the benefit of “recycling.”  No, I’m not talking about what you do with your newspapers and plastic containers!  In studies of more than 60,000 people over the past 15 years, psychologist Dr. James Prochaska and his associates have found that only 77 percent of New Year’s resolutions survive the first week. A month later, it’s 55 percent.  This may not surprise you…but the term we use for this experience of not fulfilling our resolutions can make a big difference in whether we “get back on the horse” after a fall and try to ride again. 

Prochaska has analyzed how people successfully make change, initially studying people trying to quit smoking to see what led to some people’s successful efforts. His resulting model of change doesn’t blame unsuccessful attempts at change on lack of willpower or motivation. Instead, it outlines six stages and contends that by identifying and understanding where we are in the process, we can gain control over the cycle of change and move through it more quickly, efficiently and with less pain.

His six stages are:  pre-contemplation (denial), contemplation (thinking about change), preparation (ready to change within 30 days), action (here we go!), maintenance (holding onto the new behavior despite challenges) and termination (when the old behavior or situation no longer beckons to us).  What’s interesting to note is that, although many of us expect to go from A to Z in a straightforward path, that is a rare feat!  He says that although it is possible to progress linearly from one stage to the next, only 5 percent of people have no setbacks.  Most successful self-changers go through the stages three or four times before they complete the cycle – and he calls these repeated cycles “recycling” rather than “relapsing,” maintaining the sense that a process is still in motion.

Question to Ponder:  How can you be kind to yourself as you begin to change what isn’t working, allowing more than one try at the new behavior before you throw up your hands in despair?

3. Leverage your “synchronous” time.  What is the most common response people give when you ask them how they are these days?  “Wow, I’m really busy!”  Right?  The fact is, each of us has 1440 minutes each day – and we also have many choices as to how we spend it!  People who seem to be on top of things don’t have more time than we do; they have simply learned how to honor their synchronous (or clock) time, and leverage it to create asynchronous systems that continue to work when they’re not!

 Here’s an example:  for years now, I have been teaching coaching, how to launch and build a coaching or consulting practice, and similar topics.  Most recently, many of my classes have been done via teleclass.  Those required that I be physically present, on the phone, in real time.  But in the past few months, I have consolidated this course content into a textbook and workbook format, recorded lectures and coaching demonstrations on CD’s, and radically altered my business model founded on this asynchronous, self-paced model.  What has that done for me as the developer of the materials?  Freed me to develop new products, do the marketing, and otherwise manage the business – while all the time students are signing up and learning the content “asynchronously,” i.e., without my real-time presence being required.  And students gain the benefits of greater flexibility and significantly lower costs for the training.  It’s a win-win proposition!

Questions to Ponder:  Think about the services you offer to clients, and the projects that you’ve spent inordinate amounts of time on (e.g., a narrative executive bio, a web portfolio, etc.).  How many other ways can you think of to use that same content or format with other clients?  In other media?  Spending just 30 minutes each day developing a system that will run asynchronously will free dozens of hours of your time over the course of a year.

 Here’s wishing you a prosperous and successful 2010!

Just as many people are considering “throwing in the towel” as the challenges of the economy and our global conscious shift continue, a group of Evolving Entrepreneurs are joining me in Phoenix in just 2 days to uplevel their business and step fully into their purpose.

It’s not a time to play small or shrink from the challenges we are facing – it is a time to step UP, to go WITHIN, and to bring all of who we are to what we do.  I am soooo excited about leading this 3-day intensive – and if it is calling to you, there is still ONE spot left before we sell out!  Here are the details: www.evolveevent.com/intensive.html

Can’t join us live?  Attend the 5-day virtual Evolve Telesummit Nov. 30-Dec. 4 – www.evolveevent.com/telesummit.html – featuring such speakers as Andrea Lee, David Neagle, myself, Michelle PW, Laura Berman Fortgang, Lynne Klippel and more.  You’ll be inspired!

“Be who you truly are – in business and in life!”

Individually and globally, we are going through a clearing-out phase of the economic and energetic cycle.  This is one of the most challenging parts of the cycle of abundance and success, because there is nothing to “do” but to “be” with the experience. 

So how are we to respond when we are weary of putting so much energy out through marketing and client outreach, when the money is ebbing (diminishing), and when the flow of customers through our “tried and true” channels drops?  In some cases, this can be a time of profound confusion, knowing we are ready to let go of what no longer excites or interests us…but we are not yet clear what we are moving toward to replace it.

Our most important action at such times is to spend more time alone, being thankful for all of the experiences that have brought us to this moment…and paying attention to the inklings of the new direction that is beginning to come forth. 

There are at least three benefits to the ebb cycle of manifesting:

1)    We become more objective – and gratitude naturally follows.  By taking the “big picture” view of our experiences – in both the recent and distant past – we can see connections and themes that we did not see when going through the experience.  It is like staring at one pearl on a necklace, and then zooming out to a view of the whole strand: we can see how beautiful and connected the whole is!  What lessons have come from your recent experiences, whether you have labeled them positive or negative?

2)    We can release what is no longer working for/serving us.  Nowhere in nature do we see a constant growth cycle without the dropping of leaves, shedding of an old skin, or breaking loose from a cocoon. The old proverb is of the monk pouring tea into a cup and continuing to pour when the cup is full – it cannot hold any more tea until it is emptied out!  This is a time of collective emptying out, of the old systems that no longer work in banking, real estate, and business as a whole – as well as in our individual lives.  What clothes, furniture, relationships, beliefs or attitudes to you need to shed and release now?

3)    We can recreate our business and life in alignment with the new, larger “us” that is emerging now.  It is like getting a “clean slate” in mid-life!  Once the old is gone, we can evaluate what we really want – and go for it!  This is the exciting time of rebirth, whether it be a new business, a new market, a new product, or even taking a sabbatical or picking up a new avocation that feeds our spirit.  What new experience or activity is beckoning to you now? 

In the Western culture, we are taught not to linger in the ebb…but to get through it as quickly as possible.  If we do, we miss its gifts.

If you are feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, bored, or even angry about how your life and business is right now, consider that this is the gateway through which a brand new expression of you is wanting to emerge.  Cherish it, embrace it – and it will lead you into your new life. 

 And if you would like some support in doing this, we have just 5 spots left in our upcoming Purposeful Branding Retreat May 1-2 in Phoenix – see www.purposefulbrandingretreat.com for details!

I was listening to a speaker the other day talk about the spiritual renaissance, and it struck me:  what this new era of entrepreneurship really is is an ENTREPRENEURIAL renaissance!  A reworking of how we do business, an upsurge in people entering self-employment – by choice and due to the mass layoffs – and HUGE opportunities to be had!

Setting aside traditional business strategies of building a business solely around profitability and market size and penetration, now we MUST build our venture around our purpose.  That is the only way we will resonate with the people we are here to serve and maximize our wealth (and theirs) too!

I invite you to check out my latest video about the 4 key principles YOU need to embrace as a participant in this Entrepreneurial Renaissance – it’s here: www.purposefulbranding.com

Enjoy!

Marcia