Part 1 of this series about procrastination dealt with some strategies on how to overcome the “Habit of Procrastination”. I’d like to dig a bit deeper this time and address the possible causes of procrastination and how to blast through the things holding you back.

The Revelation of Procrastination: If you are putting something off, maybe there is something underneath that you aren’t aware of. Sometimes procrastination is really a signal that you may be on a mindset land mine! I’ll give you an example – imagine you have a big project to do that would generate a nice chunk of $. Suddenly, in spite of all the pushing and encouragement from those around you, inertia sets in. No matter what you do, this puppy isn’t getting pushed out! If you use the process below, you can discover what’s underneath.

1. Acknowledge you are stuck.
2. Find the ‘part’ of you that is stuck or blocked.
3. Ask what it’s afraid of?
4. Ask what it’s trying to protect you from?
5. Listen for the answer…even if it seems a bit crazy to you.

What you may discover is that there is a part of you who feels undeserving of that success and the $ that was coming in. The procrastination is just the part’s way of keeping you safe. (This is a big coaching trick I use when my clients are stuck! If you discover you can’t move past this, you may want to have a Mindset Breakthrough Session, and we’ll knock it out!)

Do I have you on the edge of your seat to find out in my next post about how procrastination can actually serve you, if you let it? Stay tuned for part 3, “The Perfection of Procrastination”.

Blessings,
Therese

Ah, the dreaded “P” word…something that all entrepreneurs struggle with from time to time.

I thought I’d tackle the issue, but in a different way than most. We will look at it from three different perspectives. Ready? Here we go…

The Habit of Procrastination: Do you “plan your work and work your plan” or do you wait till the inspiration hits before you crank out your work product? Ever hear of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator? It’s a wonderful tool to understand your personality type. I wonder if some procrastination is just related to personality differences. If you know the “MBTI,” you will know that personality and certain characteristics are innate/inborn. Those who are “J’s” in this system are the ones who schedule their time, block out projects, love structure, and again….plan their work. The other style, or those of us who are “P’s” in MBTI lingo- seem to have a bit of a harder time. We are the multi-taskers, read five books at a time, and don’t necessarily like to close off our options long enough to buckle down and do one project at a time. I suspect that we may be a bit more challenged with problems procrastinating. (My example is this newsletter – I ‘should’ write it every two weeks on a schedule, but it’s more my style to wait till the inspiration hits for the articles to come. I am going to be moving to a more structured way of doing it – with a bit of friendly nagging from my team – but it’s not my natural way of working.)

Why do I reference the Myers-Briggs? Because some of the challenges you have with procrastination may be in trying to be what you are not, or by hearing that “this is the way to manage your time” but finding that it makes you feel like there’s a noose around the neck of your creativity. The goal is to create a system that works for you. Here’s an example….some people can work on a task and so they block off hours and work straight till it gets done. Others would have to work in 15 minute chunks and allow for getting up periodically or letting in a few distractions to keep them energized. The goal is to find what works for YOU! Play with timers, accountability, telling people ahead of time, rewards, and even little punishments if you blow it. It all depends on what motivates you, so try different things until you find the environment that pulls you forward and minimizes your tendency to put things off.

Keep an eye out for my next post where I shed some light on “The Revelation of Procrastination”. Just don’t put it off for too long… : )
Blessings,
Therese

So how about if I give you a few pointers for how to begin to “OWN” what makes you magic? First – if you were 25% more bold in expressing who you are, what would you do differently? The funny thing…everyone knows this answer! Deep inside you is a part that would do more, speak up more, write more, and be more fully and uniquely you. Just make the commitment to do it. Get support if you need to, but make a plan and put yourself out there a bit more to see what happens.

Next – take a look at what are you afraid of if you do show up more boldly or more with your personality shining through? For most clients I work with it’s the fear that it won’t appear professional enough or there will be some judgment somewhere along the way.

Yes, if you are a banker you probably can’t dress in a very flamboyant manner, but running your business allows you the freedom to be who you are. Leaning into some of those fears give you freedom to enjoy your life more every day.

And finally – remember that growing a business and marketing is just opening new relationships. I liken it to dating in that if you reveal only little aspects of yourself and attempt to put on a façade, you will either attract no one, or worse yet, the complete wrong person. While it takes some courage to be BOLD in your business, the more you put yourself out there, the greater the changes that your perfect “tribe” will find you!

Blessings,

Therese

In my last post, I outlined the fear epidemic that plagues many business owners. I also outlined my B.O.L.D™ Business Growth Formula as a way to conquer that fear.

Too often we go into business thinking we have to be a certain way, or let go of some of the unique, fun, or quirkier parts of our personality to be ‘professional.’ The things we did or loved in the past seem to get left at the door when we don the title of “Business Owner.” And yet it’s these very things that when integrated, will give you far more passion and serve to attract the exact ideal clients that you’d love to work with.

I show you how to own your vision, your talent, and your unique style. It’s here that so many clients come to me and find a really profound transformation when are taken through the process of getting to fully own all they want and who they are.

Ask yourself these questions to see if you are stuck anywhere in this piece of the process:

In the area of vision – is it yours or are you living someone else’s dream for you?
When we look at talent – do you really embrace and promote the expert that you are?
And for unique style – are you showing up and expressing yourself fully?

Now let me share with you some of the signs that you haven’t fully owned your brilliance. You will experience procrastination, doubt and fear and indecision, do inconsistent marketing, not have a clear message so you won’t be getting referrals or be seen as an expert, and you won’t be charging what you are worth. The cost is really quite high on so many levels if you think about it!

Check back next time for 3 specific pointes on how to “OWN” what makes you magic.

Blessings,

Therese

There is an epidemic out there that is costing small business owners not only thousands of dollars in revenue, but more troubling is the cost of confidence, momentum, and integrity. I’m here to help solve this problem!

What’s the epidemic? The fear of being big and bold and owning all the gifts you bring to the table as a business owner. Most people go into business and spend all their time focusing on marketing, sales and getting money in the door, but they rarely stop to do the work on themselves. This is the key to mastery and also for creating a business that would really makes them happy.

The foundation for all the coaching I do comes out of my B.O.L.D™ Business Growth Formula. This blends both the inner game (mindset) with the outer game (business strategy) that when combined, create much more rapid and lasting results because it takes into account YOU and your business. Remember – as the owner, you are the business!

Let me share with you the elements of this powerful way of looking at business:

B: BLAST IT!!! We blast through the blocks, belief and barriers that are in your way
O: OWN IT!!! Own your unique vision, talent and style
L: LEVERAGE IT!!! Your time, talent and team
D: DESIGN IT!!! To serve your life, your clients, and your legacy

If I can be honest, the most ‘juicy’ work for me is in the domain of helping business owners OWN their stuff. (In fact, the word owner starts with the word own, so how fitting!)

For more tips on how to benefit from being BOLD in your business, check back in a few days for Part 2 of this series.

Blessings,

Therese

This came at about 3am….it was pouring rain and I couldn’t sleep because it kept going round and round in my head…….

A bit of the back story first though – I had just signed up a new client.  The perfect kind of client that ‘gets’ the work I do.  The kind where there is an instant synergy.  It tells me that my marketing is working!  I had been pretty clear on who I wanted to attract, but I hadn’t been quite as BOLD and powerful about who I was being until my friend/coach Nancy Marmolejo took me through her Profitable Essence program and helped me find it!   It was there that I finally claimed that I’m not just about growing your business….that’s of course part of it, but its in transforming YOU that is the most rewarding.  You and your business get transformed by the work, and the results are amazing!

And since I have been putting that ‘vibe’ in the world, the coolest of clients are finding me!

So at 3 in the morning my head was swimming around, looking for a metaphor for this blend of me getting more clear about my work, and that magic is bringing the exact right clients in.

Then it hit me – the Midwife versus OB/GYN analogy.   I think of it like this…you go to an OB and it’s kind of on their terms.  You as a pregnant woman are pretty dis-empowered, and mostly have to submit to how they want things to go.  A midwife on the other hand supports YOU in creating the delivery the way you want it.  She will assist you in finding the strength inside yourself to do the hardest thing you’ll ever do.  Since there may be men and women who don’t resonate with the childbirth analogy, let me take you a bit further into the similarities.

See, most business owners don’t really know what to do to create a profitable business and certainly not how to  market themselves.  They go to a web developer who tells them what kind of site they need, they listen to some friends who tell them what they should charge and what to offer,  so very often what comes out is not a  pretty baby!

The cool new client that came to me is a beautiful and spiritual woman who had a dreadful website!  Here she is with a very soft and feminine side, yet her website was black!  Another one of my recent clients listened to someone who directed her to create a site that had not a single piece of her in it.  It was corporate and cold…nothing at all of who she is.

When these clients come to me they haven’t had the success they want, don’t understand why their marketing isn’t working, and they are sometimes even ready to give up.  That’s where the “Business Midwife” comes in.  Because my belief is that your perfect business- just like a baby – is inside of you, just waiting to be birthed.

Let’s look at how you know when you have birthed your ideal business?  It starts with how you feel.  Do you have fun?  Is it something that you are proud of?  Is there an ease to it?  Do you feel fully expressed in the business world?  That means, are you giving yourself permission to bring ALL of you to the table?  For this if you are spiritual, you be spiritual.  If you are quirky or analytical, be that.  And when you finally give yourself permission to be there….magic happens.  I call it the Dog Whistle effect.  Just as the dog whistle is imperceptible to the human ear, your perfect marketing message will only be heard by those eager souls who would love the work you do. But if you water it down by not showing up fully,  they miss it….and you experience the frustration that so many entrepreneurs struggle with.

I know from personal experience how to birth a baby!  I did it naturally two times, and my last son was born in a tub.  And I know how transformative that experience was.  Instead of having the “let’s just get this kid out” feeling that some women experience, it became the most pivotal experience in my life.  I took all the pain, discomfort, and struggle and turned it into the knowledge of my own power and strength as a woman.  Growing a business affords you these same opportunities!  You will feel stuck, you will want to turn back, you will experience pain and doubt, but if you persevere and allow for the transformation….you will be rewarded the most amazing creation of your life. That’s my hope for you.

Today, I’m rounding out my list of 7 Ways to Avoid Costly Marketing Mistakes. I hope you’ve had a chance to implement some or all of the others and are already seeing improved results in your marketing efforts.

6. Be Real or Be Broke. So many people try to ‘be professional’ that they end up being bland. It’s your quirks that make you unique! Be creative…don’t be afraid to show them who you are, and then people will know you are real and when you are real, you are approachable. Folks want real. They want to know that you have warts and wacky kids and that sometimes you may not want to get out of bed in the morning. Show them who you are and you’ll have a much better connection….and a better chance at serving them with your business.

7. Leverage the Power of Social Networking. There is a whole new game in town, and it is making your marketing much, much easier. Through the Social Media platforms of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and others, you are now able to establish yourself as an expert and reach people you would never have before. If you are not on these sites, make the commitment to do so. It’s not just the college kids who are connecting here. You can just go onto Facebook and search for your market and you’ll find thousand of entries. So the first thing you’ll want to do is to get yourself out there in the virtual world, exposing your market to your expertise.

Here’s the deal – marketing isn’t really that hard, but it takes a plan and practice to get it right. If you want to be successful, you will want to begin to think like a marketer! I’m here if you need some support.

Blessings,
Therese

Continuing on with our series of 7 Ways to Avoid Costly Marketing Mistakes, check out these simple and effective strategies:

3. Create a marketing calendar. This way you won’t be tempted to give up. Grab your planner, Outlook, or your Post-It notes -whatever you use to organize your time. Make a day each month that you will dedicate to marketing. There is the creation of your project and the implementation as well. For example, if you are going to have a newsletter sent on the 10th of the month, you may need to get your self sitting down and creating it by the 3rd of the month! And you know what I’m going to tell you, my busy business owners………..OUTSOURCE! Don’t make the mistake of thinking you have to do it all yourself because truthfully, you can’t and you won’t! Get yourself a great assistant (either live or virtual) and have most of this stuff done for you. As Nike would say – Just Do It. You’ll thank me later.

4. Systematize or suffer. You may have heard talk about how you need to have systems in place. Well you don’t really, unless that is, you want to have insanity in its place. You get to choose! What I mean by systems is that with the newsletter example, you have a template already created, you have the format down, you have the VA or other administrative assistant primed and ready, so all you need to do is create content. No reason to reinvent the wheel. For each marketing piece you do, create a file detailing all the steps you went through. Yes, there will be more work up front, but in the end, you can hand the file off while you are sitting on a beach somewhere. That’s my hope for you!

5. Don’t guess, test! That’s the biggie in marketing. How do you know what works if you don’t test? You may need to have a “How did you find us” question, or some other way to capture that info. Test your marketing pieces on your target market, and not your husband, wife, friend or neighbor! If they aren’t your market, their opinions don’t count. There are way too many ‘dream stealers’ out there who don’t get what you do and can’t really be a good resource for your questions. Find a group of your target market and ask them if you can run by some marketing pieces with them. You can incent them with freebie stuff, but very often people LOVE to help and give their opinion. Just gotta ask.

Do research to determine what your market responds to. How do you find these???? Check out discussion boards by doing a Google search for your content ideas, or send your clients a survey. I’ll give you an example of why testing is important…One of my clients recently wanted to conduct teleseminars for her market to highlight some classes she wants to offer. She was getting advice from a speaker friend of hers in how to do this, but when we poked around a bit, we discovered that while the speakers target market would participate in teleseminars, this may be a really foreign concept to my client’s market. It would have flopped for her, so we got from her market how they best would like to receive the information.

Are you seeing it yet? A few simple tweaks can make all the difference in creating a focused, successful marketing strategy. Join me next time as I share my final two suggestions.

Blessings,
Therese

Last post, I introduced the antidote to “Spray and Pray” marketing. It is called the Plan and Persevere Method and includes 7 simple and proven steps that will truly make a difference in the way you meet and interact with your target market.

1. Be in it for the long haul. Marketing isn’t a one shot deal. All your content and effort is tied into everything else and builds on the relationships you are potentially creating with your market. Come up with a marketing plan so each piece you do is connected to the rest of it. This is the biggest mistake I see my clients make. At the beginning, you need to strategize and then follow the plan. If you give up after one or two marketing activities, you could be stopping just before you are going to strike gold. A good marketing plan should be attached to your calendar so you know what activities you are doing each month to attract your ideal clients and retain existing ones.

2. Don’t be invisible. In order to capture the attention of prospective clients, you need to get creative. Both direct and indirect marketing methods need to be included. Most people will rely on only one or the other. A common mistake I see is that business owners are often afraid of sending too many emails, so will pull back and only come up with a brochure and business card.

Let me say this up front….you will get some people cranky if you step up your marketing efforts. There will be unsubscribe requests to your list, but that’s okay. Good marketing also serves to repel the folks who aren’t a good fit for you, so if you are fearful of offending people, just take some deep breaths and know that you are here to serve a particular market…and the more you contact that market, the more you can support them.

Next, you will want to come up with a plan to include both direct and indirect marketing. For example….you will want to include an online ezine, blogs, and be submitting articles to the online portals, as well as mailing post cards, print newsletters, or other advertising. Those are the indirect methods. Meaning, they can’t touch you, or experience you live. Good ideas for direct methods are where people get to see or hear you, so more trust is established. It’s just a heck of a lot easier to have people believe you when they can hear your voice or see you live.
You can do either speaking engagements, teleseminars, or use video/audio in your email or website to accomplish this. Coaching challenge: You will want to pick three or four marketing ‘channels’ which your market will respond to. (You may be able to do some research to discover which ones your market prefers!)

We’re just getting started with steps 1 and 2. You’ll definitely want to check back for the rest of the list!

Blessings,
Therese

Are you doing the “spray and pray” method of marketing? Is your business suffering from the lack of a marketing strategy? Join me in this series of blog posts that will offer 7 ways to get you on the road to getting your ideal clients and having a marketing plan that works for you.

Do you “Spray and Pray?” You know what I mean. Maybe you pump out an email blast to get people to sign up for your program, then create a flyer you are leaving around town, then go to a few networking events to generate some buzz….then you pray like heck that someone shows up!

What’s the problem with that? Well, for starters, if you are scattered and jumping all around with different marketing pieces, you have no idea what did or didn’t work. Remember the old days when Chrysler rolled out about three new cars a year? The whole town came out, there was a parade and it was a BIG DEAL!

Fast forward about 50 years and now we are slammed with information, new ideas/products, and constant stimulation. It’s been said that we are blasted with over three thousand marketing messages a day. So while six years ago having the newsletter you sent out was a great idea and got lots of visibility, there is now so much competing for the ‘brain space’ of your market, that very often just doing a single mailing or marketing piece will fall on deaf ears.

You may have heard it said that it takes seven to nine exposures before someone says, “Hey…maybe I’ll give him a call.” This means that one email blast is not a marketing campaign!

Over the next few days, I’ll be outlining the antidote to “Spray and Pray” called the Plan and Persevere Method. Be sure to check back to discover tips and tricks to dramatically improve your marketing efforts.

Blessings,
Therese