Once you’ve started a small business of your own, you find yourself being challenged more, not just by the ins and outs of your business, but also by your personal agendas.  It is overwhelming, but in many ways it is good.  One advantage of having your own business is that you make your own decisions.  However, you are responsible for all the consequences of your own decisions and you have nobody else to blame.  If you are a newbie in the small business industry, you may still be adjusting and one small mistake may discourage you to advance.

Another advantage is that you manage your own time.  You can easily cancel an appointment to attend to your children’s school events, or to go to a personal romantic date.  This time management (which we will talk about in the next part of my blog) may cause procrastination and slow down your progress.  You don’t have a boss that will reprimand you when you get caught surfing the net or chatting with other people about non-business topics, or when you’ve left things undone.

With all this control in your hands, you may find yourself having difficulty in developing and advancing your business fast.  Here are some tips that can bring you a new perspective in time management and help you succeed in growing your small business.

• Do not wait for things to get better. 
  When times go bad in your small business, don’t slow down or stay “status quo” and hope for things to get better, because they won’t on their own.  You make things happen, and only you can make things better.

• Set SMART goals. 
  It’s not enough to picture yourself at the top, saying “I want to be 1 Million dollars richer by 2013.”  You need to make plans along with your goals, and these plans have to be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound).

• Look at your business with fresh eyes. 
  It is easy to lose our focus on what we do over time.  We have to refocus and review our initial goals and plans.  Look at it with fresh perspective, taking into consideration the things you learned along the way.  Adapt and make changes whenever possible. Hire a coach, work with a partner or buddy to gain a fresh perspective.

• Fix or replace.
  If something is not working well, fix it.  However, give yourself a time limit in fixing things, and if it can’t be fixed, replace it.  There are things that you will know right away if it doesn’t need fixing but instead needs replacing.  You have to be conscious of how much time and effort you put in fixing things, and how much you will save if you simply replace it.  I remember one businessman who is very sentimental about his first hard-earned car that he didn’t want to replace it.  He did buy a new one, eventually, but he kept using his first one as a back-up car.  When the car was several years old, he kept fixing it, replacing parts, having it repainted, etc.  But what he did not realize is that the time, effort and money he wasted fixing it, when he could have just bought a new one.

There are other ways to freshen up your perspectives to keep your business on the move. On the second part of my blog, I will talk about the little things that gets your time off from business, and how to look at it in a new way.

I would love to hear your thoughts, ideas and tips about starting a business and actually keeping it.  What are your experiences and how did you deal with it?

Complimentary Webinar:

Fast Start Big Year

Do you have a SOLID strategy to win in 2012?

I’m sure you’ve gotten lots of emails from lots of “advisors” suggesting that you get ready for the year of prosperity!

I know I have…and I’m happy to see them! But you know, prosperity doesn’t just show up at your door. It’s got to know your address and that you’re ready to open the door and welcome it into your business and your life.

The way to get prosperity to put you on it’s route, is to create a plan that has you moving toward it so that it meets you on the path, not waiting to reach your door.

If you haven’t created your strategic plan for prosperity in your business yet, no worries…it’s not too late!

Join me for this no cost, complimentary webinar, Fast Start, Big Year on Tuesday, January 31^st at 8pm EST.

Register here: http://thinkbig.chrismakell.com/fast-start-big-year-register

Here’s what you’re going to gain from the webinar:

– The biggest mistakes you can make when creating your Fast Start, Big Year plan for success and how to avoid them

– What you NEED to include in your plan and what is just FLUFF

– Why your plan CANNOT be the best-kept secret in your business (doing this will guarantee failure!)

– And more!

Setting your sights on creating the best year ever MUST begin with a roadmap or blueprint so that you’re moving towards your business success and prosperity with energy and focus.

So join me and learn how simple creating your blueprint can (and should) be!

You can register for the webinar here: http://thinkbig.chrismakell.com/fast-start-big-year-register

See you on Tuesday the 31^st!

To your remarkable success,

Chris

I promised some specific steps to help you to make the sales process simple, by teaching more of your leads, prospects and ideal clients. This will get you well on your way to:

Teach more to reach more.

Here are a couple of strategies you can use, right now.

1. Host a content-based teleseminar or webinar for your prospects and clients and teach them how to get more mileage from what you and others are offering by giving someone an opportunity for a “live” makeover!

For example, if you a virtual assistant, you could teach how business owners can work with a VA effectively. Then invite someone to talk about his or her experience and show them how to create a more powerful relationship.

2. Create a monthly “insiders” briefing call or special report where you go deep on one topic important for your community and give both the “pros and cons”…and then your recommendation.

For example, if you are a web designer, teach how someone can get their website online by either using a “squeeze page” vs. a blog page. Talk about what’s the pro/con and which do you recommend and why.

Just by sharing more of your expertise in a way that makes it easier for your community to make an informed decision to work with you, it is actually (I’m going to use the “S” word…get ready…) “selling.” Now that didn’t hurt did it? smile

I want to remove any hesitation to using this strategy by making one last point.  I am often asked, “Chris, how much to I ‘give’ away?” The answer…at least for me…is that you give enough for the prospect or client to clearly “get” that you are an expert at what you know; and that the depth of your knowledge surpasses what you’re giving them. So YOUR challenge is to continually learn more, so that you consistently deepen your level of knowledge and use the teach more to reach more strategy to “sell” more.

Oh yeah, as a result, you WILL earn more!

When I hear entrepreneurs complain that they are not making any money, not attracting clients and getting discouraged about their businesses, I ask them what they’re doing about it.  To sum up the responses, it’s often, “I’m not comfortable with selling.” While there’s so much more that I can say (and teach) about this statement, I’ll just focus on the underlying point that they miss.

It’s really NOT about their being uncomfortable with selling, it’s more that they don’t know how else to get their customers to “buy.” I’m sure you’ve heard that “customers/clients like to ‘buy,’ they don’t like to be sold.”

So let’s look at how most buying decisions made. The usual process is to do some research; ask friends and family for their experiences or input or it may just be a gut decision. If your market is information driven, i.e., they want to learn more before they buy, then your focus has to be in providing them with as much as they need to make an informed decision.

Makes sense, right? Sound fairly easy? Sure. Then why aren’t more entrepreneurs doing it?

I have a theory. Because it’s not “sexy” enough! Spending time thinking about what your market wants and teaching them the benefits of buying it from you, is just not as attractive and quick as say…putting up a “squeeze page” with some graphics, using social media to say it’s great, it’s ready, it’s here and come and get it. There may be some sales, but a sustained cash flow it will not make. Unless you…

Teach more to reach more.

When you are educating your market about all the ways in which they can create wealth, have more fun, stay young and sexy, find the love they want, create the career they desire, etc. they will not view what you have as a commodity. And you know how commodities are purchase…lowest common denominator! (Yikes, just took you back to algebra!) That is, price. And that’s a game you don’t want to play.

Teach more to reach more.

I’ll share more specific steps you can take in the next post!

If you missed 1-5, just go here to catch up! And share your  thoughts on his predictions in the comments below. Are you surprised? Do you agree or disagree? Think he’s right on or all “wet?”

Here we go!

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10 Predictions for 2012

by Perry Marshall - www.perrymarshall.com 

 

6. Affluent Europeans and Americans are adding a 2nd residence in developing countries. I have a friend who’s doing a seminar on how to set up a second residence in Guatemala. It’s already sold out.

There are some real advantages: Nobody in Costa Rica worries about riots in London, and the cooks and maids there are really cheap.

7. Futurist Ray Kurzweil has long predicted the coming “Singularity.” This is when, through the power of Moore’s Law, a desktop PC finally exceeds the power of the human brain. He says it’s going to happen in less than 20 years.

At that time all the computers in the world will be networked together to form a global brain of unimaginable power, ushering us into utopia. We’ll all upload ourselves into the cloud and achieve immortality. Some folks are cryogenically freezing their heads so they can be resurrected decades from now.

Kurzweil has somehow not noticed that Microsoft Word took two minutes to open 20 years ago and still takes two minutes now. He’s managed to not notice that your computer today is no more self-aware or capable of will or desire than the PC you had in 1993.

Does anyone *really* believe there’s no problem that can’t be solved with more CPU cycles? (“Dear business owner: Your REAL problem isn’t lack of credit or sagging sales. It’s the fact that your computer is just too slow….”)

Oh yeah, and the Singularity crowd assumes you can trust the IT department to house your brain and not sell the memory of losing your virginity to the porn guys.

Meanwhile, people who swore they’d live to be 150 still have strokes at age 57. The “Singuarity” is a rapture story for secular sophisticates.

8. Google plus will never unseat Facebook, but…. Larry Page has tied 25% of employee bonuses to Google+. What this really means is that Google is amassing even more demographic and psychographic data than Facebook ever dreamed of.

This is handy for Google: Facebook takes all the heat from privacy groups for their massive public gaffes, while Google AdWords gets better and better. This is GREAT for advertisers.

9. Retargeting means that the days of 3 cent clicks on Google’s Display Network are over, unless you’re targeting Trailer Trash prospects.

10. Four horsemen: Netflix, Pandora, Spotify and Amazon. The price of books, movies and music is headed towards zero. You’re already seeing 1-day Kindle specials: $20 books are $2.99, 99 cents or even free.

Amazon will start renting books to you on your Kindle the same way Netflix rents movies.

At Amazon, books are just a loss leader for selling flat-screen TV’s and Christmas presents. For you, books are a loss leader for selling ______?

You better decide right now. And if you don’t come up with a loss-leader strategy for your biz… someone else will.

Sleep with one eye open.

Perry Marshall

P.S.: Groupon’s gonna fizzle.

(Spirited, right? )

===

Entrepreneur Magazine says: “Perry Marshall is the #1 author and world’s most-quoted consultant on Google Advertising. He has helped over 100,000 advertisers save literally billions of dollars in Adwords stupidity tax.”

He is referenced across the Internet and by The Washington Post, USA Today, and the Chicago Tribune.

 

 

I find his predictions interesting…some scary, some exciting. I actually wanted to share this post of his with you for posterity…I want to “see” and look back on his social media and Amazon predictions…and so can you…enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. One of the world’s 3 major economic systems (Europe, USA, Asia) will experience a MAJOR correction. Huge snapping sound propagates ’round the globe.

Where will the tsunami strike first? I don’t know, but some clues:

• Surely nobody needs to remind you about the Unstoppable Force (US government spending), vs. the Immovable Object (reality). The Unstoppable Force is not unstoppable and will hit a wall. The next wave of billionaires will be options traders who bet their money that sooner or later, reality will prevail.
• China is in a massive real estate bubble. A condo in Guangzhou costs every bit as much as a condo in downtown Chicago; in Shanghai it costs more. I have no way of predicting when this is going to end but it will.
• Britain’s debt is even worse than the US.
• Porter Stansberry’s famous “End of America” video (a contrivance of some truly brilliant copywriters) predicts the next apocalypse will come when the world suddenly decides to abandon the dollar.

The reason Porter is wrong is that the other choices are even worse.  Sort of like an election, where you vote for the person you suspect to be the least-evil puppet ruler. Karl Deninger said, “The US dollar is a hooker with crabs… all the other currencies have AIDS.”

2. Cost Per Impression for online marketing exceeds that of offline. Online offers no particular price advantage in thick niches; the advantage is in the bells and whistles and targeting. Well worth the money, by the way.

This trend is already firmly established with “Jugular Offers” (troublesome B2C categories like business opportunities, weight loss, alternative medicine) where Google bans are the norm.

This means ninja marketers now use Pay Per Click to test and perfect, then cut deals elsewhere for the big profits. (Funny…. hey, wasn’t I saying that 8 years ago?) Customers acquired offline are more loyal.

Online-offline integration is the name of the game. I know a surprising number of guys who are making big bucks with radio advertising. Almost all the best info marketers I know are using direct mail profitably.

3. Social Media as a hotbed of demographic and psychographic insight – not sales channel.

Yesterday I was eating corn chips and on the bag was the obligatory blue Facebook “F” logo. “Woo hoo!” I thought. “I sure do love Facebook, it’s where I interact with my favorite brands and learn about coupons and special promotions. Happy Happy Joy Joy!”

Before another minute was allowed to pass, I rushed to my computer and became a fan of Frito-Lay.

Seriously, Frito-Lay isn’t going to budge their sales numbers an inch with a Facebook Fan page. However they will get some fans anyway, and the psychographic information they can get from Facebook will tell them stuff about compulsive TV-watching snackers they’d never figure out from a focus group.

This is the whole idea behind our own Fanalytix™. Years ago you couldn’t have bought this information for any price; now it’s buried under your own mattress. Those who use it possess a decisive edge.

Oh, and even though Twitter has no business plan, they can topple Arab regimes. I believe the CIA secretly sends a white van to the alley behind Twitter’s offices and tosses bags of $1000 bills to a guy in an orange suit.

4. Massive Asia Middle Class. Between China and India, their middle class now rivals the entire population of Europe. Asia isn’t nearly the haven of cheap outsourcing that it used to be; people who used to work for 60 cents an hour now cost four bucks.

It also means Asia’s creme de la creme is 3 million strong and they have TONS of cash. I saw more Bentleys in China in 3 weeks than in Chicago all year. If what you sell is expensive and confers status, you need catch the next flight to Shanghai or Bangalore.

5. Facebook hits the wall w/ investors. I doubt this will happen in 2012. Maybe in 2013. But at some point, the money people will wake up and realize Facebook has been playing patty-cake with their kindergarten advertising system. Facebook’s gonna go public and public companies have to make money.

Facebook ads are still the wild west, where people rub sticks together to make fire. The good news is, there’s a lot of dry firewood.

Just as a major correction is inevitable, Facebook turns a corner and finally decides to get serious about advertising. Not a moment too soon.

(see our next post for the juicy conclusion and predictions 6-10!)

===

Entrepreneur Magazine says: “Perry Marshall is the #1 author and world’s most-quoted consultant on Google Advertising. He has helped over 100,000 advertisers save literally billions of dollars in Adwords stupidity tax.”

He is referenced across the Internet and by The Washington Post, USA Today, and the Chicago Tribune.

Business success in 2012

Where are the small business opportunities for 2012?

How can you get ahead of the pack and attract, serve and delight more of your clients and customers?

Get started, now, by using these trends to set the stage for your success in the New Year!

Here’s a quick recap of the first 5!

Technology disruption accelerates: The cost of software will drop dramatically as the same functions become available cheaper or even free online.

Segmentation picks up steam: Small businesses should analyze existing customers as well as target markets to identify as precisely as possible those that are most profitable.

More and more mobile: Mobile searches on Google have quadrupled in the last two years alone. And despite tremendous growth, the upside remains huge.

A co-marketing comeback: In a slow-growth, value-seeking market, such partnerships can help businesses squeeze more out of their marketing dollars while delivering value-added service to customers.

Social soars: Any debate about social media’s staying power is over. Social is now part of the day-to-day marketing fabric of just about any business, from large to local.

Now on to the final 5 small business trends for 2012!

1. Reputation management rocks: The explosion of Web-based business directories, local search engines, review sites, blogs and social media has created a vast digital world where bits and pieces of information about your business exist in places you never heard of. As the digital universe expands, online reputation management will become even more critical to running a successful business.

This includes what you’re posting in social media, writing about on your blog and of course your marketing materials. Be ever vigilant about your reputation because the prospects that are “following” you will decide if your personal and business messages are a match to their “vision” of working with you.

2. Geo-targeting gets real: Search engines and social-media sites have been rushing to offer new and better ways for customers to find products and services on a geographically-specific basis. As local businesses start taking greater advantage of those new tools, creating local marketing campaigns online will take off.

Take a look at your keywords, Meta tags, etc. so that you can be “found” locally while online. More and more businesses are becoming “savvy” to finding support and partners online…and you want to be found!

3. Ideas as capital: In a slow-growth economy, innovation and great ideas will be your most valuable asset. In 2012, small companies will use more Web-based computing and other low-cost, easily available technologies to execute faster. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking great ideas only come from brilliant people. Game-changing ideas are already out there just waiting to be spotted and made your own.

There’s a saying… “There is no shortage of money, just money making ideas!” So in the New Year, how are you capitalizing on those business ideas that are just swirling around in your head?

Shameless plug – this is a major focus for my business in 2012…helping you discover and leverage your “winning business idea.”™ I will show you how to turn your “ideas” into income! Contact me if you’re ready, now.

4. Value is bigger than ever: Whether you sell to consumers or businesses, customers are better informed than ever. That puts more pressure on you to clearly articulate the value that your product or service delivers – and how you are different than everyone else. In 2012, customers will more closely scrutinize every company’s “value proposition”.

It truly is about the “value” you bring to the table. If you’re not sure what your value is…ask your clients/customers what THEY value. That will tell you where to put your focus and energy in 2012. It’s just that simple!

5. Global goes local: After years of outsourcing, manufacturing and sourcing of services is shifting back toward local again. Rising cost of transport will force larger customers to buy locally and a new generation of low-cost automated manufacturing equipment is making small businesses competitive again.

Whoo hoo for small businesses!!! How can you use this shift to your advantage? Will these customers need your help to leverage technology, client information, regional insights, etc. that you have developed over time? Think bigger about what this could mean for your business, for your clients, for your partners, etc.

Excerpt from ARIZONA BUSINESS GAZETTE, Nov. 10, 2011 and Dan Kehrer at www.bizbest.com.

I hope you enjoyed the 10 small business trends for 2012! I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback on these “forecasts!”

Do you think the trends are right on? Will they impact your business? What will you do differently now?

Just hit reply and share your thoughts!

Doing business in 2012

Where are the small business opportunities for 2012?

How can you get ahead of the pack and attract, serve and delight more of your clients and customers?

Get started, now, by using these first 5 trends to set the stage for your success in the New Year!

1. Technology disruption accelerates: Web-based or “cloud” computing, mobile commerce and social-media marketing are three fast-growing mega trends that are reinforcing each other at the same time. The cost of software will drop dramatically as the same functions become available cheaper or even free online.

Is there an opportunity to leverage these three technology areas, to reach more of your ideal clients? If you’re unsure, do a quick survey of your list and clients to see if it matters to them. If it doesn’t…don’t invest a lot of time in this area, yet.

1.  Segmentation picks up steam: As marketing dollars remain tight, and more small businesses move to digital, mobile, social media and other methods, targeting specific customer “segments” becomes both easier and more compelling. Small businesses should analyze existing customers as well as target markets to identify as precisely as possible those that are most profitable.

Investing time, money and effort by focusing on a segment or niche is far more profitable, but one of THE MOST painful things for entrepreneurs to do. However, would you rather throw money down the drain or direct it for an easier follow of money into your business?

1. More and more mobile: Ownership and usage of Smartphone’s and other mobile devices is skyrocketing, and research firms have been stunned by how fast some small businesses have moved to tap into mobile commerce. Widespread adoption of mobile technology has occurred more rapidly than for any technology of the last 100 years, including radio, television and the Internet. Bottom line: Your business must be visible on mobile. Mobile searches on Google have quadrupled in the last two years alone. And despite tremendous growth, the upside remains huge.

Once again, is this a viable option that your clients and customers are using and paying attention to. Certainly, if you are considering an investment in ad space using mobile marketing you want to do your research to ensure this is a distinct advantage that pays for itself!

1. A co-marketing comeback: In years past, businesses with complementary products and services often teamed up to market themselves – a movie theater and restaurant, for example. In a slow-growth, value-seeking market, such partnerships can help businesses squeeze more out of their marketing dollars while delivering value-added service to customers.

If you haven’t created partnerships or strategic alliances in the past, what the heck are you waiting for? Begin now. You will reach more potential customers, maximize your time and marketing investment and of course create more revenue and profit.

1. Social soars: Any debate about social media’s staying power is over. Social is now part of the day-to-day marketing fabric of just about any business, from large to local. If you haven’t done so already, getting up to speed on social media from a business standpoint is critical. A great place to learn is a site called ShopTalk: Social Media (www.DexSocial.com), which offers social-media-marketing advice.

If you refer back to the earlier point about segmentation and use that as part of your social media strategy, you can become a ROCK STAR. Trust me, spending time talking to everyone may be fun, but not profitable. “Social” is powerful, “social” with a strategy is moneymaker!

Excerpt from ARIZONA BUSINESS GAZETTE, Nov. 10, 2011 and Dan Kehrer at www.bizbest.com.

I hope you enjoyed the first 5 small business trends for 2012! We pick up the next 5 in our next issue. I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback on these “forecasts!”

Do you think the trends are right on? Will they impact your business? What will you do differently now?

Just hit reply and share your thoughts!

This week I’ve shared some posts from really good friends and business partners. We each fully support one another in our success…without question, fail or compensation. Isn’t that the ultimate? I guess you could say we truly “have each other’s back!”

So I wanted to use this “Play Bigger Friday” video to honor my dear friends Daphne and Melanie and inspire you to connect with your friends to “watch each other’s backs!”

Enjoy!