Self Employed Success

From Philospher Notes:

“Do not be impatient with your seemingly slow progress. Do not try to run faster than you presently can. If you are studying, reflecting and trying, you are making progress whether you are aware of it or not. A traveler walking the road in the darkness of night is still going forward. Someday, some way, everything will break open, like the natural unfolding of a rosebud.”

–Vernon Howard

I’ve posted nine new articles about mastermind groups on The Success Alliance website:

• Why Mastermind Group Guidelines Matter
• Getting Your Group to Set and Keep Goals
• Inviting Guest Speakers to Your Group
• Great Books for Mastermind Groups to Read Together
• 10 Reasons Why Mastermind Groups Fail
• Staying Connected Between Mastermind Meetings
• Start With a Core Group Then Build From There
• How Many Members Should Be In a Mastermind Group?
•  Mastermind For 90 Days

I hope you enjoy these articles and find them helpful with your own mastermind group!

http://www.thesuccessalliance.com/articles.html

“Success”

If you want a thing bad enough
To go out and fight for it,
Work day and night for it,
Give up your time and your peace and your sleep for it

If only desire of it
Makes you quite mad enough
Never to tire of it,
Makes you hold all other things tawdry and cheap for it

If life seems all empty and useless without it
And all that you scheme and you dream is about it,

If gladly you’ll sweat for it,
Fret for it,
Plan for it,
Lose all your terror of God or man for it,

If you’ll simply go after that thing that you want.
With all your capacity,
Strength and sagacity,
Faith, hope and confidence, stern pertinacity,

If neither cold poverty, famished and gaunt,
Nor sickness nor pain
Of body or brain
Can turn you away from the thing that you want,

If dogged and grim you besiege and beset it,
You’ll get it!

–by Berton Braley

I made an amazing discovery last month. Like you, I’m a busy business owner. Yet I need to continually learn new marketing techniques, new business ideas, etc. in order to maintain my “expert” status in my field.

Where was I going to find time to do all that reading, listening, and studying???

As with most successful projects, lifelong learning is about two things: structure and discipline.

If you took six hours a week to learn something new (read a book, listen to an audio program, take a teleclass), you’d have completed 312 hours of learning new material a year. That’s equivalent to over SIX college-level courses.

If you want to be known as an expert, you must be willing to invest six hours a week to “sharpening the saw” of your knowledge.

The way I do it is this: I’m taking off every Friday for the next year, to read, take classes, learn. From 9:00 – 3:00 I’ll read a book to read, listen to an audio program on MP3, watch a DVD, read websites, or take classes.

A colleague of mine uses her exercise time to listen to audios. Another colleague signs up for one class a month, each and every month of the year. One of my clients takes a weekly trip to the library (“The only place I can find some quiet!” he says) and reads a book for a few hours.

You can do this, too. Maybe you take one hour a day as your Learning Time. Maybe you schedule one day per week. It doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as you schedule the time into your calendar and religiously adhere to your learning schedule.

When you think “300 hours” it’s overwhelming.

When you think “1 hour a day” it’s empowering!

Add Mastermind Groups to your business and watch it grow!

There is synergy of energy, commitment, and excitement that participants bring to a Mastermind Group. The beauty of Mastermind Groups is that participants raise the bar by challenging each other to create and implement goals, brainstorm ideas, and support each other with total honesty, respect and compassion. Mastermind participants act as catalysts for growth, devil’s advocates and supportive colleagues.

Class begins July 30

In this three-week teleclass you will learn how to:

• Choose which type of Mastermind Group to create
• Determine if your Mastermind group will be free or paid membership
• Market to attract members
• Choose participants
• Construct different types of meeting agendas
• Create group policies and procedures
• Determine your role
• Deal with difficult members
• Tips for facilitating discussions at meetings

Kate Sanner, a student from this class says, “As someone who already offers individual and group coaching as part of my business, it was very useful to learn from Karyn this additional tool of Mastermind Groups to add to the service line of my business. Karyn provided incredible value in this class with her step-by-step process, educational materials, and dynamic teaching style.”

SCHEDULE:
This three-week teleclass begins July 30, 2008.
All class sessions are 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM eastern.

Classes will be recorded, so if you miss a session, you will be able to download the audio recording of the live class and listen to it at your leisure.

BONUS:
Once you register for the How to Create and Run a Mastermind Group class, you may list your mastermind group for free at The Mastermind Group Finder – The Success Alliance website, which receive 16,000 visitors annually looking for mastermind groups. You will receive an email with instructions on how to list your mastermind group once you register.

Registration fee: $110

To learn more about this class, and to register:

http://www.passionforbusinesslearning.com/mastermind/

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“I’m going nuts,” one of my private clients emailed me last week. She continued, “There are so many marketing techniques, how in the world do I choose the best ones for my business, without making massive mistakes?”

Putting together your marketing plan and your marketing campaigns can be a daunting task. You hear rumors that a specific marketing technique is a “must” for your type of business, yet you wonder: Will it really bring the desired results before I run out of cash and patience?

There are over 30 internet marketing techniques and another 50 or more traditional marketing techniques. How do you choose among these 80-100 possible marketing techniques to find the most powerful ones for your business? Here are some things to consider.

The Purpose of Marketing

First, let’s talk about the purposes of marketing. Knowing which goal you want for your marketing will help you choose the proper technique. There are thousands of books and websites on marketing, and by distilling them down to their core essence, we discover there are four primary purposes for marketing:

• Brand Awareness – Helping your target audience to become aware of you and want to learn more about your services and products.
• Lead Generation – Getting your target audience to request information and/or a sales conversation with you; also, for building a pre-sales relationship.
• Brand Consideration – Your target audience is considering buying from you or at least has included you in their short list of possibilities, along with your competitors.
• Direct Sales – Getting your target audience to purchase directly from you.

For example, you might use search engine advertising, like Google Adwords, for lead generation purposes, but it may be a poor choice for direct sales, especially if your target audience doesn’t purchase that way.

Read the full article>>>

Designing Effective Workshops and Teleclasses

begins July 14

Is it time to add workshops and teleclasses to your service offerings?

A good workshop design allows students to learn with ease, and allows us, the presenter and facilitator, to speak with comfort and centeredness.

Teaching gives us an opportunity to build a trusting relationship between ourselves and our students, who may be current or future clients.

In this HANDS-ON 5-week teleclass, you’ll learn how to:

• Construct lesson plans and objectives – the “script” of any good class
• Design exercises for optimal student learning and participation
• Create both a live workshop AND a teleclass from the same lesson plan
• Set prices and handle registrations
• Market your workshop or teleclass – fill those seats!

Here is a great opportunity to start — and finish — a class design project in five weeks, AND get feedback from the instructor. Walk away with a class design of your own, and start teaching it immediately!

For more class details and to register:
http://www.passionforbusinesslearning.com/dewt/

What Students Say…

“Thanks for presenting a fantastic class. You shared all of the pieces required for creating a class or workshop, and you role-modeled by giving us such a valuable and well-designed class. I feel I now have the tools and greater confidence to complete the classes I’ve been wanting to offer to my network. Thanks also for being so available to support us during the class. It was great to have your personal input with our homework!”

–Julie Cohen, PCC
Career & Personal Coach
Owner, Julie Cohen Coaching

Class Date/Time

This five-week teleclass begins July 14, 2009

• July 14
• July 21
• July 28
• August 4
• August 11

All teleclasses are
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM eastern

Class will be recorded, so if you miss a session, you will be able to download the audio recording of the live class and listen at your leisure.

Bonus

A PDF version of my 86-page e-book, Designing Effective Workshops and Teleclasses, is included with this class as your student guide.

Registration Information

Registration fee: $185 for the five-week teleclass.

For more class details and to register:
http://www.passionforbusinesslearning.com/dewt/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOt0VtwyoJ4

If you could ask a small business expert one question, what question would you ask?

Over the years, small business owners have asked me all sorts of questions about growing their business. In fact, they’ve asked so many questions that I can’t answer them all!

So I thought this month it was important to have a call where you can ask me anything about growing and running your business — for free!

Click here to register for this free teleclass – www.AskKarynAnything.com

Here are some questions we covered in last month’s Ask Karyn Anything teleclass:

• “How can I tell if I have competitors for my new business idea?”
• “What are the best marketing techniques for 2009?”
• “How do I stay firm when quoting my fees?”
• “What is the best way to use social networking sites?”
• “What are the best ways to market my mastermind group?”

I can’t wait to discuss the answers to your questions in July’s Ask Karyn Anything call!

This free teleclass is July 23, 2009 — 1:00 – 2:00 PM eastern

Class will be recorded, so if you miss it, registered participants will be able to download the audio recording and listen to it later.

Click here to register for this free teleclass – www.AskKarynAnything.com

Your pricing strategy should reflect your worth and what the market will bear for your skill level and type of service.

Research the average fees for your type of business so that you know your prices are in line with expectation. If you can’t get competitor pricing information, try Brenner Books. If your experience warrants it, increase your pricing to reflect your higher skills, knowledge and experience. If you’re not sure how to create a pricing strategy, research it online or talk with a small business consultant or mentor.

If you know you need to raise your fees but don’t know how, or you’re feeling uncomfortable doing so, read my article How To Raise Your Fees.