Self Employed Success

In this episode, Mark asks, “I want to hold my first teleseminar. What technology do I need, what teleconference line should I use, how do I accept payments online, etc.?”

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

I’m going to be harsh here, so hold on to your hat.

Have you CHECKED to see if people want your product or service?

The first – and ultimately the biggest – mistake that small business owners make is that they fail to do adequate market research. We get overly-excited about a new idea and assume that our customers will love it, too. We ask a few colleagues or a few customers, and base our strategic business decision on the opinion of six people. Then we are bitterly disappointed when no one buys.

Save yourself the wasted time and money (not to mention the anxiety and frustration), and learn to conduct a simple marketing research project to test the waters.

For more help on doing your own Marketing Research:

• Read my article, Ground Truth and the Importance of Market Research
• Listen to my free, one hour how-to audio, Yes, You Can Do Your Own Market Research

I’d love to hear your story, your comments, your questions about market research. Post your comments here!

I’ll be adding to this series each Thursday, and you can check out all the past posts in the Why Marketing Fails series here.

If you’re not busy, raise your hand.

Ha! I knew it!

Everyone is busy. Everyone has a full calendar and a full To Do list. So where are you supposed to find time to think about the future of your business and how you will reinvent it?

Of course you know that you have to find the time to think about the future of your business or it will sneak up on you and bite you in the butt.

A Calendar for Reinventing Your Business Model

I can’t offer a miracle time-creator pill (but wouldn’t that be cool?). But here’s how I’m carving out time to plan for my business reinvention – maybe some of these tips will work for you.

1. First I had to figure out the best time of day for me, the time when I’m thinking clearest and the time when I have energy and vitality. For me, that’s early in the morning.
2. Next, I picked several one-hour time slots each week, 8AM – 9AM, and booked an appointment with myself. No phones, no email, no hubby, no kitties. I did this for a four-week period, two self-appointments per week for a total of 8 hours for the month. This time is used for brain-heavy thinking and planning.
3. Then I figured out my most dreamy times, the times when my brain is shut off and my heart and intuition are open. 3PM is my mental down time.
4. I scheduled 4 one-hour appointments in a month (once a week) to visit the lake and just sit for the hour from 3PM – 4PM. No cell phone, no laptop, no paper, no pen. Just me and the waves and the ducks. This time is used to sit quietly and just let whatever comes up to ripple to the surface of my consciousness. I figure if it’s important, I’ll remember it later and write it down, but I don’t want to stop the flow of energy by stopping to write down notes during this one hour “business meditation.”

It might take you a month or two to schedule these appointments with yourself. Just get them on your calendar.

The final thing I did was schedule a business reinvention weekend for myself, away from the house. I was lucky that I had a business trip planned so I extended my stay so that I could have two or three days of undivided attention to my business future.

I also used a mastermind group retreat weekend to focus on my business reinvention and talk about it with my mastermind group colleagues. But you might find a willing friend who will let you stay in their guest room for a few nights and who will understand if you’re incommunicado for part of that time so you can spend quiet time transforming your business model.

Question for you: How are you carving out time to devote to planning your next business move? What suggestions do you have for people who know they need to find time to think and dream about transforming their business, but also lead very busy lives? Leave your comments below; I’d love to hear from you!

We always want to know which marketing techniques are the best, the easiest, and yield the greatest results for our time and money. Any shortcuts to marketing are viewed with awe and respect.

And yet what can you do when you try the “best” marketing techniques and they just aren’t working for you? Do you ditch them? Or is there a simple tweak you can do that will transform them?

I began to research why marketing fails about a year ago. So far I’ve come up with 35 different reasons why marketing fails, separated into nine categories. In this blog post series, I will review some of those 35 reasons and offer you a quick tip on how to tweak your marketing as related to the “failure point.” Hopefully these insights and tips will help you get your marketing back on track.

See the Why Marketing Fails Blog Series here. I’ll be adding to it each Thursday.

Got a topic you’d like me to cover in this series? A comment? A question? Post your comments…I’d love to hear from you!

Each week, I hear people telling me they want to be self employed, but they don’t (or can’t) move forward on their dreams because they’re afraid. There are so many things to be afraid of when you’re self employed: fear of failure, fear of success, fear of illness, fear of lawsuits. No money, no time, no skills, no help, no support.

Being self employed takes a particular type of courage. You have to be willing to take action with no guarantees of success. You have to be willing to put all your heart and soul into your enterprise, and you have to be willing to face and overcome the roadblocks that get in your way. You have to be willing to dream big dreams, and have the guts to learn new things that you never knew how to do before.

On top of all that, you need the type of courage that shouts, “I must do this or I won’t have lived my life purpose!”

It takes strength, focus and responsibility to succeed or fail on your own merits, and to be willing to ask for help or education when you need it.

• Do you have the courage to face your fears and keep walking towards your dream anyway?
• Do you have the strength and dignity to act consistently and responsibly towards your business, on a daily basis, without whimpering in self-defeating behaviors and excuses?
• Do you have the guts to set a big goal, create reasonable action plans that stretch and challenge you, and move forward on those tasks knowing that you have no guarantee of success?

Every self employed person feels fear at one time or another. The next time you hear yourself saying, “I’m afraid,” reply with a knowing smile and say to yourself, “Join the crowd.”

Then, summon up that well of courage and take responsibility to create the life and business you’ve dreamed of.

Because, if you don’t have that type of courage, you probably shouldn’t be self employed in the first place. Being self employed is about challenging yourself and the world. It’s not about taking the easy way; it’s about taking the only way that will give you a sense of self-fulfillment and success.