Self Employed Success

A woman in one of my mastermind groups posed a question today: why did she spend all her time doing research and never actually go on with “doing” the thing she was researching? She loved looking up information, finding resources, interviewing people, gathering facts. But taking these facts and applying them to her business seemed to always be put on the back burner.

It’s called “analysis paralysis.” The idea is this: if I could just gather this information, if I could just find this fact, if I could make this list a bit longer — you get the drift. As a small business coach, I see this my clients get caught in this trap all the time.

The cause is simple: it’s easier for many people to research than to “do” because gathering research is often a successful task, while acting on the research is fraught with the possibility of failure, stress, or pressure. So we stay in the research mode because it’s safe and we get a lot of positive feelings about having uncovered the information we need.

Don’t get me wrong: research is vital. I’ve seen many businesses fail to thrive because they haven’t done the marketing research necessary to see if people WANT TO BUY the service or product theywant to sell. The key, as always, is balance. When you find yourself doing more and more research, then you can bet you’re procrastinating on the “doing” side of things. You have two choices:

1. Try to figure out why you’re not doing the work, or
2. Just do the work.

Either choice is valid, but guess what? Choice 1 is still “research!”

Today I’m sending an email to my entire mailing list, asking them if they’re receiving two emails from me — and suggesting that they unsubscribe from one (or both!) in order to help them deal with email and information overload.

Here’s how it happens: someone signs up for your mailing list by registering for a free class. Next month, you offer a free ebook, or a paid membership, and they sign up again, but this time with a different email address. Now they’re getting TWO emails from you each time you send your email newsletter.

So once in a while, it helps if you tell them how to unsubscribe from one of those email addresses (gasp!). If you’re using a automated system like 1shoppingcart.com, constantcontact.com, aweber.com or mailchimp.com, those sytems should be putting unsubscribe info at the bottom of all your emails automatically — but people don’t know to scroll to the very BOTTOM of an email to find that unsubscribe link.

Before you send out a “Are You Getting Two Emails From Me?” broadcast, pause and check your OWN feelings. Are you scared that people may unsubscribe and reduce the size of your list? Or are you feeling that you’re doing them a service by inviting them to unsub?

I know it can be scary. What if they didn’t like what you’ve been writing all along in your email newsletter? What if they don’t want to hear from you anymore? Does it mean they don’t like you? Does it mean the end of your business?

Take a deep breath.

Repeat after me.

“It’s GOOD when people get off my mailing list. They unsubscribe for many, many reasons, some which have nothing to do with me. Those who are interested in what I have to share WILL stay on my mailing list. I trust in the intelligence of people that they will do what’s right for them – an ultimately, what’s right for me, too.”

For your amusement…

Another email from another icky marketer; my “comments and edits” are in brackets [ ]

=====

Dear Sir [sigh--"Madam," if you please]

I would like to offer you a partnership with my seo company [funny -- I already offer SEO to my clients. I'm listening...maybe you've got an amazing offer that will sweep me off my feet??] .

As i [hey, capitalize "i" when refering to yourself] understand that your goal is to help business owner to increase their profits and expand the business exposure, we want to offer you a partnership deal [wait for it, wait for it].

If your clients are interested to order our internet promotion service, you can recommend us and we will provide them a quality service with an affordable price. We will share [with] you a very generous commission per sale [golly, so tempting, how can I refuse?]. We offer a wide variety of service such as website design, website promotion, online consulting, and many more. [That's funny...WE offer the same thing! We must be related. Mommy! He's copying meeee!]

Let me know if you are interested [ummm...no, thanks. And may I wish you the utmost success in your business ventures?]

===

I have to laugh at these people. Do they really thing someone will respond to an email like this? Well, at least it cheered up my blah Friday.

Designing Effective Workshops & Teleclasses begins September 23.

A good workshop design allows:

• students to learn with ease
• teachers to speak with skill, comfort and centeredness
• both to build a trusting business relationship which can continue long after the class ends

For many years, I was the International Director of Education for a software company and creating new educational class was what my team did, day in and day out. I have studied the structure, process, and psychology of good adult educational design and am happy to share my knowledge with you and to help you create an outstanding class for your own students!

What You Will Learn:

In this 4-week teleclass, you will learn:

• the psychology of how adults learn
• how to design a structured, multidimensional workshop or teleclass
• how to construct lessons and lesson plans for optimum student learning
• the art of creating powerful exercises
• how to discover the needs of your students
• how to make your lessons interactive so adults won’t be bored
• how to conduct post-class evaluations to give you valuable feedback
• the easy way to convert lessons and exercises from a live class format to a teleclass format (and vice versa)

Come with your ideas and questions, and walk away with a class design of your own, ready to teach!

This 4-week teleclass series begins September 23.

Click here for more information and registration details:

http://www.passionforbusinesslearning.com/dewt/

I have ebooks and audios sitting on my hard drive that I’ve never consumed. I bet you do, too.

Free information is everywhere, and even if it’s excellent, it’s not always easy to digest it and create a strategy around it.

I think the next place of growth for service professionals and information marketers is to take all the free information you research and produce for your clients, synthesize it, and give it back to people in a practical, DO-able format.

Want to be unique? If you can get people to consume your information products, TEACH people how to consume it and use it, it will set you apart from the crowd.  The reason people spend money on my teleclasses and live training classes is that:

1.  They get to ask questions
2.  They’re given bite-sized homework assignments
3.  They can submit the homework to me for review/comments
4. They walk away with a do-able action plan

Even offering a free teleclass sets you apart from the crowd in your industry, because it allows people to receive a chunk of information, learn how to apply it, and ask questions to clarify points. If you’re not offering free teleclasses, now is a good time to start.

Information is everywhere. But smart people are now saying, “Make it work for me in the real world of busy schedules and conflicting priorities. Help me focus.”

If you want to be unique and stand out from the crowd, start helping your customers consume, digest and USE the information you’re giving them.

If you can simplify a complicated topic, if you can save your customers the time of having to do the research and analysis themselves, if you can cut through the noise and help your customers know what’s relevant and important, then you’ll always be valuable to them.