This year the focus of your life, the choices you make and the direction you go in stops with you. You are in charge of it all and you alone are the one to make changes and achievements. Basically speaking the buck stops with you.
But where to start? Will you know enough? If you stop and analyze where you are right now the chances are you know more about your topic/business than anyone else and you have got a lot to offer someone.
Do what you know best and start right where you are now.
Simon Sinek famously says “Start with Why” and that if you know why you are doing what you do everything else falls into place. Another great guy is Chris Brogan and he says that to “Start Right Where You Are” is a really powerful place too.
What are your goals?
So take a minute to think about where you are in life in general.
You tell yourself you need more clients, more business and more sales but where are you in the process of building that out?
Where are your goals leading you and what actions can you take to achieve them?
- Goal – Need 4 new clients per month
- Task – Blog weekly to increase awareness and leads.
- Start today – Engage and follow up leads to close the sale over time.
Get blogging
Blogging takes time and repetition. In order to write successfully, you have to consider who your blog is for, what the content is about and why they should and will be interested in reading it.
The golden rule of blogging is 80/20 when it comes to content. People buy and engage with people they know, like and trust and by engaging personally through blogging you build your readership and gain their trust, which is invaluable. If you blog regularly you will also build your own confidence and personal style and that inner strength will flow over into your business also.
Blogging consistently leads to business and opportunities. It reveals the type of person you are and how you live your life and business. When you write from the heart and tell your story and the valuable information you share with readers this is the best way to grow your brand and business.
If you find writing a challenge initially and you have no idea of what to write you may need to set a structure in place to kick start your thoughts and ideas.
Here are a couple of pointers:
- Think about the place a Blog has in your business?
- What strategy should you instigate to get the goal you want?
- Blog Titles. How to grab people’s attention and encourage them to read on?
- Social networks. How to repurpose your blog content across the networks to further grow your readership and followers?
- Goals. What aspect of blogging will grow your business success fastest?
Rome was not built in a day.
Building your business
Building your business comes through trial and error and picking yourself up time and time again. I know this to be true because I have built 3 businesses over 28 years in 3 different professions and started from scratch each time.
So when you have your new idea and you feel overwhelmed just start with one thing and take small steps and consistently put one foot in front of the other and progress will be made.
Business plans are interesting as they are always evolving and you get pulled in different directions. Very often a new avenue opens that you never thought of and BOOM your business takes off. You’ve probably heard the expression “The best time to have planted a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today” You will never have all your ducks in a row so you may as well get started and lead the way forward with all the confidence you can muster! Strength will follow.
Recipe for Success
Gather the ingredients.
- What were you planning to start?
- Hold an event?
- Give a webinar?
- Write a book?
Set the scene on the table.
- Group the contents you need, i.e., 10 sentences make a paragraph, 10 paragraphs make a page, 10 pages make a chapter, 10 chapters make a book.
- 10 slides make a Powerpoint presentation and turn it into a webinar with a product to sell at the end.
- What event would work for you?
- How would you get people to turn up?
- What would they like to know/learn?
Once you get started to keep the project moving bit by bit and as you are the one in charge the buck stops with you and you control the pace and delivery of the procedure.
It is up to you to keep the momentum and confidence to deliver and get the returns you expect.
Which media suits you best?
You need to explore what media suits your business best.
Email marketing is very powerful and will trigger direct sales when implemented correctly. You need to step back and analyze your entire business and the integrated marketing style that will suit you, your community and your business.
For instance, in a local retail business, your website is a sales tool and a “window” to showcase your stock.
You need to consider the social networks that will drive traffic to this site and have a method of list building on your web page. You need to “close the circle” in your marketing and drive traffic daily to landing pages with a reason for your clients to opt-in and stay in touch with you. Then when new season stock arrives you have built a database and are in a position to preview and invite your clientele in advance and encourage presales. This way you are building trust and a relationship with your clients and making media that helps you thrive.
Have Confidence and Make a Start!
But to achieve all this you need confidence and confidence runs on wins. The core element of being successful in your business and life is confidence. When you lack confidence in yourself or your product this manifests itself and is portrayed to others.
In order to build your confidence, you need wins, wins that start small and then grow and as the sales grow so will your confidence and belief.
So let’s set a challenge that is attainable for you to get small wins.
Day 1: Make 10 specific “Asks” to 10 different people who are a good fit for your business. The WIN is that you made the ASK not whether they bite.
Day 2: Write a compelling sales letter. The WIN is that you wrote the letter.
Day 3: Publish and post the sales letter. WIN WIN 3
Day 4: Follow up all the above with a personalized email which is yet Another WIN
Day 5: Review the week and confirm at least 1 new sale/customer.
By Day 5 you have made 5 new wins and gained confidence and customers. So the challenge is easier the following week and even more attainable.
Set the right path up and baby steps lead to giant steps. Remember the “Buck stops with you” and you alone can line it up and succeed.
Start this week!
Images: ”A modified stop sign with an idiomatic expression /Shutterstock.com“
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