How to Start a Greeting Cards Home Business

Do you like to create pictures and designs, or writing? Do you love to look at the greeting cards in your local stores? Then a greeting cards home business could be for you. This is a business with incredible growth, and income potential. It also gives the greeting card home based business owner several options in the business itself.

A greeting card home business opportunity can have you doing only one part, such as drawing or writing. This same business can be selling e-cards or cards sold in stores. It could also entail purchasing a territory from a larger card distributor.

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The first step in how to start a greeting card company is to decide what part of the greeting card business you want to focus on. As a freelance greeting card artist, you would focus only on designing cards for other companies. There are costs associated with this option and could include the purchase of a computer and graphic art software if you don't already have these items.

If you decide to be a freelance greeting card writer, your home based greeting card business would focus on only writing the phrases to be used on greeting cards. For this, you only need a computer and quick turn around time.

Of course, you can always freelance as both a writer and artist. To get jobs you must contact companies to see if they are in need of freelancers. They pay from an assignment to several hundred dollars per assignment. However, until you build up a portfolio of samples, and sometimes even after, jobs can be hard to find.

Another option is to purchase a vending route from a larger greeting card company. This route becomes your way of starting a greeting card company. You are required to keep current clients stocked in cards, replace old cards with new ones and get new clients to build your income. You have start up costs that can run from several hundred to several thousand dollars in inventory. However, when you take the cards to the clients, you receive your payments right then.

If you want to start your own line of cards, your greeting card business plan would focus on all aspects of greeting card businesses. You will design and write each greeting card inside and out. Your creative freedom would not be hindered by someone telling you what they want. You would make all the decisions and it would truly be your greeting cards business.

Being a greeting cards home business owner would make the internet your best marketing tool. You wouldn't be able to compete with larger greeting card companies, so you will want to create a special niche for your cards on the web and in small local stores.

This option requires research before beginning the creation of cards for your greeting cards home business. You will need to price printing services and software. Once you have these ready, you can being creating. Go ahead a start creating cards, but at the same time, think of a name for your greeting cards home business and create a website.

Websites are very easy to create, depending on the provider you decide on. Research domain name registries and web site providers. The more web pages and information you want to provide will influence the charge of the web site. A greeting cards home business web site should be able to be effective without many extras at first. The extras can come later.

Once your website is ready, put pictures of your cards and ordering information into it. If you create the web site yourself or pay someone else to do it, make sure the site is search engine optimized. This will bring more people to your greeting card web site and start selling your cards.

Since some people like to hold cards and feel their quality before purchasing, it may be best to have your greeting cards home business web site offer one free card, or one free sample package per household. This gets your cards on the market and helps drive customers to your web site. Also, consider creating a special "Thank You" card that you personalized by you for all inquiries and orders. This is another way to let people know the quality of your cards.

Have the cards printed as the orders come in to the web site. Offer personalized cards to increase sales. Make sure you have plenty of designs for each category. You want your greeting cards home business website to look full, but not cluttered.

You now know several of the options available to start your greeting cards home business. Now all you have to do is to decide which is the best option for you. This business can grow to be as large or as small as you want it.

How to Start a Greeting Cards Home Business

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Starting a Business? Inventory Your Entrepreneurial Skills

Almost every business start-up checklist that aspiring entrepreneurs will read, refers to "must know" information about legal issues, money management, sales, marketing and operations. In fact, success as an entrepreneur not only relies on your knowledge and effective execution of these fundamentals, but also requires a constant commitment to keep growing and gaining knowledge in these areas. Fortunately, there are many resources available for small businesses in the form of professional services or public agencies available to help us augment our own skills in these areas at affordable rates. As we busy ourselves getting on top of these business-technical skills to manage day-to-day operations, it doesn't take long for us to realize that these skills, although essential, might not be enough to make your business start-up succeed.

What could be missing? Maybe it is that other, less talked about, business start-up check list - the one that speaks to the actual success behaviors necessary to run and grow your new business. Skills or traits such as judgment, confidence, agility, and creativity are some of the critical intangibles that are hard to measure, next to impossible to farm out but critical for start-up business success. For most of us it's relatively easy to look at the numbers and know if cash flow is good or bad or to look at a marketing plan and say if it worked or not. On the other hand, however, it might be hard for many of us to own up to having limited knowledge or weakness especially if we are fearful that admission might force us to shelve our dreams of business ownership. The fact is, we can significantly enhance our chances of new business success if we take the time to inventory our skill set and put strategies in place to enhance those skills we can and seek help and support where we struggle.

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For most of us, much of this self discovery will take place once your start-up is in motion. In other words, we will learn on the job. Our hope, of course, is that it will happen early enough to avoid serious consequences. However, with a little bit of introspection and honest evaluation of our preferences or behaviors, we can actually examine our own tendencies and put corrective actions in place early.

The following simple assessment, albeit non-scientific, is one way to take inventory of our abilities in some of the required non-business-technical areas. It is based on the well accepted principle which has been used successfully in the job interview for years - that past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior.

Create a spreadsheet with five columns and label them as follows:

Column 1 - Skill or Trait - List the following 20 traits that are generally regarded as new business start-up skills. Feel free to add others you know to be important.

i. Agility

ii. Confidence

iii. Courage

iv. Creativity

v. Decisiveness

vi. Self discipline

vii. Good judgment

viii. Flexibility

ix. Hard Worker

x. Leadership

xi. Multitask effectively

xii. Networking ability

xiii. Objectivity

xiv. Openness to new ideas

xv. Political Savvy

xvi. Resilience

xvii. Self-starter

xviii. Interpersonal skills

xix. Risk tolerance

xx. Visionary

Column 2 - Rating: On a scale of 1-10, rate yourself on each of these entrepreneurial traits - with "1" meaning you have concerns about your strengths and "10" meaning you have confidence your skills are strong in this area.

Column 3 - Example: Identify the best example in your past that demonstrates your strength with regard to the entrepreneurial trait or skill in question.

Column 4 - Strategy - Define a plan of action to address your shortcomings in any entrepreneurial trait where your self score is less than a 6 - especially if you consider it important to your start-up business.

Column 5 - Sensitivity - To help focus and prioritize your efforts, rank the entrepreneurial skills and traits based on their relative significance to your business. For example if you sell widgets via the internet, interpersonal business skills, which are always important, might be less significant than agility to keep up with internet marketing trends. On the other hand if you run an in home day care, agility within very stringent government regulations might be a little harder and so you might choose to focus on your networking abilities to keep and gain new customers.

Column 3 is quite possibly the most important. It forces us as entrepreneurs to not just say how good we are, but to actually identify specific examples to demonstrate how we have acted in the past. If you have scored yourself with a high rating (6 or higher) and cannot identify great examples in your past to support that ranking - you might need to rethink your self rated scores.

Once you have completed the exercise yourself, ask someone whose opinion you value or potential business partners to complete a similar chart with their observations about you and each other. Comparing the results should give you a good idea of skills you have mastered and those which are potential weak areas you might need to address to improve you or your team's chance of success. Brainstorm potential solutions and be open to the fact that it might come in many forms. One entrepreneur might choose to join business clusters to share ideas another could decide to create a board of advisors. No one path will fit everyone or every business model.

Facing our fears head on will significantly improve our chances of business start-up success. The last thing we want as our businesses begin to grow is to find out that our skills bank is close to running on empty and doing this personal inventory is long overdue and. Begin taking stock of your entrepreneurial skills today!

Starting a Business? Inventory Your Entrepreneurial Skills

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How to Start a Foreclosure Cleanup Business "On the Cheap"

There are some definite costs to starting a foreclosure cleanup business. It's not one you can start with no money - and don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise. But, costs can be mitigated. Following are some concrete suggestions on how to start a foreclosure cleaning business "on the cheap."

3 Concrete Suggestions for How to Business Cleaning Foreclosures Cheaply

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Rent Equipment: While it's ideal to have your own equipment when you own a foreclosure cleanup business, you can rent almost everything you need until you can afford to outright purchase it.

For example, a trailer and a dumpster. Most jobs will require these, as you will have to clean and remove trash and debris from a property. But this equipment can be rented very reasonably.

Equipment Tip: Familiarize Yourself with Costs before You Start Marketing

To start to get an idea of the costs of things you will be renting often (eg, ladders, lawn equipment (in warm seasons); tools, etc., visit your local Home Depot or Lowe's. As these are built-in costs for your business, you should have an idea of how much it will cost to rent these things for your foreclosure clean out business until you can afford to buy them.

Subcontract: Another way to start a foreclosure cleanup business on the cheap is to subcontract out as much as you can. Cleaning, you can handle yourself. But, if there are jobs that you're not equipped to handle because you either don't know how, or don't have the proper tools, outsource - eg, painting, plumbing, electric, window repairs, etc.

Just build the cost of hiring contractors into your estimate.

Market Online: One of the biggest costs most new businesses face is marketing. Luckily, a foreclosure cleanup business is one where marketing can be done on the cheap. Why? Because your primary customer base (eg, realtors, bankers and investors) are all online.

And, they are easy to find. So use email marketing. It's free. Add a couple of vehicle signs to this (every foreclosure cleanup business should have vehicle signs) and this is all the marketing you'll need to do to get business flowing in initially.

While there are legitimate startup costs you can't get around when you start a foreclosure cleanup business (eg, insurance, vehicle, phone), everything else can be done "on the cheap" until you start bringing in business.

Learn more of what you need to know to start a successful foreclosure cleaning business.

How to Start a Foreclosure Cleanup Business "On the Cheap"

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Five Crucial Components of a Business Plan

The format of a Business Plan is something that has been
developed and refined over the years and is something that should
not be changed. Like a good recipe, a business plan needs to
include certain ingredients to make it work.

When you create a business plan, don't attempt to recreate its
format. Those reviewing this type of document have expectations
you must meet. If they do not see those crucial decision-making
components, they'll see no reason to proceed with their review of
your business plan, no matter how great your business idea.

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Executive Summary Section

Every business plan must begin with an Executive Summary section.
A well-written Executive Summary is critical to the success of
the rest of the document. Here is where you need to capture the
attention of your audience so that they will be compelled to read
on. Remember, it's a summary, so each and every word must be
carefully selected and presented.

Use the Executive Summary section of your business plan to
accurately describe the nature of your business venture including
the need that you plan to fill. Show the reasons why people need
your product or service. Show this by including a brief analysis
of the characteristics of your potential market.

Describe the organization of your business including your
management team. Also, briefly describe your sales and marketing
plan or approach. Finally include the numbers that those
reviewing your business plan want to see - the amount of capital
you seek, the carefully calculated sales projections and your
plan to repay the loan.

If you've captured your audience so far they'll read on.
Otherwise, they'll close the document and add your business plan
to the heap of other rejected ideas.

Devote the balance of your business plan to providing details of
the items outlined in the Executive Summary.

The Business Section

Be sure to include the legal name, physical address and detailed
description of the nature of your business. It's important to
keep the description easy to read using common terminology. Never
assume that those reading your business plan have the same level
of technical knowledge that you do. Describe how you plan to
better serve your market than your competition is currently
doing.

Market Analysis Section

An analysis of the market shows that you have done your homework.
This section is basically a summary of your Marketing Plan. It
needs to show the demand for your product or service, the
proposed market, trends within the industry, a description of
your pricing plan and packaging and a description of your company
policies.

Financing Section

The Financing section must show that you are as committed to your
business venture as you expect those reading your business plan
to be. Show the amount of personal funds you are contributing and
their source. Also include the amount of capital you need and
your plan to repay this debt. Include all pertinent financial
worksheets in this section: annual income projections, a
break-even worksheet, projected cash flow statements and a
balance sheet.

Management Section

Outline your organizational structure and management team here.
Include the legal structure of your business whether it is a
partnership, corporation or limited liability corporation.
Include resumes and biographies of key players on your management
team. Show staffing projection data for the next few years.

By now you're probably thinking that you don't need Business Plan
just yet. Well you do, and there is business plan building
software that can help you through this immense project. These
software packages are easy to use and affordable. Use one today
and produce a professional-quality Business Plan - including all
critical components - tomorrow!

Five Crucial Components of a Business Plan

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Starting Your Small Business Branding Efforts

Branding is an important aspect of every business. Many businesses enjoy unbelievable success because they have effectively branded themselves. Think of the following companies, which have annual revenues in the billions because of their successful branding efforts:

o McDonald's
o Lowe's
o Home Depot

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Even if you own a small business - and your yearly revenue levels do not approach the billions - you still need to try to build your brand and build respect within the industry. Effectively developing your brand can significantly increase your profits and lead to a long and enjoyable life for your business.

However, worrying constantly about your brand will not produce positive results, either. Think of an athlete who wilts under pressure; that is what you will do if you press too hard to build your brand. You have put forth effort to make it happen, for sure; but you cannot press too hard. It does take time.

The first step towards building a great brand reputation is to consistently produce great products, or to consistently deliver great services.

Obviously, you also need customers in order to build your brand. So, to recap, here are the consistent quality, and a good marketing strategy to bring in customers.

Finding your Customers

To bring in more customers, you need to know who they are. Not everyone is a potential customer for your business. Only people who have a need for the product or service that you produced can be considered possible customers, or prospects.

Do not ignore the "old fashioned" marketing techniques, such as brochures. They are still effective tools. Design a brochure printing project that targets people who need your product or service.

Here are two things that all of your brochures must include:

1. The need that your business fills. There is a need that your company fills, and you have to emphasize that in all of your advertising. As a side note, if your company does not fill a need, you are in trouble.

2. A way to get in contact with you. This sound obvious, but it is still worth mentioning. Include many different ways for the readers of your brochures to get in touch with you, including phone numbers, website addresses, email addresses, fax numbers, and anything else.

Again, do not forget to constantly produce quality products. That is the first step to building a great brand, but I cannot help you with that. I can help you with bringing in customers, and one of the best things you can do to that end is create a good brochure. Obviously, it does not stop there, but that will provide you with a good start. With that, you will be on your way to generating a brand as effective as McDonald's. Well, maybe not...but you never know.

Starting Your Small Business Branding Efforts

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Using a CRM System to Grow Your Business

In order to secure a steady income stream from your business, you have to track and maintain a client base that includes not only your current clients and prospects that are already in your sales funnel, but also a healthy list of future prospects. See it a little like feeding a plant, you need to feed your business constantly to keep it growing or else it's going to get sick and die.

That's why I always recommend using a CRM system. It's amazing to hear how entrepreneurs are still using Excel spreadsheets to keep track of their clients and prospects. I'm a strong believer in using systems and technology to improve the effectiveness of the daily management of a business.

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For those of you who don't know, CRM stands for Customer Relationships Management. CRM systems can improve client satisfaction, increase productivity and boost profits. Remember that you always have to be in your client's mind for them to think of doing business with you.

Here's a great definition of CRM from Wikipedia:

...is a broadly recognized, widely-implemented strategy for managing and nurturing a company's interactions with customers and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes-principally sales related activities, but also those for marketing, customer service, and technical support. The overall goals are to find, attract, and win new customers, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former customers back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and customer service.

Some of the reasons why you should be using a CRM system:

1. Consolidated and automation of sales and marketing processes.

2. By being able to store and access client/prospect personal information, activities, correspondence, etc. you can work in a team environment using the same up to date or live data about your clients and prospects.

3. Schedule of activities, reminders and calendar sharing for a group.

4. Increased cross-selling opportunities.

5. Segregate and categories contacts according to specific criteria (A, B, C clients, per company, industry, interests, etc.) which will allow for a higher client profiling and targeting.

6. Improved client service, loyalty and retention. Since you're keeping track of all activities and important information about your clients and their business, it will allow you to be proactive instead of reactive with your business.

7. Higher overall profitability.

There are many different great products you can use and I would recommend taking advantage of any free trial offers to try to figure out which CRM system is right for your business.

Using a CRM System to Grow Your Business

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Grow Your Personal Training Business With Free Advertising

Recently I've had the opportunity to work with a few personal trainers on growing their business. There have been a few common challenges that seem to come up for each trainer. They are;

- Finding new clients - Motivating clients outside of the gym - Sporadic hours throughout the day

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This week I like would like to focus on the challenge of finding new clients.

Whether you are a seasoned trainer with many clients to fill up your day, or new to the profession and wondering why people are not knocking at your door, listen up. This advice is going to help build your business.

Let's start with those who have a handful of clients. You need to ask yourself some questions. How are you performing as a personal trainer? The first step is to know that you are offering and delivering the best possible service to your clients. In short, the way to do this is to ask your client questions. Let's be clear. For you to be delivering your client the best service it's not about how much you know and tell your clients or how many courses you've taken. Seems contrary to what you've been taught, doesn't it? Allow me to let you in on a little secrete. It's not about you; it's ALL about your customer.

Serving the customer This not a new concept as people now realize the only difference between them and the guy down the street is customer service. But do you really know what that means? Let me ask you this, what is the ratio between ears and mouths on the human body? 2:1 correct? See what I'm getting at. We need to listen to our clients and fully understand why they are here to see us. When the middle aged lady is here to see you to lose weight, get healthy and 'feel good', what does that actually mean? You need to be digging a bit deeper here. Summer is upon us and people want to feel comfortable taking off their shirts and walking down the beach. That's what it means to 'feel good'. We have to paint that picture for our clients for this, and only this, is truly going to motivate them. The very first step in customer service is to know why your customer is here to see you. Keep on asking yourself "why" until you've hit the core reason. This will also help with motivating your client outside of the gym. Once you have found their 'why', use it at all times.

How this relates to free advertising? As you gain happy customers and they feel that you truly care for their success, your business is going to grow. There's a catch though. This is not going to happen on its own. The way to grow your business and not have to spend a dollar on advertising in the newspaper is to ask for referrals! You can see why it's important for us to first have a happy customer. Now you can ask, "You know Sandra, I looking to grow my customer base, do you have any friends who would be interested in my service?" And here's a little tip after asking for the referral - keep your mouth shut! I've seen it too many times where trainers then interrupt the client by filling in the 'awkward' silence and then moving away from the topic. Ask and you shall receive. When people are happy with your service, they will actively seek out new clients for you.

This means we have some work to do. Whether you are a new trainer or a seasoned pro, call up your past clients, friends, and relatives and let them know that you are actively building your customer base and would like to ask if they know anyone who might be interested in; losing weight for the beach this summer, or any other of your core focus you have. This is where you have to be specific! Paint a picture of that person you would like to work with. The key here is to ask for the referral and not seek out business from them. Chances are they know what you do and don't want to be pitched to. This also alleviates any pressure on you.

Grow Your Personal Training Business With Free Advertising

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Offshore Outsource To Grow Your Business

Most business owners sooner or later come to the realization that in order to be competitive in their sector they must embrace a newer methods of conducting their business operations. A lot of entrepreneurs incorrectly assume that in order to cut costs, they have to carry out most of the work associated with running a business by themselves. But a more efficient and more cost effective option is to offshore outsource a lot of the everyday duties necessary to manage a business.

Why pay somebody else to accomplish something that can be done yourself? Because, by delegating that work to another person, you'll actually be saving money, provided it's done in the correct way! You should pay somebody else because doing so will in reality, earn (or at least save) you money!

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By way of example, ask yourself how much you've been getting paid for checking and replying to e-mail, or taking phone calls pertaining to customer satisfaction issues? Just how much do you get paid to update your calendar, synchronize schedules, or submit updates to social networking sites? You could offshore outsource all of these tasks to a trained virtual assistant at very little cost.

In reality, every time you conduct these ordinary duties you aren't earning any revenue. In fact, it's actually costing you money! How is that? Because you aren't doing something that will earn income, and when your efforts are not earning revenue, you're missing the chance to grow your business in a way that will increase your "bottom line." And isn't that really the reason for starting your company in the first place?

If you spend just 4 hours a day to take on those tasks that you could otherwise offshore outsource, that adds up to 20 hours in one week during which time no one is doing YOUR job! And by that I mean the duties which you, as the business owner, need to be doing to expand your business.

Since there are 8,765 hours in a year, that means 12% of your precious time is expended managing chores that could well be handled if you were to offshore outsource the same work. Hiring an offshore employee ensures that you can now free up those 20 hours per week to implement those ideas that initially led you to launch a business. Now just think about how much your enterprise will thrive!

If you offshore outsource to a virtual employee, they are able to do everything from checking email messages, to setting up meetings, updating status reports, replying to customers, and basic client service matters. Your virtual assistant may be trained to create office and client documents, conduct research, create accounts, and pay bills.

Not only that, but your virtual assistant can also be the catalyst to enhance your business venture. Your virtual helper allows you to expand your company by running client survey forms, and compiling customer comments, complaints and transactions. A good virtual assistant may also be used to answer and filter your phone calls, bringing to your attention any which are in need of an immediate reply.

If you're thinking that having a VA just isn't affordable for your organization, there are some factors you need to consider. A lot of offshore virtual assistants are remarkably capable, are college graduates and are ready and eager to work What's even more important. they can quite literally save your organization many thousands of dollars per year. By no longer having to sustain all of the added employee taxes (which include unemployment and social security taxes, along with health insurance benefit premiums) your business can retain a lot more of its profits!

Offshore Outsource To Grow Your Business

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5 Ways to Grow Your Business Fast With Technology

A business is like a plant, if it isn't growing, it's dying. Business owners today understand the challenges of growing a business. With more and more companies vying for the same piece of market share, expansion can seem like a monumental task that may never happen. This does not have to be the case.

Typical small business process & technology challenges
Marketing, Sales and Customer Service: can't track or monitor leads and sales opportunities, don't know what my sales and customer service departments are up to. Communication notes are non-existent. If someone is away, there's no reference point of the last discussion.

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Network Infrastructure: piecemeal network devices from different vendors that work, but performance is slow and unreliable. None or very little remote access capability with manual process requirements.

Decentralized information and document versions: many versions of files, quotes, pricing information, scattered throughout individual computers. Information is emailed back and forth. Keeping track of the accurate document version is confusing. Leading to errors, wrong pricing and customer complaints.

How do you compete and win?
By leveraging technology, you can improve processes, communication, reduce costs and collaborate better with customers, employees and suppliers. Here are 5 ways to grow your business fast by using technology.

1 - Give Your Business an Online and Social Media Presence: today a business simply cannot compete on any type of legitimate level if there is no online presence. If you do not have a website and you're not using social media, you are missing out on a huge portion of your target market. The vast majority of consumers (more than 80%) head to the internet as their first place to quickly locate information and research businesses. If you don't already have a website, setting one up should be your first step. A hosting company or a good web development company may be an ideal place to start. Next, leverage free social media tools to help expose your business. LinkedIn, Twitter, facebook are some of the more popular tools. Create an account with your company name such as "http://www.facebook.com/yourbusinessname" and put a link on your website home page. Do the same for other social media and you'll see how your efforts will generate new business.

2 - Make use of CRM contact management software: CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software can do wonders to improve business, by shining a new light on customer service, and sales opportunities. Track communication, leads, quotes and sales activity all in one software. See phone calls, appointments, tasks and even historical communication notes with each and every contact in your system. CRM software allows customer data to be stored in one area and shared throughout the organization, making it simple and fast to locate information, see customer trends, and make changes as needed to attract new business.

3- Design an Effective Marketing Program: without a strong marketing program in place, business is going to suffer. Proper marketing will not only improve the number of sales, but also the quality of those sales due to a reduction in wasted hours spent chasing poor leads. CRM software can be used to plan and allow for regular follow ups with customers or potential customers. Communication notes and files can further help track customer needs. Combine with email marketing solutions to get the latest news to your audience. Furthermore, much of the sales and marketing processes can be automated, making it easy to stay on top of lead generation.

4- Give Employees Mobile Devices and Remote Access: companies that offer employees teleworking remote access capability get up to 40% more productivity from their staff. If your company has employees that are regularly on the road and/or away from the office, you can drastically improve efficiency by providing mobile devices such as a BlackBerry or iPhone smartphone or tablets with instant live wireless email and calendar synchronization. This will allow for orders to be quickly submitted back to the main office, emails to be sent, and even virtual meetings and collaborations to occur at any time, from anywhere.

5- Follow me & voicemail to email: employees can be more available and responsive even when they've stepped away from the office. Calls can be automatically forwarded to a cell phone, home office or remote IP phone allowing the customer a better chance of connecting with the person they want. If the call is missed, a voicemail can be emailed and listen to from a smartphone or desktop computer with email. Ensuring that you never forget to return a call.

Compete with your largest competitors regardless of size, by implementing technology solutions to help your business streamline processes, improve productivity and reduce operational costs.

5 Ways to Grow Your Business Fast With Technology

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12 Month Marketing Calendar - Your Turn-By-Turn Navigation System To Business Success

As every smart business owner knows, marketing your business should be a CONSTANT effort. It's something you need to continuously doing in order to keep your pipeline full of interested and qualified prospects.

However, for many, life simply gets in the way, obstacles arise, and all the good intentions seem to fade. As a result, you come to your senses one day and realize your pipeline's dry as a bone and you're struggling just to survive.

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One way to make sure this doesn't happen is to create a detailed day-by-day calendar of marketing tasks and activities to be completed over the next 12 months.

Creating this calendar acts very much like the GPS turn-by-turn navigation system in your new car. You tell it where to go (writing out your goals) and as you move along the journey (going through the year) the system tells you where to turn (the marketing activities to complete) in order to arrive safely at your final destination.

In order to help you create a magical marketing calendar, here are 7 key steps to keep in mind:

1. Plan out the entire 12 months in advance.

By laying out the full 12 months ahead of time, you lay out the entire year's journey ahead of you. This is what gives you the turn-by-turn direction needed to achieve the goals you've laid out for your business.

2. Plan a 'campaign' every month.

As you plan the full 12 months, it's important to create an 'activity' or 'campaign' for each and every month of the year. This does a couple of things for you.

First, it gets you in the marketing mindset. Doing something each and every month forces you to think about marketing more consistently and it should encourage you to study and learn good marketing principles.

Second, it helps develop name recognition with your target market. While small businesses should NEVER waste money on branding type marketing, developing some name recognition as a side benefit of good direct response marketing is a good thing. Being consistent with your marketing helps make this happen.

3. Pick a theme for each campaign.

One of the biggest sins of marketing is being boring. With as much advertising as your prospects are subjected to, it's important to be interesting and picking a theme for each month's campaign helps generate interest.

To create an interesting theme use current events in the local or national media, holidays, movies, or anything else that you can create a character or story around.

4. Target your efforts at prospects, customers, and partners.

To create a pipeline that's always full, you need to tap as many resources as possible. It's impossible to rely on just one method to create a steady stream of interested, qualified prospects and by directing your activities at generating new business via prospects, your existing customers, and joint venture partners, your chance of filling your pipeline increase substantially.

5. Be flexible.

Now, even though your plan is for a full 12 months, there may be obstacles or detours in the road the cause you to adjust your course. Be flexible enough with your plan to accommodate these changes. Doing so will ensure you the ability to make the necessary adjustments that will allow you to reach your destination.

6. Schedule periodic checkups.

A big key to success with your plan is the ability to check your progress and make changes as needed. To make sure these periodic check ups occur, schedule appointments in order to make sure they happen.

7. Stick to your plan!

This is quite possible the BIGGEST key to success with your 12 month marketing calendar. After going through the time and effort required to create your calendar, it would be a shame to not put it to use.

So, as soon as you finish creating your step-by-step marketing roadmap, make the resolution to STICK TO IT! Don't allow life's ups and downs deter you from carrying out your plan.

If you know where you want to take your business in the next year, the only way to ensure your safe arrival at the final destination is to clearly map out your path. Creating this 12 month magical marketing calendar will give you the direction you need to achieve some phenomenal results.

12 Month Marketing Calendar - Your Turn-By-Turn Navigation System To Business Success

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How Your Personality Can Grow Your Business

The other day, a colleague of mine told me about a new marketing agency and sent me a link to their Web site. I checked it out. Needless to say, it was dreadful. Oh, it was pretty enough with very nice graphics. And what little copy there was, was very artfully placed (although so tiny it was difficult to actually read).

Why do I say it was dreadful? Because, even though it was pretty, it had absolutely no personality. The copy was boring (not to mention full of "we's" but that's for another day). The graphics were pretty but boring. There was no life, no energy, just flat. It was as though the Web site was trying so hard to appeal to everyone, it ended up appealing to no one.

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You see, people want to do business with people. And they want to do business with people they know, like and trust. But how will they know if they like you if they don't know your personality? If you're so busy hiding behind some boring, flat, but oh-so-politically-correct Web site, how will they ever figure out if they like you enough to do business with you? And, even more importantly, will they stick around long enough to get to know you.

Dan Kennedy said the worst mistake you can make in your marketing is to be boring. Because if you're boring, why would anyone stick around to listen to you? Life is too short and people are too busy to hang around if they're bored. They'll find something better to do with their time.

But, I can already hear you ask, What if they don't like me? What if I turn off paying customers or clients? And that could happen. In fact, I would say it SHOULD happen. Why should? A few reasons.

First, if you're writing copy that's so vanilla to appeal to everyone, it will appeal to no one. In your quest to not turn anyone off, you also won't inspire any passion or excitement. As a result, you'll probably lose the sale anyway, because they'll probably chose someone who DOES excite them.

Second, according to Peter Montoya, a good brand attracts your target market as much as it repels. Therefore, if your company isn't turning people some people off, then you probably aren't reaching your ideal clients as strongly as you could be.

Third, let's say some of those people who would otherwise be turned off by the personality in your brand and copy decide to do business with you. Do you really think it's going to be a good fit? If they don't like your personality, are they really going to like your products or working with you? Probably not. So you're better off repelling them to begin with.

I know it's scary, especially if you've been conditioned to think business stuff should be flat and "corporate" sounding. But, the reality is, the more personality and interest you can work into your copy and your brand, the more you'll cultivate loyalty, passion and excitement from your customers.

Now that you know you need to work some personality in your brand. But how do you do that? Watch your in-box, I'll provide some tips for doing that in the next issue.

How Your Personality Can Grow Your Business

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Promote Your Business With The Latest Advertising Tools

Most of us think that if business is running well, there is no need to promote it more. People might name their laid-back attitude- lack of time or contentment.

Business is like a human being, it can be developed to any extent if you keep on improving and becoming better. We all know what we have become and achieved but we don't know what we could be. Certainly, we stop ourselves from growing further after a point and accept the things as they are. Your business and its state is an extension of your personality. If you fail to understand that why your business is still there where it was long back and, others have gone way ahead- here is the answer: You don't want to grow.

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Were you equally concerned about expansion as much as you were about setting a shop, you would have reached the sky. Sky is the limit for those who want to grow. Well you might be wondering what if we wish to grow but don't know how. The first step is to start promoting it. Promotion is challenging process. One needs patience for a constant and on-going marketing.

There are various tools to keep your advertising on forever without worrying much. Here are some other tips that can help you grow and make your business a success.

Promotion is a dire need of today's business if you want to keep it alive even in the future and many years to come. It is usually misunderstood as a one-time step and linked with a new business. Even an old business must promote in different ways to reach and amass new customers. Marketing a product may seem easy but it's not just distributing leaflets. Of course making your existence known to others is important but to keep a spark in the business, you should bring something new for the customers every now and then.

You can't completely rely on just your regular customers. There is always a need to add more customers to increase your business, and that can happen if you know how to attract them. Entire setting of the shop should appeal the customer even before he enters the shop.

Replace your boring banners with more stylish ones and give your store a refreshing look. Banners should sum up everything about your business. Style is an important term that is impacting everybody these days. There is a wide variety of display solution available in the market. One can go for classy bamboo Banner stands and customized postures fixed on it. It's about how you package your shop even before packaging your products.

Promotion material should be distributed on and off. One should keep festive discounts or off-season sale (if applicable) to attract customers. Give regular advertisements in print and always provide brochures to the customers.

Promote Your Business With The Latest Advertising Tools

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Increase Business with Promotional Gifts

We all like to receive Promotional items and gifts handed out by the companies during trade shows, conventions, exhibitions, and conferences. Distributing promotional gifts are keystone in your company branding and marketing strategies and they help you grow your business and enhance existing and budding relationships. For making any business grow and increase sales, one ought to do a lot of planning, go through a thorough thought process, and decide the selection of appropriate promotional gifts. Promotional gifts should be chosen as per your business nature so that people can relate it to your gifted item.

Promotional gifts are one of the most popular and widely used techniques of marketing and advertising the company name and brand. Promotional gifts can be easily customized by imprinting your company name, brand, slogan, logo, message, website URL, and contact details on their surface. Promotional free gifts are also used to attract new customers for trying your recently launched services or product. The most striking point behind promotional gifts is that they actually and effectively create brand recognition by exposing your current and potential customers to your company logo and business information.

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Promotional gifts are not very difficult to afford, particularly with a little planning. Buying them in bulk won't burn a hole in your pocket, rather you can avail huge discounts. For using and selecting promotional gifts you have to know how to deal with the changing market. Various promotional gifts solve different purposes. Some of the popular and widely used promotional gifts are as follows:

Promotional pens: Pens are one of the most popular and widely distributed promotional gifts. Any company with limited budget usually goes for promotional pens. These pens are easily embellished with your company name, logo, slogan, and message. We all use pens everyday and every time. That's why; gifting promotional pens is one of the best choices.

Promotional calendars: Promotional calendars are distributed out by nearly 50% of small businesses each holiday season. They actually are one of the least expensive gifts. The biggest advantage of gifting calendars as your promotional gifts is that everyone uses them and they stay around for the entire year, flaunting your name and contact.

Computer accessories and other office supplies: Whenever a business decides to distribute promotional gifts, the first choice that strikes their mind is computer accessories. Giveaway packages of computer accessories mainly include pen tubs, imprinted pens, personalised sticky notes, mouse mats, and clocks. These are usually placed right next to the calendar and computer on the desk and hence, ensure great visibility.

There are various companies in UK offering a wide range of promotional gifts. But if you want someone popular and reliable, contact us at Ideasbynet. With two decades of experience, it offers a massive range of promotional gifts and that too at an affordable price. Visit http://www.ideasbynet.com for knowing more about promotional gifts and promotional items.

Increase Business with Promotional Gifts

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Promotional Campaign With Promotional Merchandise Help Your Business Grow

Advertising your business using promotional merchandise is among the best advertising methods as it drives your business towards the right direction. In fact, promoting your business in order to get noticed by prospective clients is made easier with promotional products, especially when there are hundreds of competitors looking to target the same clientele as yours.

There are so many ways to promote your company which include radio, television and magazines but a prospective customer may possibly not be able to provide undivided attention to these adverts. However, with a promotional gift which is a physical item in possession of the customer positioned in front of him will keep him reminding about you as well as your business.

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There is an endless list of promotional gifts that can be presented to your customers and make them remember your company as long as they possess it. These products can subsist of anything from office related items like pens, calendars etc to house ware and every day use gadgets like key chains, cups, clocks etc to toys, novelties, cloths, accessories and so many other items. Just imprint your company name on it and see the magic.

Advertising your business using promotional products is much better than any other way like publishing in newspapers, radio or television. On the other hand, everyone like being gifted with everyday use items like pens, mugs etcetera. The main part is no one even realizes that you are marketing your company as these gifts are a lot less intrusive than interrupted by an advertisement in between a show on television.

The usual types of advertising like television and radio does not formulate an impact on the potential customers because advertisements on these media last only for thirty seconds. The customer will forget about your advertisement as soon as another advertisement starts. In case, the customer decides to use your promotional product, he is continuously been reminded about your business and the chances are that he will use your services when required.

Promotional campaign done using promotional merchandise really does well. However, you have to make sure that right product reaches the right person. For instance, office related equipments or items gifted to office going person will definitely make use of the gift. In the same way, gifting children with toys and other useful novelties will make them remind their parents about your business.

Special events like exhibitions and tradeshows are very important to start your promotional campaign and start gifting the visitors with promotional product. During exhibitions and tradeshows people come in search of good business where they would like to do business. At this moment, if your present these visitors with special products with your company name on it, it will certainly boost your business.

Every single company should learn to work hard and make marketing strategies in order to grow. To grow on a regular basis, you need to maintain a group of loyal customers who do business with you but also refer your business as well. Promotional merchandise will help your company to imprint the name of your company in their minds.

Promotional Campaign With Promotional Merchandise Help Your Business Grow

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How Loss Mitigation Companies Can Help You Grow Your Foreclosure Cleanup Business

Loss mitigators are on the frontline of the foreclosure cleanup crisis; they know before anyone else (other than the homebuyer) that a property is in trouble and headed for possible foreclosure. They are on the phone with buyers daily who either ultimately come up with a successful solution to save their homes, or whose homes head into foreclosure or short sale scenarios.

As a real estate industry contractor, you should plan to send loss mitigators your contact info via email, postcard, introductory letter, etc. It's not unusual for banks and mortgage companies to give delinquent buyers financial incentive to move from the home (versus having to put them out); it's actually cheaper for banks and mortgage companies to use this tactic versus foreclosure.

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Buyers will need junk removed, cleanup, etc., as they prepare to move and leave the house in good condition for the bank so they can get their monies. Loss mitigators can pass along your company's info to them. (Remember, an astronomical percentage of homebuyers are delinquent on their home loan payments to-date.)

Further, if a home goes into a short sale scenario (where the bank agrees to a lesser sales price for the home than the actual value), the home will eventually need cleanup, debris removal, repairs, painting lawn work, etc. Make sure your contact info is in the loss mitigator's rolodex for passing along to industry colleagues like short sale specialists, REO realtors and new short sale buyers.

Find an updated list of loss mitigation companies, prepare a phone script before you contact them, and then plan to saturate the market with your company information.

Many wishes of success in your real estate industry contracting business and foreclosure cleanup business.

How Loss Mitigation Companies Can Help You Grow Your Foreclosure Cleanup Business

Grow Calendar 2011

Contractors Who Need More Business - Use Multiple Ways to Attract Business

You know in life and in business, we are always looking for that one magic thing that will do it all for us. The problem is, life and business are almost never that simple. Usually it takes many complicated things to be successful. That is especially true when we are trying to attract more business. I just had a salesman talk to me about doing a radio spot. Now, if I just listened to him, you would think that if I do that radio spot, then I will have all of the business I can handle. Now I've been around a little too long to believe that radio ads will provide all of the business I need. I am however seriously considering running a radio ad. I do know that there is no good or bad media, it just has to be appropriate for the audience and the message you are trying to reach them with.

In order to build a good business with lot's of stability, you cannot depend on just one thing. It is also not wise to depend on one of anything to provide the business you need. A few years back, I talked to a guy who built a million dollar business, but he provided one company. That worked well until that company went out of business. Then he suddenly had no business. That same thing can happen to your business if you heavily rely on one entity or one form of marketing to supply all of your business. Many contractors sub from Home Depot or Lowes or other large companies. There is nothing wrong with this. It can be a profitable business partnership. However, if you get too large of a percentage of your business from them and something happens to jeopardize that relationship, you could be really hurting.

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This is also true of depending on just one type of advertising. For example, there were many companies that were built on telemarketing. I know there were some replacement window companies that did that. When the no-call list came out, this all but shut down cold calling. That is why as a business person, you need to have many lines in the water all of the time. You can't expect to build a strong business on one ad. In my business, I've found that a monthly newsletter provides a great deal of my business and is one of the best forms of marketing I can do. However, I do many other things to attract new business also.

For instance, I've found that a small classified ad produces results.It doesn't cost a lot (maybe 0 a month) but it produces some business. I certainly couldn't build a business on it but it does pay for itself. I think sometimes contractors expect too much from their advertising. They expect an ad to produce a windfall of profits and that is seldom the case. Instead, we need to look at advertising as an investment. If it produces more than it costs, than we should keep doing it.

I also get some results from my yellow pages ad. Again, it doesn't produce a lot, but I do get calls from it. The same is true of my signs. They cost a little to get made up, but then they continue to get me a few calls. None of the things I've mentioned here will provide enough work to keep my guys busy. However everything put together works to build my business. The other advantage of doing lots of different things to attract business is that they begin to help support and reinforce each other. For instance if someone sees a couple of your signs, they see your ad every week and then when they need a contractor, they go to the yellow pages and see your ad, they are more likely to call you. This doesn't mean that you should put out the money just to get name recognition, but it is a nice added benefit.

With this recession, I believe it is more important than ever to do more to attract business. However, I think that it is just as important if not more so to be careful with where and how much money we spend. With this recession, advertisers are hungrier too. They will do whatever it takes to get you to give them your money. You have to be very careful not to give in to what they tell you, or it would be very easy to go broke spending way too much on advertising that doesn't pay. You see what they want is to show you an add that sounds good to you and them, whether or not it actually brings in business for you. When it comes to advertising, it is very important for you to be actively involved in your advertising and to learn how to do it properly. It has been my experience that when I rely on the salesperson to tell me how or where to advertise, it seldom pays off.

Contractors Who Need More Business - Use Multiple Ways to Attract Business

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5 Ways to Grow a Local Business

Having a local company grow is easy with local advertising. Although it takes money, the effect is amazing. Marketing brings leads to the company depending on the strategic location of the advertisements.

List with Newspapers

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Depending on the industry, newspapers reach the local area and every consumer. If the company has items or services that appeal to everyone, it is a good bet to place. Some examples of companies that do well marketing in a newspaper are satellite companies, local home decor companies and car sale companies.

Getting Targeted Leads

Every company wants to receive targeted leads. These types of leads are the ones that are within the niche and target market of people actively looking for the business product or service. Some ways to research the business consumers are to look at local advertising magazines. Many offer the latest coupon books, classy magazines and niche magazines. To advertise local business in a certain magazine that caters to the higher paid working class, would gather a targeted lead for a trade that runs an upscale golf course or hair salon, for instance.

Going for the Bargain Shopper

This type of advertising appeals to all types of people and bargain shoppers are in the mix. Coffee shops often have handouts that list local businesses. Coupon books delivered throughout the city provide a good way to advertise the business, and entice shoppers to come in with a coupon. This also acts as a measure to track the campaign's effectiveness.

Made for Television

Cable television adverts those that receive broadcasting on the local news and public stations. These often display in government buildings that have televisions stationed throughout waiting areas, and other local commerce that provides this entertainment for their guests.

Heard it on the Radio

Radio promotion is one of the biggest ways to advertise locally for an industry. Every day millions of people in local cities listen to the radio during their workday. Having a jingle or script written about the business is one way to attract leads. Even if the announcer comes up with a script and announces the product or service during targeted times, like rush hour traffic in the morning and afternoon, the advertisement serves its purpose for the price.

If the campaign makes money off the marketing, then consider its job done. Tracking the effectiveness of the campaign is important for all who advertise local business because the better the job the promotion does, the more a company can repeat it and gain clientele.

5 Ways to Grow a Local Business

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Growing Your Business - Five Key Things to Make You Successful

Has growing your business ever been one of your New Year's "resolutions"? Have you then -- like the rest of us - realized, at some point later, that the year is quickly disappearing in a haze of last minute crises and customer problems and that you haven't started working on your resolutions yet? So make this year different, take 2 minutes to look at these 5 keys to growing your business successfully and take the first step toward turning your intentions into actions.

First, be clear about what you want to achieve. You want to grow - but what? Sales - for sure, but don't go after increased sales any cost. Focus on the profitability of each deal and aggressively pursue only those which will grow your bottom line. How do you do that? Ask yourself what has made you successful up to now - why do your customers buy from you not your competitors? Focus on how you make money - the things that make you unique. Also take a look at the characteristics of your profitable customers, what do they look like, what things do they have in common? Avoid the temptation to cut prices or offer special discounts to get the "first" order. It becomes very difficult to the raise prices to normal levels.

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Second, find a way to handle the routine - but essential - work that takes place daily, so that you can focus on growing your business. "Routine" work -- for example receiving, invoicing, "set up" of machines -- can be written up as a process so that each step is clear and can be followed exactly. You can also measure the length of time to complete these jobs and the number of mistakes made and come up with averages or standards for measuring performance levels. Use the same idea to delegate. Tell your supervisors and managers what decisions they can make on their own - for example what they can do to solve customer complaints - without coming back to you and put it in writing. To make sure you don't lose control, make a note of the areas of your business which you know will get you into trouble quickly if they're not watched closely - for example cash in the Bank, order backlog, machine utilization or order fill rates. Then have someone bring you (as opposed to you going to get it) a summary of the actual numbers regularly - daily or weekly as appropriate. Make everyone aware of what you consider to be acceptable performance in these areas and share the results with them. If they have to be improved, tell them why - then ask them how to make the improvements and, if it sounds logical, let them get on with it.

And what if your people aren't capable of doing that? Third, hire or train people who can. Look for the people already in your company who you know not only have the skills and experience to do their job but who also share your values and standards - they'll do things to the performance levels you want. And let them deal with stuff that requires a quick reaction but which doesn't directly impact what you're doing to increase sales and profits. Remember, it doesn't matter how a job is done, all that matters is how well it's done. When you next have to hire start by making a list of the people you've met who could do the job and approach them. If you have to recruit, don't take the best of the bunch you see, use temporary help until you find what you want.

Fourth, keep "score" regularly. Imagine what would happen if an NBA, NHL or NFL team only saw the results of each game when it was over. The coaches and managers would have no opportunity to adjust their game plan for what had actually taken place in each period. Growing your business is no different. Take a half day just after the results for each quarter become available to compare what has happened against the increase in sales and profits you wanted to achieve and the goals you set for yourself and your staff. Then make the necessary adjustments. Have each of your sales reps. forecast their sales for the next month - and then go back and discuss what actually happened and, if necessary ask them what has to be done to improve. Have your warehouse and manufacturing teams forecast performance levels in their areas and do the same follow up. If they don't know how to do this, bring in someone to train them.

Fifth and final point, I was talking to someone recently who has grown his business from zero to almost million in sales in just 5 years. Guess what he told me? It's his view that anyone could have seen the opportunity he saw (he actually thought about it for 2 years before forming the company) and anyone could have developed the products. The major reason for his success he believes lay in the fact that he executed and executed well. One of the keys to successful execution is to develop an Action Plan which has SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Recorded - or written - and Time related). Another is to find people who have experience growing companies and either use them as advisors or form an Advisory Board. Pay them if you have to, it's an investment, not a cost.

Anyone can make a resolution or intend to get something done, but not everyone can transform it into reality. To grow your business successfully don't sacrifice profits for increased sales; turn routine tasks into processes, set performance levels for them and delegate without losing control; hire people who have the skills and values you need; check the score and adjust your game plan and execute by turning intentions into actions.

© Copyright ProfitPATH, a division of JDS & Associates Inc., 2006

Growing Your Business - Five Key Things to Make You Successful

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Small Business - 3 Ways to Work Smarter, Not Harder to Grow Your Bottom Line

Every small business reaches a point where you are maxed out on production and are forced to make a decision on how you can continue to grow. For most, it means hiring more staff, working longer hours or investing money to expand your business. There are alternatives you should consider that will allow you to continue to grow your bottom line without having to lay out more funds for staff or expensive equipment.

Sell your knowledge.
No matter what market or industry you are in, as a small business owner you possess a wealth of knowledge. That knowledge is valuable to those who do not have it. If you have an established internet presence, you can turn your knowledge into a marketable product.

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This might take the form of an instruction video, an operators manual, or an e-book of expert tips and tricks of the trade. You can go as big or as small as you wish by writing the product yourself or going all out and hiring a production company to create a video series.

The beauty of this type of product is that you invest a small amount of time or money once to create the product and then it generates ongoing residual income that requires little or no work to maintain. In other words, do the work once and then get paid for it over and over again.

Drop shipped products.
One of the easiest ways to sell more products without having to manufacture them yourself is to find complimentary products from other companies to sell to your existing customer base. Use your connections within your industry to your benefit or spend a little time sourcing out companies who want to increase their sales in new markets.

Most businesses are looking to make more sales. They will be interested in giving you a discount if you are willing to find those sales for them. This will allow you to set your own price for the goods and turn a profit. All you have to do is take the orders, receive payment and then forward the orders to your supplier. In turn, they will ship the products directly to your customers.

Use another company's resources to manufacture more goods.
If your demand exceeds your supply, but you do not want to expand your business or hire more staff, you might consider contracting another company to manufacture some of your products for you. Outsourcing some of your production to another company may mean a little less profit on those goods but it also means you do not have to buy more equipment, find a larger facility or hire more staff.

You will need to sign a legal agreement with the company to protect your ownership of the product and the terms of sale of the product.

These three alternatives can take your business to the next level by adding new revenue streams to your income without tapping into your resources. You will not have to work longer hours, hire more staff or invest any money. You will be working smarter, not harder. In many cases, you can actually work less and make more.

Small Business - 3 Ways to Work Smarter, Not Harder to Grow Your Bottom Line

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What Does It Mean To Grow A Healthy Business?

A thriving business needs to grow or it stagnates and may even fail. But what does it mean to grow a healthy business?

First, understand that growing revenues is a necessary but not sufficient aspect of growth. Thinking of growth exclusively in terms of revenue is like dumping fertilizer on a garden without watering or weeding it. Inevitably, the crop dies.

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Second, growth is iterative. The process is repeated over and over again. In this sense there is no first or last step. Still, you can posit a starting point, a platform from which you begin and to which you return to measure your progress, assess your direction, and refine your vision.

One way to posit a meaningful starting point is to assess current reality and how it differs from what you intend to create. What are you experiencing now? What is working? Where are you dissatisfied? Look at both external, measurable factors such as sales, prospects, productivity, and experiential and qualitative factors such as engagement, enthusiasm, creativity.

Examine your motives for wanting new growth. Are you dissatisfied with current reality? Do you sense that something new wants to come into being? Are you feeling impelled by a creative drive? By boredom? Fear? Competition? Envy? List your motives without censoring them so that you can understand what is really true for you. Every motive is an expression of a sort of worldview. If you repress or misstate your motives, you are the prisoner of their worldview and unable to examine the underlying beliefs.

With your motives clearly in mind, take a look at how you are doing now. Measure how many clients you have, how much income you are earning, how much time you are spending delivering services, marketing, and administering your business. Review feedback from clients and look at what others in your field are doing that you admire. Talk to your employees, or rather, listen to them. What is the turnover rate? How happy are they? How engaged?

Look at how much you enjoying your work. What aspects of it bring the most joy? What sorts of clients or customers seem to benefit most from what you do and who you are? Where is the sweet spot where you add the most value with the least struggle? What are the key intangible sources of energy and inspiration? Again, ask your employees the same questions.

As you gather the qualitative and quantitative data about your business, reflect on the circumstances and choices that shaped these results. What were your goals six months or a year ago? What personal and professional factors have been at play since your last business assessment? ? What forces in the marketplace affected your decisions and your results? What were your aspirations and assumptions? Notice how current reality correlates with thinking, beliefs, practices, and intentions that were in place three, six, or nine months ago.

Does this sound like a lot of work? It is, and it will repay your attention by revealing new possibilities for intention and action and by showing you where you can let go of outmoded policies, procedures, and attitudes. By regularly reviewing what you have and what you want, you generate a healthy structural tension -- a tension that can impel you to grow your business in a holistic, grounded, and integrated way.

What Does It Mean To Grow A Healthy Business?

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