I’ve been hearing from many business owners lately that they’re feeling stuck, like they’re spinning their wheels and staying in one place instead of moving forward.

Several things are currently really standing out for me in terms of what may be contributing to the sense of frustration and overwhelm that seems to be prevalent at the moment for some, and especially newer, business owners.

Here are the top 4 ways that I see business owners staying stuck. See if you recognize yourself in any (or all) of these and if so, take the action step I give you to start to get unstuck and moving forward again.

1. Staying in the BS funnel

This was something my very first coach coined and is a place where lots of business owners stay to stay safe – for any number of reasons.

Basically what it means is that instead of spending time and energy in the marketing funnel (or HourGlass in my business model), they are spending time in the BS funnel – re–doing their website, working on their email signature, re-writing a sales page for the 100th time before posting it live, re-designing their business cards, making lists and getting organized, frittering on social media, etc.

Now there is a time and place for all of those things, but not if you’re concerned about cash flow. When you’re concerned about cash flow, you need to focus on making offers and getting clients/customers. Everything else can wait. Once you have your bread and butter cash flow (whatever your minimum is) then you can go rest in the BS funnel for a bit.

ACTION STEP: Be honest and Identify whether or not you’re spinning because you’re in the BS funnel. If you are, commit to getting out of it and staying out of it by being consciously aware of when you are going forward. Make a ‘money list’ (it should be short) of only the tasks that will bring you money and focus on those instead.

2. Knowing they need to build their list but not doing anything consistently to build it

I know list-building is not that sexy or exciting, but it’s an absolute MUST, even more so today than even just a couple of years ago.

So if you’re saying, “I know I need to build my list but…” then you’re NOT building your list. You will not get responses to your offers – free or fee – if you don’t have a substantial audience to make that offer to.

Too many business owners base the success or failure of an offer based off not enough info – meaning not enough people to actually put your offer in front of to have substantial evidence on way or another if what you’re doing is ‘working’ or not.

Just as you want to have a solid number of responses to a survey before you use that information to make decisions, you have to have a decent-sized list before you can make a fact-based decision about whether or not your offers are resonating.

ACTION STEP: Pick two new list-building strategies to add to your consistent marketing calendar and implement them today. Add two new ones every month until you find your list-building has traction and its own momentum.

3. Getting distracted by too many new ideas instead of focusing on one project at a time

I have to admit that sometimes I get exhausted just listening to how many ‘new’ ideas, tools and tactics some business owners are implementing all at once.

You know what happens when your energy is scattered like that? Lots of nothing. Seriously.

ACTION STEP: Pick one project from your ‘money list’ and focus on that through completion. When you get distracted, and you will, ask yourself: “Is this related to my project?” You know what to do if the answer is no.

4. Not truly understanding that it takes time on and IN the business to start creating consistent income

I don’t mean the difference between working on and in your business ala Michael Gerber. What I mean is that it takes time both in terms of dedicated time towards building your business on a daily basis AS WELL AS time to allow the seeds you’re planting now to grow over the months and years to come.

It takes a lot of baby steps to get to where you want to go. We all have moments when it feels too hard, but the successful folks are the ones who continue to put one foot in front of the other no matter what.

“It’s not working” is only true if you quit.

I’d love to know which one of these resonates the most with you – share with me below…

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People ask me all the time how I’ve managed to create a 6-figure+ business while only working about 15 hours a week. First, I had to build a solid foundation and set up systems that would support the business as it grew, systems that were either automated or delegated or easily repeatable.

Once I had the foundation and the beginning systems in place, I was constantly looking for ways to leverage my time and talent, and I still do. I could write a book on the many ways we do this in my business (and maybe I will someday) but in this 4-part series, I’m going to share with you some of the most effective ones that you can apply to your business today.

1. Pick a price…

Pricing is one of the places that almost everyone gets stuck. Don’t stay stuck especially if it’s something new that you’re offering and you’re filling in the holes in your business model. Just pick a price and get your offer out there.

Getting stuff out there will move you forward, create more income, and leverage your time.

You can say, “This is early bird pricing. This is beta pricing. This is an introductory rate. Be one of our beta testers.” Know that you’re not wedded to that price forever and ever.
That is the beautiful thing about what we do. We can change our pricing all the time. It’s simple. You can just type a new number.

2. Always be hiring…

As your business grows you always want to hire. Pay attention to who shows up, who comes across your desk, who is in your inbox and who you meet at conferences and events who may be a good addition to your team.

You might think, “I’d love to have her do my social media. I’d love to have her be part of my administrative team. I’d really love to have this person do my website.”

Be aware of the people that you’re feeling that resonance with. Maybe there is a small project you can hook them with to get them onto your team early.

That way when you’re ready to hire someone, you have a ready file of possibilities to go to.

3. Make mine WordPress…

If you haven’t made the switch from a traditional HTML to WordPress, now’s the time.

The benefits of using WordPress are seemingly endless. Search engines love them, you don’t need to know HTML to create a site or make changes to an existing site, and there are tons of free and low-cost templates to choose from that will give you business a professional polish.

Because it’s so easy to use WordPress, this is going to save you (or your designer) tons of time, which is going to save you tons of money.

4. Take a stand and make it matter

To increase your exposure and your reach into your market, decide what it is that you are willing to take a stand for and make that matter to your market. If you’re ready to stop seeming like everyone else in your market who does what you do, then figure out what it is that you believe at core level and are willing to make a stand for and in for your market.

Then use that stand as the basis for your manifesto, weave it into your marketing copy, speak about it with passion, and watch as more of your ideal audience gathers to you.

5. Publish your content on Kindle

If you have an ebook or a print book, consider publish those on Amazon as Kindle versions. It’s a great way to get your content in front of all that traffic that already exists on Amazon that can lead to more leads and more sales for you. Just be sure to put an invitation in your book that leads people back to your website.

I’d love to know which one of these leveraging tips resonates the most with you – share with me below!

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People ask me all the time how I’ve managed to create a 6-figure+ business while only working about 15 hours a week. First, I had to build a solid foundation and set up systems that would support the business as it grew, systems that were either automated or delegated or easily repeatable.

Once I had the foundation and the beginning systems in place, I was constantly looking for ways to leverage my time and talent, and I still do. I could write a book on the many ways we do this in my business (and maybe I will someday) but in this 4-part series, I’m going to share with you some of the most effective ones that you can apply to your business today.

1. Use Google Alerts

Part of using leverage in your business to by being aware of what’s going on out there that has to do with you. Lucky us, we have Google to keep us informed.

Simply set up a Google Alert for your name and the name of your business. You can also set up alerts for specific keywords in your business and for your colleagues. And you should set up alerts for your clients as well. You want to know what your clients are doing. If you see them doing something great you can say, “Yay.” You can also say, “You might want to try something else.”

Letting Google keep you informed of what’s going on in your online world is a great way to leverage your time.

2. Leverage your content

I teach a whole 12-part content leverage system, but you want to at least be leveraging any piece of content you write for your ezine or your blog.

So, if you’re writing an article for your ezine, make sure it goes on your blog. If you’re writing a blog post make sure at least part of it goes in your e-zine. People will read your content in different ways. They’ll read it in your e-zine in their inbox, or on your blog site – or via an RSS feed from your blog to your inbox.

Those are just two ways. Other ways are to turn that content into a podcast, a video, and social media posts, and promote them via those media.

3. Create an email campaign from your sales page

When you’ve created the sales page for your offer, you’ll need to create an e-mail campaign to promote it and your offer.

You’ve done the hard part of writing the sales page itself, even if it’s a short sales page. To leverage that hard work, take pieces of that sales page and repurpose them into your email campaign.

I know we sometimes think we have to do everything fresh and new from scratch. You do not have to do that. Take pieces from what you’ve already written and plug that into your e- mail promotions. Take something from the top. Take a piece of your story. Take the benefit bullets. Tweak them a bit and put them into your emails.

4. Do your ezine differently

If you’re writing an ezine and it’s in HTML and you find that it feels heavy, you’re not getting it done, it takes too much effort, it feels too complicated or you don’t have someone helping you do it then change to text.

Make it easy for yourself. If you struggle with HTML then creating an e-zine that way only translates into lost time and wasted energy.

If you need to do text until you’re ready to hire someone to help you do something prettier then just do text. I promise it won’t hurt you.

Also, if the ezine is just too long, you can make them short.
You don’t need to have seven moving parts. It’s more important that you’re consistent with sending it out on a weekly or twice a month. You can send them once a month if that’s correct for your market. That is more important than having them long.

Do text. Keep it short. Be more consistent about sending it out.

5. Repeat what works

I talk about this a lot. Sometimes it seems obvious. People often don’t do this. We’re too close to it. We can’t see it. That’s why you need other eyes. We get excited about new ideas and keeping things fresh. There’s nothing wrong with that. But don’t forget to review what you’ve done before that worked really well and repeat it.

(Watch for Part 3 in this series next week…)

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People ask me all the time how I’ve managed to create a 6-figure+ business while only working about 15 hours a week. First, I had to build a solid foundation and set up systems that would support the business as it grew, systems that were either automated or delegated or easily repeatable.

Once I had the foundation and the beginning systems in place, I was constantly looking for ways to leverage my time and talent, and I still do. I could write a book on the many ways we do this in my business (and maybe I will someday) but in this 4-part series, I’m going to share with you some of the most effective ones that you can apply to your business today.

1. Is there something that’s happening in your market that’s got a buzz around it that you can take advantage of?

One of the ways to increase your exposure easily and more quickly is to seek out something in the news that applies to your market that you can ride on the coattails of.

Read the headlines of the New York Times or the Huffington Post for ideas. It can be something that you’re excited about in your industry. It can be something that you totally disagree with. It can be either end of the spectrum and it should be because either end is better than the middle.

For example, maybe there’s a book that was written that’s really hot right now. It addresses some of the problems that your market is struggling with that you help solve. You can piggyback on the popularity of the book simply by saying, “You’ve probably heard all of the raves and praise about this book. Here are my thoughts.”

You can either agree or contradict, and you can write or speak about it, whichever is your preferred modality. Doing this will help you stand out, you’ll get search engine rankings, and it could get you other media attention as well.

2. Get emotional when you’re writing your marketing copy.

If you can write passionately about what it is that you’re putting out there in the world then that’s fantastic. You should put energy, enthusiasm and passion into your overall marketing copy.

And that’s even more important when you’re telling your story. Telling your story is a critical piece to creating copy that sells. If you can write from a place of depth and passion about your story, then just sit down and write. Don’t try to get it perfect, don’t try to follow some copywriting formula, just write from your emotions, knowing you can always hone it. You can always make it more clear and concise. And you will.

If you get emotional about your marketing copy then three things will happen. It will draw your reader in and engage them. It will make it much easier for you to write if you’re emotional about it. And you’ll get more sales because emotion is what sells.

3. Put all your passwords in one place.

This was a time waster for me. All of my passwords were everywhere, on whatever little scrap of paper was near me at the time I made it. At one point I chose the same password for everything, which is not recommended.
Then I found this great little product that I’ve fallen in love with. It’s a cute little pocket-sized notebook that I keep in the middle drawer of my desk. It’s called the password keeper.

http://www.uncommongoods.com/product/open-sesame-password-reminder-… $13-

This is something so simple and yet I know that most people don’t keep all their passwords in one place, like on a single piece of paper, or in something like the password keeper.

Just don’t keep them on your computer. Your computer can crash or get hacked and your passwords can get hijacked. This simple idea will save you tons of time when you’re looking for your passwords.

4. Create a web page with all your log-in links and info.

Another time waster is trying to locate the log-in pages for the places online you utilize in your business. You can bookmark those pages, or set up tabs so they automatically open when you first connect with your browser, but that’s not an efficient way to run your computer, especially if you’re on battery power as when you’re traveling.

When I first did this it was a hidden webpage. It wasn’t password protected, but it was just a gobbledygook webpage attached to my main site. I had all of URLS of the sites I used regularly in my business on that page, so I could just click on AudioAcrobat, Aweber, 1ShoppingCart, NING sites I was a host or member of, etc. whenever I needed access to those sites. (The username and passwords were in my password keeper.) This page was one of the few pages I had set to open up as soon as I logged into my computer.

Then we moved everything to #5…

5. Create a wiki for your log-ins, your SOPs and more

As the business grew, the information we needed to run it grew and we needed a way and a place to organize it. I wanted it to be secure, easy to use, inexpensive and a place where my team could access the information as well.

And although I’ve tried a few paid services, we started with a wiki and returned to the wiki because it met all of those criteria – and it’s free (we use Google’s wiki).

A wiki is simply a place online where we keep all the info we need to run my business. All of the log-in URLs are there, all of our standard operating procedures are there, all the processes for how the business runs is housed in this one location online.

You simply create a table of contents and under each ‘chapter’ is where you put the info for it. It couldn’t be easier to organize all of your info and processes for your business.

Using the wiki saves a ton of time and money in my business. My team has access to the wiki to get the information they need instead of asking me for it. When we have a new team member come on board, we just point them to the wiki to find what they need to do the task they’ve been assigned. When I’m looking for something, I can just log into the wiki for it, instead of playing email tag with my team to get the info.

(Watch for Part 2 in this series next week…)

I’d love to know which one of these leveraging tips resonates the most with you – share with me below…

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Oh no! ANOTHER social media platform?

Oh yes – and it’s one you might want to take a look at, to see if it makes sense for your particular business. But a caution here – even it it does – don’t feel you have to add it to your social media marketing. If you’re already overwhelmed and just keeping up with your current social media efforts, then leave Pinterest be, at least for now.

But if it appeals to you and makes good business sense to add it to your business platform, here are five specific ways you can use it in your marketing efforts:

1. Less Clicks = More Conversions

The less clicks your visitor has to make to get to the information or product they want, the higher your conversion rates. With Pinterest, there are just two clicks from first seeing something of interest to visiting its site of origin. That translates into more leads and more sales.

For example, let’s say you have a book for sale and you pin the image of the cover from the book’s sales page to your board. When one of your followers sees your pin and clicks on it, it will allow them to share it with others immediately. And if they click it again, it will take them to the site where the image was pinned from, in this case, the sales page for your book.

2. Drive tons more traffic to your site

Because Pinterest has such a large following (10 million unique views at this writing) it’s a great tool for driving more traffic to your site via the links that are attached to the pins you make to your board.

In fact, there are tracking stats that are showing Pinterest is driving more traffic back to websites than Facebook or Google+.

3. Easy for people to share your content

Pinterest makes it super-simple for your followers to share your pins and therefore links back to your site. Because every pin includes a link leading back to the source of the image, this can translate into a lot more inbound links to your website. So the more followers you have, the more those followers share your pins, the more traffic to your site.

4. Gain from user addiction

Some markets have already fallen in love with Pinterest, with more to come as more people become aware of and start utilizing this new social media platform. If your market is a fan of Pinterest, then you need to get onboard and get in front of all that traffic. Just start with one board, pay attention to what your followers are re-pinning (sharing with others) the most, and pin more of that content.

5. Connect it with your other social media sites

Since I’m all about leveraging your time and talent, if you’re going to use Pinterest, then you need to connect it with your other social media platforms to do so. You can connect Pinterest with your Facebook profile (hopefully they will add the ability to connect to your fan page soon). You can also connect your Pinterest account with Twitter so your pins are automatically tweeted. And you can add a "pin it’ button to your website, much like other share buttons, so your visitors can pin for you.

I’d love to know your thoughts on Pinterest – share with me below…

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Ever have someone copy your idea, your sales page, your emails, or anything else you’ve created in your business?

Yeah, it’s not a good feeling.

Yeah, yeah – I know that ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’ and that we’re all of ‘one mind’ and all that, but really? There is a line that no one should cross.

I’ve dealt with this on numerous occasions in my own business (frankly dealing with it now with someone who certainly doesn’t need to copy me – who has an extremely successful business already so I know that it’s about something else entirely) and while sometimes it is easier and ok to just let it go, other times it’s not.

So what do you do when you feel compelled to do something about it?

Here are 4 ways of dealing with copycats:

1. Vent

First, get on the line with a business best friend and have a good vent about it. You need to get it out of your system before you can approach the copycat from a place where you’re more likely to have the situation resolved.

2. Call them on it personally

I like to contact people personally first, and give them a chance to make things right. I don’t have my assistant do this – I reach out myself usually via email, with a gracious note that I’ve noticed something they are doing is very similar to mine and I wanted to point that out – that I wouldn’t want their people thinking they’re copying me.

In one case, the person in question immediately responded with a gracious note back, offering that she was ‘modeling’ me and others and told me she would make changes to the page in question and send it to me for approval. She did and I was satisfied with the changes she made and all was well.

If it doesn’t go that way then…

3. Call them on it officially

Get your attorney involved and send them a ‘cease and desist’ letter. That will usually do the trick.

4. Move on

Once you’ve handled it either personally or officially, move on. Don’t hold a grudge against the person, just let it go. It’s not worth any more of your energy or emotion and recognize that the reason behind the copying has nothing to do with you. And then use the situation to be even more creative in your own endeavors going forward.

I’d love to know your thoughts on copycats – share with me below…

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