Did you know there is a super-simple way to leverage your gifts, talent and know-how into lucrative, highly leveraged income streams?
It’s your Signature System, and it’s your step-by-step formula for multiple streams success.
So, what exactly is a Signature System? It’s the work you are ALREADY doing with clients, packaged into a highly marketable, step-by-step system they will want to buy.
If you are thinking you can’t create a system because every client is different, think again. EVERY service can be transformed into a simple, repeatable system clients will happily say YES to – yes, even yours!
Once I figured this out and finally moved away from solely working one-on-one with clients and started adding other revenue streams, I knew I had found the right system that was going to help me create the kind of income I desired.
Specifically, here are the top 10 reasons why having a Signature System is a MUST to quickly transition out of 1-on-1 work fast…
1. Your clients LOVE systems.
They’re so overloaded, they can’t even stop to think. Your system tells them “I’ve done the work so you don’t have to.”
2. Your clients can practically predict their success.
When they see the results others have achieved, clients feel very reassured… and start to picture the results for themselves.
3. Your Signature System sets you apart.
It’s as unique as your signature, after all – nobody else has it!
4. Instant credibility.
Without a system, your services can appear all over the place. A system instantly elevates you to expert status.
5. Quicker, easier sales.
Your clients will “get” what you offer much quicker and are ready to buy much sooner.
6. Your clients will get better results…
…when they follow given steps in a given order, instead of blundering around trying to find their way.
7. Your clients will get results faster…
… because they are not wasting time on needless “stuff.”
8. Your clients will come back again and again…
…because they have had such success with you the first time!
9. You will help more people…
…because your Signature System (or key elements of it) can be “bottled and sold” at different investment and commitment points.
And best of all…
10. You will see just how easy it is to create 3, 4 or even more lucrative income streams
…that will deliver a steady and predictable flow of cash into your business. And you know what that means? Peace of mind. Priceless.
About the author: Alicia M Forest, MBA, 6-Figure Business Breakthrough Mentor, teaches self-employed professionals how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create wild abundance in your business, visit http://www.ClientAbundance.com
Can you believe it’s August already? This summer is flying by, but we’ve been enjoying every single minute of it… as you can see in this shot of us, hamming it up for the camera in the tea room at the spectacular Castle in the Clouds.
The Castle’s original name was “Lucknow”, which struck me when the staff posed us for this photo. It seems wherever we go with Chloe, she attracts these opportunities – she’s pulled out of line to get special attention, she’s picked to go on stage, or the line we’re in puts us in the front seat. It happens so often, we couldn’t help but notice it – sure, she’s super cute and friendly (she’ll strike up a conversation with anyone) – but there seems to be something about Chloe that brings her luck now. Now, if we could just bottle that… 😉
Seriously, I’m a believer in creating your own luck (thus why I don’t buy lottery tickets). Actually I don’t usually use the word luck because I think it’s too easy for people to use it as an excuse, and not in a positive way. I’ll share something personal here – I bristle whenever someone says to me how ‘lucky’ I am to have such well-behaved kids. Don’t get me wrong – I know how blessed I am (and those of you who know me or have been reading my ezine for awhile know this too) to have two happy, healthy, whole kids. No one is more grateful for that than I am. And yet, that comment (and similar ones) always comes across to me as if James and I had nothing to do with it, that it’s the luck of the draw that we have well-behaved (most of the time) children. Are you kidding me?
It’s the same thing in your business. I’m not ‘lucky’ to have a multiple 6-figure business. I created it, I earned it. And I did that by doing 4 things consistently:
1. Learning
2. Implementing
3. Leveraging
4. Mentoring (with and to)
I’ll be sharing more on those 4 in future ezine issues and blog posts, so stay tuned…
Ok, not sure where that little rant came from, but as a late friend of ours used to say, “…and that’s the end of that episode.” 😉
I’d love to know your thoughts – please feel free to share them below…
One of the many things I discovered when on my recent private retreat with my mentor coach Kendall Summerhawk was that I sometimes still have a tendency to bend in situations where I shouldn’t. Not actually bend-over backwards, but enough that I end up not feeling good about the situation. I’ve actually strengthened this boundary quite a bit in recent years, but as always, I’ve been tested on that a few times lately, so I wanted to share some of the ways I’ve strengthened this boundary within the way I run my business so you can do the same.
Here are 4 ways that you can gracefully set boundaries in your business:
1. Have a policy page
For every product, program or service you offer, someone is going to ask you to do something different for them. It could be to offer it in a different format, at a different time or day, with a payment plan option, or dozens of other scenarios than I can’t possibly cover here. As a general rule of thumb, don’t accommodate. Yes, there will be times when you make a different decision, but most of the time, stick to the parameters you created in the first place. You can’t please everyone, and every time you accommodate someone, you a) typically un-accommodate someone else who was just fine with the way your offer stood in the first place, and b) attract more people who will ask you to bend things for them in the future.
What do you do with the requests you get? Create a policy page from each and every decision you’ve made on how you will or will not run your business. Then when the next person makes a similar request, you simply send them to that page that explains clearly what your policy is, and that the policy applies to everyone. It takes the edge of it feeling like saying ‘no’ was a personal decision as much as it makes it super-simple for your team to handle these requests.
2. Be fair to ALL your clients
Being fair to all my clients is one value that I hold that makes it easy for me to be clear about the boundaries I have in place in my business. If you remember that it’s NOT that you aren’t willing or don’t want to be accommodating, but that it simply wouldn’t be fair to the rest of your clients and customers by doing so, it makes it much easier to say no graciously, and it keeps your integrity intact.
3. Have a buffer
Having someone on my team who manages these requests is imperative. First, as the business owner and leader of my company, it’s not the best use of my unique brilliance to be dealing with these requests personally. Second, my team is quite capable of knowing when a request may require my attention, and I trust them to let me know. And third, it makes saying ‘no’ less personal and much more graceful and respectful to the person making the request when they get an answer from my team instead of from me.
4. Be willing to let go
Ok, this is the one that’s popped up more than once the last month or so and got me thinking about writing this article. I still struggle with a tendency to over-explain. I like to craft just the right words to make sure someone understands my decision about something. I’ve realized that in doing so I’ve wasted a lot of time, energy and emotion. So I stopped doing that for the most part. Recently, I found myself back in that loop again, and when I realized how much of my team’s time I was wasting, it bopped me over the head. I instantly went back to my short-but-sweet way of responding.
Here’s the thing: there’s always going to be a tiny percentage of people who want you to customize and accommodate them. But let them go play somewhere else. Because what happens when you stick to your guns is that you honor your value, your time, and your self-respect. You attract more clients and customers who are ideal and who are respectful of you and your team as well, and your business runs more smoothly and more joyfully.
As I’m wrapping up a slew of private retreats with my clients this month, it’s become clear that it’s time for me to get focused on practicing what I’ve been preaching – or more specifically, to put myself through the same intense process and plan that I take my clients through.
This thought popped into my head several times during the retreats, but really came to the forefront of my thinking over the past week or so, as I have been making some very big decisions in my business that’s going to majorly shift things going forward.
So, here is what I’ve noticed that’s going on with me in my business that I’m hoping will shed some light for you as well:
Problem: Not taking action on a particular task.
If you’re finding yourself low on energy around moving forward on a certain project or idea, it pays to take a look inside for the reason why.
As I learned from Andrea Lee, my private coach for nearly three years, everything is energy. And when I’m stuck – *especially* when I know what to do next – there’s something wrong inside that’s blocking forward movement. Because, after all, I am all about taking action.
Solution: Ask yourself…
1. What is one thing I coach my own clients on that I can apply to myself?
2. What is one way I show others how to operate their business that I can apply to my own?
3. What is one method I teach that I can implement more fully in my own business.
In other words, how can I practice what I preach more thoroughly?
The answers to these simple questions are the key to getting unstuck and moving forward.
Take it to the next level…
Exercise:
Complete the following sentence 30 times:
“The results my clients get from working with me are_______________.
And don’t skimp – come up with 30 answers. If you have trouble getting more specific, ask your current and past clients to help you fill in the blank.
What are the benefits to doing this exercise?
Many, but for the purposes of this conversation, the value is in bringing forth the things that are the most beneficial for you to make sure you’re focusing on in moving your business forward – both for yourself and for your clients.
So take your answers and turn them around to apply them to your own business!
One of the things I’ve been working on for several years is cleaning up my money issues. That includes everything from thinking I have to work really hard to make a lot of money, to taking care of old debt, to having a plan for paying down new debt, to plugging even the slightest money leak.
The truth for me is that I tend to not pay attention to my money as much as I should, so inevitably something happens where money MAKES me pay attention. It’s not usually a positive experience. 😉
I’ve made some big strides in this area, and along the way I discovered that once I started really paying attention to my money, it started showing up a lot more in a lot more positive ways.
Here are 4 tips that have helped me immensely to turn on the flow of money into my business and my life that I know can help you too.
TIP 1. Keep a daily tracking sheet of what comes in…
I learned this direct from my million-dollar mentor Kendall SummerHawk. I track every penny that comes in on one simple sheet each day. When I first started doing this, I had days where I didn’t have any money coming in, but within just one month, it’s rare if there’s even one day that doesn’t have some sum attached to it.
TIP 2. Have a purpose for each income stream
I’ve always done this without really thinking about it, but once I started getting crystal clear about the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ for each and every one of my income streams, they turned from trickles to rivers.
TIP 3. Take care of any outstanding money issues
Just yesterday I sat down with files and phone numbers in hand to cancel some memberships I wasn’t utilizing, get a refund on an erroneous charge to my bank account, and asked my assistant to send reminders for two overdue invoices. In that day’s mail, I received checks totally almost $3000. See, money likes being paid attention to.
TIP 4. Find and plug those money leaks
In every business, there are places where money is leaking out. It could be the webmaster who charges by the hour and takes too long to complete a task. It could be a monthly subscription that you either don’t utilize at all or that you aren’t clear on its return on investment to be sure it’s actually a good one to make. It could be paying monthly for a service you use all year in your business, and that you could save 10% on if you chose the annual payment plan instead.
When you start to pay attention to your money, it will immediately open up the flow of it into your business and your life.
Which one of these tips are you going to start doing today? I’d love to know, so leave your commitment in the comments below.
(c) 2009 Alicia Forest
About the author: Alicia M Forest, MBA, 6-Figure Business Breakthrough Mentor, teaches self-employed professionals how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create wild abundance in your business, visit http://www.ClientAbundance.com
Recent Comments