We’re celebrating Independence Day here in the US – and Chloe and I began the day sitting on the bow of our sailboat, watching to wave to her grandparents and family friends as they went by in their boat on the way to an early breakfast in town.
As Chloe and I waited, she mentioned that she wished when we left our cottage for the summer that we could go back to our house in NY because she missed it. I told her it was ok to miss it, that I miss it too, but that I knew she’d be happy in her new home too.
And then I shared with her that her former school in NY was currently without a home as they had lost the lease on the property they’d had for 10 years (through no fault of their own). I was telling her that we were looking into whether or not we could rent our home to her school while they looked for another property or built their own. Knowing that her home might be filled with her favorite teacher and her friends made her feel a lot better about leaving it, and yet I know she’s still a little sad.
And so am I. It was a good home to us for almost 9 years. It’s where James and I became husband and wife, where we brought Chloe & Jack home to after they were born. I have so many memories to treasure from that home, from our chapter there, and yet…
I know the decision to move is the right one. And every day I get another sign that it is.
This whole process has been about having a desire (move home), making a decision (we’re moving in June 2010), and then doing something to make it come about, while leaving the details and the exact ‘how’ up to the Universe. It’s been another leap of faith for me – maybe even more so for James.
But the indisputable fact is that if I didn’t have the successful business I do, with the flexibility and freedom (have laptop, can travel, or in this case, move) and financial stability and peace of mind that consistent cash flow brings, I wouldn’t be writing this from the dock and we wouldn’t have been able to make this move.
And that’s what I was sharing with her, the freedom that being an entrepreneur can bring… and on this day of independence, I am grateful that I live in a country that allows me this kind of opportunity, that I have a husband who supports me every step of the way, and that I can model for both my kids this kind of lifestyle as an option.
Freedom for me means doing what you most want to do when you most want to do it with the people who you most want to do it with…
What does it mean for you? I’d love to know your thoughts – please share them below…
Reading Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s “Delivering Happiness” book was like reading a novel and a business book at the same time. It was so engaging that I read the entire 250+ page paperback in one sitting.
Here are my favorite snippets from the book – enjoy!
- Build a brand from the inside out.
- Without conscious and deliberate effort, inertia always wins.
- Envision, create, and believe in your own universe, and the universe will form around you.
- Never outsource your core competency.
- Great companies have a greater purpose and bigger vision beyond just making money or being number one in a market.
- Celebrate your past and current successes while carefully navigating for the future.
- Be as transparent as possible.
- A word is a word, a picture is worth a thousand… but a brand is worth a million.
- Lifetime value of a client/customer can increase via positive emotional association with your brand.
- Build trust and engagement, not buzz.
- Problems are just mile markers. Each one passed means you’ve gotten better.
- The best leaders are servant-leaders.
- Make a plan, work it through to completion.
This is definitely a book you want to have as part of your business-building library. Get your copy here:
http://www.deliveringhappinessbook.com
OR
http://www.amazon.com/deliveringhappiness
If you're reading this ezine, it's likely that you've participated in a teleseminar, whether it be mine or one of my colleagues. You've probably been on some that have been very good, where you got tons of really valuable information. And you may have found yourself on a few that were nothing but pitch-fests for the host's lastest product.
But I want to share something with you. Hosting content-rich teleseminars for my target market is some of the quickest and easiest money I've generated in my business.
Holding f.r.e.e. introductory teleseminars are a great way to promote your business, increase your email subscriber list, make more sales on your products, and enable your potential clients another way to connect with you. By being on the phone with you, they get to know you through your voice, adding the human touch that can be so hard to cultivate online.
In the past, I've offered a free monthly teleseminar that gave people an introduction to what I teach. From each of those calls, I got more ezine subscribers, more members for my group coaching membership, and more sales of my products.
Which is why I'll be adding them back into my marketing mix again this year.
Holding PAID teleseminars helps to promote your business and generate revenues as well. Just doing one paid teleseminar at least every two months on a different marketing topic would gross me a minimum of $2500.
Not bad for an hour's worth of work, huh?
Another way to offer teleseminars is to do "intensive" or "bootcamp" series of multi-week teleseminars. I've offered 10- and 4-week '"workgroups" on the topics of listbuilding, creating a successful business online from scratch, and search engine marketing that have been extremely profitable, upwards of $10k.
As you can see, adding teleseminars to your business model benefits both your market and your bottom line.
Here's what you need to get started:
1. The Right Target Market and the Right Topic
Here's the secret for producing and profiting from a teleseminar: It must be designed for a target market AND it must solve a problem that that target market is struggling with. If you have those two keys in place, you'll be sure to attract enough sign-ups and make money from your topic.
2. A Bridge Line
There are several good no-cost bridge lines available for you to use, but the one I'm currently recommending is FreeConferenceCall.com because you can record the teleseminar for free as well. This is a nice benefit to offer your participants and to anyone who had to miss your teleseminar for any reason. I use it as a back-up recording for all my calls. You can have up to 100 people on the line with you.
3. Recording Service
You'll need a way to record your teleseminars so you can provide the audio for people to listen to later and for you to make CDs from if you decide to package your teleseminar into a physical product after the fact. I use AudioAcrobat to record all my teleseminars, with FreeConferenceCall.com as a back-up.
4. Automatic Registration
You'll want to be able to have people sign up for your teleseminar without you having to do a lot of work. I use Aweber for all my teleseminar registrations, but you can also use your shopping cart's autoresponder service if you have one.
I'd like to invite you to start offering free teleseminars to promote your business, and once you get more comfortable with both the format and the technology, start offering paid teleseminars. Even if you only have a handful of people on your first call, it's great practice. And I guarantee your numbers will increase as you continue to build your email list, and you'll be profiting from teleseminars in no time.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on hosting teleseminars. Please feel free to leave your comments below!
© 2010 Alicia M Forest and ClientAbundance.com
While I had many shifts, ideas, pauses for thought, and lightbulb moments while attending Andrea Lee's Wealthy Thought Leader event, I wanted to share with you three of the a-ha's I had during the event's three days.
1. I already am a wealthy thought leader…
I just need to embrace it. And I can't do that until…
2. I'm ready to take a stand…
And I am ready. It's been forming for a while now, most particularly over the last few months. I started getting really clear on my principles and guideposts for my business as well as how and what I want to teach and share with my clients to enhance their business as well.
And that re-ignited that…
3. I really do love what I do.
How blessed am I that I get to work with such amazing clients, that I'm surrounded with a fabulous group of colleagues that continues to deepen and grow, that I get to be as creative as I want all the time, because this is my business, my life, and my choice.
I'd love to know how this resonates with you. Please leave your thoughts below – and thanks!
"You either have excuses or you have results. Which one do you have today?"
This was a tweet recently posted by a former Platinum client of mine, Liz Dennery Marks, owner of SheBrand.com and Dennery Marks Inc., a very successful brick-and-mortar branding and celebrity outreach firm in Beverly Hills.
And it really struck a chord with me. Why? Because I've been having that conversation more often than ever lately, with both clients and colleagues.
So let's see if I can help you figure out which is true for you:
Think of *one thing* in your business right now that is frustrating you.
Once you have that 'one thing' in mind, what was the next thought that popped into your head?
Was it…
– I'm waiting for so-and-so to get back to me first.
– I don't have the time, money, resources.
– I don't know what to do next.
– I'm not sure this is right for me.
– I'm feeling lost, confused, unsupported.
All of these thoughts and feelings are absolutely valid. And they are all excuses. Choose a different word than 'excuses', if you'd like, but if you're not moving forward and getting results, then I'm going to suggest that the issue isn't truly any of the above.
By the way, I worded it that way – 'what's one thing' – on purpose, because how we do anything is how we do everything.
And that's my intention here – to shine the light on the fact that as long as you focus externally as the 'reason' something isn't working for you, you'll continue to be frustrated and stuck.
Here's an example from my own client files:
I had a client who was frustrated by what she considered to be my lack of support of her and her business. When she shared this frustration with me, I didn't get defensive or take on her frustration. What I did do was ask her a series of simple questions that drilled down to the real issue.
In this case, it was that she wasn't taking any action, including asking her coach (me) for the support she needed. Once she realized that she had everything she needed to move forward, including the very help she was paying for, everything shifted for her. She began asking for direction and implementing the information she already had, and her business started flowing immediately.
But more than that, she realized that she was doing the same thing in her personal life with her husband. She was frustrated by his lack of support, and yet as soon as she asked for it, he immediately sought out ways to help her.
So let me repeat:
How you do anything is how you do everything.
Think about that.
I'd love to know how this resonates with you. Please leave your thoughts below – and thanks!
(c) 2010 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
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