How To Put Money In Your Bank!

You can be as passionate as you like about what you do, but you still want to be making money!

Many people have a hard time making the decision to move from doing what they love as if it were a hobby, and making a commitment to treat their expertise like a proper business.

Unfortunately, this is often where service professionals get stuck. I hate to tell you (actually no I don't - you need to know this....) A great business plan won't make you money.  A strategic marketing plan won't make you money.  Taking another workshop or training course won't make you money.  A brilliant coach won't make you money.  What WILL MAKE YOU MONEY is to simply start taking action!!!

If we let it, perfection paralysis can set in and we can find ourselves overwhelmed, spinning our wheels, wasting time and accomplishing nothing.  Every successful marketer is unique.  The one thing they do all have in common though is they are action takers! They don't stand around waiting for results to land in their lap. They take action and are willing to 'fail forward".   Mistakes are an incredibly good thing.  We can learn some of our biggest lessons from our mistakes.

The three most common excuses I hear for not taking action are:

• "I don’t know where to start”
• “I’m too busy and don’t have time"
• “I don’t have the mo.ney to make it happen”

If any of these thoughts have ever crossed your mind, you may be wondering how to go about breaking the cycle and at last, start putting some mo.ney in your bank.

Here are a few suggestions that will help:

1. Don’t try to do too much at one time. There are four motives to most business growth:    List Building  /  Cash Flow/  Platform Building and Credibility/  Product Creation. Decide which of these motives has the highest priority for you right now. Then select ONE strategy you can implement to move you towards your goals.    Complete this one, before moving on to the next one.  For example, if you’ve decided List Building was your priority and you want to start blogging,           sending a weekly email newsletter, and Search Engine Optimization to attract more ideal clients, don’t try to tackle all three at the same time.  You might decide to focus on one strategy per month to give yourself ample time to fully execute all of the necessary tasks. It's a cliche, but "You can only eat an elephant one bite at a time". The speed of implementation will depend on how much time you are willing to commit and whether or not you outsource for some assistant (which I highly recommend). Don't put so much pressure on yourself!
2. Schedule the time to plan. My clients will always hear me tell you how I believe some structure and planning is crucial to your success.  This doesn't mean that you need every moment of the next twelve months mapped out.  Flexibility is also important. What you do need is to have some clarity around how your next 30, 60, 90 days and beyond will look like.  If you are telling yourself you don’t have time to market your business, I’m here to tell you that this is absolutely not true! You simply need to "buy out" the time from other activities in your day and eliminate distractions and time wasters. Working efficiently rather than for longer hours is the key.  I find I like to schedule planning time at the end of the week and at the end of each day.  Create appointments with yourself to write your blog or article content, make client calls, follow up with prospects, product creation or attend networking events. You wouldn't break an appointment with another profession, so don't do it with yourself!  Don’t leave your money making activities to chance – or do it when you remember- or when you finally get around to it. Ask yourself each day "What am I doing today to create income?"
3. Know what's next. From your overall 12 month plan, know exactly what you are taking to the market place next.  Are you going to make use of a promotional date that is coming up?  Do you have a product launch to plan?  Are you promoting your website? Being clear on this allows us to keep the 'blinkers' on when there are attractive distractions that pass us by.  Yet we can still look at opportunities that arise and see if they are a good match right now.  Instead of resigning yourself to the fact an opportunity is out of your reach; look for "HOW" you can do what you need to.   Ask yourself "How can I make this happen?"  Make a list of the mo.ney, resources and people you need to make whatever is 'next' happen. With this new focus you will have what you need before you know it.

The most important element of the formula is that you take action! So start today!

Review your #1 motive for business and take the first step towards accomplishing that goal. Don’t worry if you haven’t figured out all of the other steps yet. As you focus on taking the first steps you will build momentum. Then every day continue to build on your progress. Before long you will proudly look up in admiration at what you’ve been able to accomplish!

I’d love to hear about your #1 goal and what first step you plan to take to achieve that goal! Share your thoughts with me by posting a comment below.

Your Action Plan For The Week:

1. Keep track of where your mo.ney is currently going. Change your thoughts from "I can't afford to" to "How can I afford...".
2. Improve your efficiency.  Schedule blocks of your time for client call, writing, tracking and other business development activities. Focus and prepare for maximum productivity.
3. Be assertive in setting time boundaries.  Don't allow unnecessary disruptions that take away your focus.
4. Do a 'stock take' of what information or products you have on hand that you could rejuvenate some marketing on to create instant cash flow.
5. Limitations are only in your mind.  Choose to overcome obstacles, rather than allowing them to overcome you.