Week of June 29, 2009
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This week's topics include:
* Mid-Year Recession Busting - Linda Fayerweather
* What Makes a Good Email Message? – Authenticity - Rebecca Booth
* The Inspired Entrepreneurs are Energetically Responsible- Pat Altvater
* 29% Solution Diversify- Paula Fraizer
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Mid-Year Recession Busting
In 2 days, 2009 will have 50% of the year remaining. Last week we talked about Planning and Leveraging. This week you need to dust off your Vision or create one if you are lacking.
Having a long term vision is a must. A vision out three to five years will give you an opportunity to plan for the future instead of just ruminating on the present. Visions will be true to the Mission and Core Values of a firm but also will be lofty and sometimes cause staff to gasp. That gasp indicates you have stretched the challenged the status quo.
A good vision is:
~Long term - 3 to 10 years out
~Big and focused on success
~Written in the present test
~Identifies your passion, unique market position, niche and perfect customer
~Quantifiable - think revenue goal
~A written description of why you are building/growing this business.
A vision helps you GET over the past, LIVE in the present and PLAN for the future!
Check out Changing Lanes Workshops for building your business plan with a vision that works.
Next week – Have a Long Term Vision
Copyright 2009 Linda Fayerweather
What's working in your Business?
Changing Lanes LLC
http://www.changinglanes.biz/
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What makes a good email message? Part 3 – Authenticity
One of the best emails I’ve received in a long time is from an art teacher (Paul Brand) with whom I study. He doesn’t follow the rule of frequency and sticking to it. Instead he started his post off with “This is the first email in an occasional series of notes about my paintings and art related activities.” While this may not be of interest to you, it was to me. In his post he had a picture of a recent watercolor that he had finished. What’s better yet- he showed the photograph of the house he was painting and a description of the type of mood he was trying to capture in the art. Mind you the photograph of the house was extremely different from the painting itself. Yet, Paul “taught” me how I can let my imagination fly when painting in watercolors. The content was meaty and authentic because Paul is a teacher and a friend. His casual style of writing along with the inclusion of details from a family trip helped authenticate the post. If you would like to see an example of the post, simply email me at rebecca@rebeccaboothmarketinggoddess.com and I’ll forward it to you. It’s a perfect example of email marketing that works!
Copyright 2009 Rebecca Booth
Marketing Goddess
Imagine That!
419.855.3399
Celebrating 10 years of delivering results for our clients.
http://www.rebeccaboothmarketinggoddess.com/
http://www.marketinginabox.biz/
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The Inspired Entrepreneurs are Energetically Responsible
We are half way through the year, are you where you want to be in your business?
If you have not achieved the benchmarks that you intended for the first 6 months of the year, take a look at where YOU are focusing your thoughts, feelings, and actions. Your success does not come from outside of you, so you can’t blame anyone or anything not the economy, not your industry, not your employees if you are not where you want to be.
It’s time to take unqualified energetic responsibility for everything and move out of lower energy and into focusing your thoughts, feelings and actions on where you want to be. Become single minded in your approach to staying out of negativity. When you find yourself experiencing negative emotions, take a moment to center yourself, reread your company vision and mission statements and tap into the passion that you have for achieving your vision. That passion will help you take the necessary actions that will lead to achieving your 2009 intentions!
Copyright 2009 Pat Altvater
Transforming Bodies and Minds
http://www.outsmartweight.com/
http://www.transformationsinstitute.com/
http://www.ignitethepowerwithinbook.com/
419-344-6613
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Dear MMM Readers,
As someone that relies completely on word-of-mouth to build my businesses, I’ve found The 29% Solution, written by leading referral marketing expert Dr. Ivan Misner, to be instrumental in my success. He offers 52 weekly networking success strategies (one per week) and specific actions to take to experience success through focused, purposeful networking efforts. I look forward to sharing them with you in the coming weeks.
WEEK 8: DIVERSIFY YOUR CONTACTS
“A major key to success in building a powerful business network is diversity. The problem is that when you surround yourself with people that have similar contacts [and most of us do] you may find it hard to connect with new people or companies with whom you want to do business. If you limit yourself to that one circle of friends and colleagues, your business’s exposure will be finite – limited to that same circle of associates, and the people they know. This can be a recipe for the slow and painful death of your business!”
I hosted a workshop several weeks ago. Everyone in attendance looked…well…like me - suit on, hair done, laptop in tow and Blackberry in hand EXCEPT one guy. He had on uniform pants, work boots, a sweat shirt and had his hair pulled back in a pony tail. Almost no one talked to him. Why? Because he was different!
The one person that did take the time to connect with him, a very smart BNI Executive Director, had struck gold. He learned that Jeremy was an auto mechanic. He wasn’t just any auto mechanic; Jeremy was one of two Certified Master Porshe Mechanics in all of Southwestern Virginia. Do you think some of his clients may be part of our target market?
TAKE ACTION:
1. Attend a networking event.
2. Find a person in the room that no one is talking to and engage them.
3. After learning something about who they are and what they do, ask them to introduce you to someone in the room that THEY know. Diversity…here we come!
How much money are you leaving on the table by hanging out with people that are already connected to the majority of the people in your network? Get out there, meet someone new and start digging. You never know when you might strike GOLD!
Paula Frazier is a referral marketing trainer, consultant and keynote speaker. She is an Executive Director for BNI and part of a select team of Master Trainers for Referral Institute. Paula’s business networking articles have been published internationally. She is also acknowledged in the New York Times best seller, Truth or Delusion – Busting Networkings Biggest Myths. Check out #33, Delusion with a twist! Paula can be contacted at paula@referralinstitute-va.com
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Have a profitable week.
Linda Fayerweather, Editor
Changing Lanes LLC
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