Entries from June 2008 ↓

For fun, I thought I’d share a little more about how I came to be such a big fan of the just-one-thing strategy.

First, I can’t help but post this quote from mega-entrepreneur Dan Kennedy, mentioned in the BYMB newsletter this week (are you signed up?). It comes from his book, No B.S. Wealth Attraction:

“Finally, let me reveal one of my own, personal ’secrets of success.’ It is a daily discipline I have adhered to for more than 30 years. I’d wager I’ve neglected it less than 30 days out of the 30 years. I’ve adhered to it 10,920 out of 10,950 days. Every day, no matter what else I am doing or must do that day, even if in a full day of consulting, traveling across country, or on vacation, I still do one thing, if only one thing, one thing intended to ‘prime my pump’ to create future business for myself or my companies. It may be a small thing: tearing a magazine article that should interest one of my clients, scrawling a note on it and mailing it. It may be answering one item of correspondence, getting one fax sent, identifying a new, potentially useful contact, jotting a note, or sending a book. But no day passes without me doing at least one such thing. Although it is no longer required, it has been especially important to me over the years because a lot of my income is derived from delivery of services, such as speaking, consulting, coaching and advertising copywriting; so, in a way, I must sell ‘it’ and make ‘it.’ Most professionals stop selling while they’re delivering, so they have dry spells, roller coaster ups and downs. I have had more demand than supply of me and waiting lists of clients for many years because of my daily discipline of doing at least one proactive thing to attract business every single day.”

I did not learn this strategy from Dan Kennedy. I discovered “just one thing” back in 1994.

It was my last semester at Trinity College. Like many college seniors, my swan song came in the form of the dreaded senior thesis.

I can’t remember now how I hit on the strategy of doing just one thing, no matter how small, each and every day to get the thesis done. I’d like to think it was my own idea. Maybe I’d thought of it myself, but it was definitely floating around out there in the ether. I do know that I have never been an all-nighter kind of person, especially when it comes to writing. If the paper is not done the night before it’s due, it’s going to be late. Period. The thought horrified me.

I will never forget the day when, while sitting around in the cafeteria listening to everyone else bellyache and moan about their last-minute mad dashes toward the thesis finish line, I realized that mine was already done. 2 weeks early.

“And this comes as a surprise?” said a kid sitting across from me. He was staring into the abyss of being awake 24 hours a day for his last 2 weeks.

“I hadn’t even noticed,” I said, truthfully.

Silence.

“Um, I guess I’d better take it to Kinko’s and get it printed.”

The kid just shook his head.

The next issue of the Build Your Metaphysical Business email newsletter is going out on TUESDAY, June 24. If you’re on the list, you’ll get it free in your mailbox. If you’re not, you won’t. If haven’t yet signed up for the newsletter, sign up now at http://www.buildyourmetaphysicalbusiness.com.

Here’s what you’ll find in this issue:

• The one question you should be asking yourself ALL THE TIME as you work to attract clients and increase your income.

• A powerful marketing lesson we can all learn from the Tarot artists extraordinaire at Baba Studio

• Want to practically guarantee your success?  Buddy up!  One of the best ways I know to get your marketing done (which of course leads to more clients, more income, more success) is to get an accountability partner.  Here’s how to find one and how to work with one.

• The Marketing Goddess Recommends: the only book on time management you’ll ever need, why being a “lovecat” will help you grow your business in ways you’ve never dreamed

Sign up now if you’re not already on the list (sign-up boxes are in the upper right hand corner).

You may have stumbled upon a blog post that made the rounds a few months ago: 1000 True Fans. For those who missed it, here’s the gist:

“A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.

A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can’t wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.”

So is it possible to make a living with 1000 true fans? One reader asked me to comment.

I can’t help but think of marketing genius Jay Abraham, and a marketing truth. (I don’t know if he said it first or just said it best, but it’s commonly attributed to him.)

There are 3 - and only 3 - ways to grow a business. That’s any business, be it creative or not. Here they are:

1. Increase your number of clients.
2. Increase the average size of the sale per client.
3. Increase the number of times clients return and buy again.

Some of you have heard me say that marketing is a numbers game. Well, there are your numbers. (Note that these 3 are a variation of the two numbers I often talk about: how many people see your message and how many take you up on it.)

Is it possible to make a living with 1000 true fans? Absolutely! It’s possible to become rich with 1000 true fans. It’s also just as likely to just scrape by. It’s all in the numbers.

Whether 1000 true fans is your goal or just a starting point, here’s the real question. Ask yourself, “How can I offer more value to my clients and customers?”

Note I did not say “sell more stuff.” By all means, increase your offers! But if you’re thinking in terms of “selling stuff,” you’re grossly shortchanging both your clients AND yourself. Making more offers, and increasing your prices, are both about value - and value is all about your client, not you.

Find ways to add value, and you will have no problem not just making a living, but living the life of your dreams.

I went missing on the blog last week, I know! Between client work and the teleseminar and getting the newsletter out, something had to give. I’ve got a few posts lined up for this week, so keep your peepers peeped.

Last week in the newsletter I unveiled a new service… and a new moniker! Yes, I’m taking on a new name: The Marketing Goddess. And let me tell ya, it feels so right! Please bear with me while I shift things around a little. The newsletter will get a new name too, but don’t worry - the focus remains the same.

Karen Mahony of Baba Studio (home of some of the grandest Tarot decks of the past 5 years, including the Victorian Romantic and Bohemian Gothic) is writing an inspiring and thought-provoking series of posts on her Live Journal:

How To Be Creative And Successful

Here are the posts in the series so far (she has 23 in all):

1. Take risks – even big ones.
2. Don’t worry about starting in a small, modest and slightly embarrassing way.
3. Accept you’ll be laughed at. Welcome it as a good sign.
4. Work hard. Then work harder.
5. Forget the “exit strategy”. If exiting is that important to you, maybe you shouldn’t have gone into it in the first place.
6. Don’t moan, don’t blame.
7. Let some things go - that might include your own sense of your own identity.

Karen’s focus is on artists in particular, but hers are words of wisdom for anyone following their heart and trying to merge soul and livelihood, especially metaphysical and holistic consultants. (Laughed at? We never get laughed at! :))

Even parts of the entrepreneurial crowd has some conventional wisdom, and I love how Karen flaunts it here. I’m not for making poor choices (very easy to do when you start out in business), but I AM for burning your bridges in your own mind. Go ahead - forget the exit strategy! As Yoda says, “Do, or do not. There is no try.”

I’ve pondered long and hard about creativity and business over the past few years. Personally, I started my business in order to give myself the freedom I need to live my vision of the creative life. More and more I’m coming to realize just how much business IS that life, and how the separation between “creativity” and “business” is an arbitrary one.  I wouldn’t go as far as to say that the separation is made for us by others (personal responsibility, y’all!), but I think it’s fair to say that the “dominant paradigm” (ha!) presents them as such.  For me, merging the two has been such a relief.

The act of business (starting, running, growing) is, at its core, a creative act. The services we provide are acts of creation, too. The fruits of creation have real value. I could go on and on.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

The next issue of the Build Your Metaphysical Business email newsletter is going out on TUESDAY, June 10. If you’re on the list, you’ll get it free in your mailbox. If you’re not, you won’t. If haven’t yet signed up for the newsletter, sign up now at http://www.buildyourmetaphysicalbusiness.com.

Here’s what you’ll find in this issue:

• Secrets from the world’s top internet marketing conference (I was there, it was awesome)

• How To Create A Simple, Not-Crazymaking Marketing Calendar:  “Elizabeth, you keep talking about implementation, but how do I get started?”  Here’s help!

• Implementation stories: One reader gets inspired by the newsletter, cool things happen

• Mindset Insights: An invisible block that will sabotage you success quicker than anything else I can think of.  (Mentions of this issue arose 4 or 5 times over the past 2 weeks.  Message from Lady Universe?  I think so.)

• Elizabeth Recommends: Revealed!  My schoolgirl-like crush on one of the biggies of the personal growth movement!  Yes, I’m coming clean. Here’s what I love about him, and how you can tap into his best stuff for just a few bux.

• Maybe - JUST MAYBE! - another cat video 

Sign up now if you’re not already on the list (sign-up boxes are in the upper right hand corner).

This week I’m sharing some of my favorite takeaways from The System, an internet marketing conference I had the great pleasure to attend last weekend. You’ll find previous posts here.

One of my favorite parts of The System was getting to hear Perry Marshall, even for a short time. For those who don’t know him, Perry was the first guy to really grasp the power & potential of Google Adwords, then rocketed to fame and fortune as THE foremost authority on the subject.

Perry is usually a System presenter, but this year he took a break and was in the audience as an attendee. Nonetheless, he graciously joined the presenters onstage during the last session to take questions.

I can’t remember what the question was, but one of Perry’s answers really struck me:

“Everything comes down to your USP.”

The USP seems like a little thing, but underneath the question “what makes me different?” is a host of other stuff. It’s really about getting to the heart of who you are and what you bring to the table, what you offer the world. These are not easy questions! And they can push all sorts of emotional hot buttons. At least, they did for me.

As I struggled to get my first clients in my copywriting business, I did what comes naturally when you don’t have a clue and you’re looking for answers. I looked at what everyone else was doing, and “modeled” them.

Only it wasn’t modeling. It was a little too much copying.

I didn’t copy to be malicious or to rip others off. The excessive reliance on copying was all about insecurity and looking for answers. I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing! And these other people must be doing it “right.”

Well, maybe they were, and maybe they weren’t. But spending all that time trying to fit myself into someone else’s box… convincing myself I had to do things this way or that way because I’d fail otherwise…

As you can imagine, it only took me further away from the path. And - oh yeah, I was pretty miserable, too.

“Tell your story,” the experts advised me. (It’s good advice - you’ll hear it from me, too.)

OK, so I told my story. One version of it, anyway. The version I thought everyone wanted to hear. The one that made me wonder, “Who is that person?”

If I had to do it all again, what would I do differently?

I’d give myself plenty of time. Finding your USP is a creative act. Like all creative acts, it takes time and energy.

I’d be patient. Your USP is out there. It just needs to be uncovered and developed.

I’d not be afraid to be myself. Because here’s the coolest thing about the USP: once you have it, you’ll begin to attract the clients you’re meant to work with, the folks who resonate with you. Your perfect clients.

[If the idea of finding your USP seems a little daunting, you’re not alone! I’ll be covering USP in depth and giving you plenty of exercises to help you uncover your USP in my Painless Metaphysical Marketing teleseminars. Next class starts June 10. Details here: http://www.metaphysicalmarketing.com.]

This week I’m sharing with you just some of the dozens of takeaways from my trip to The System Seminar.  (The System was founded by Ken McCarthy and is widely regarded as the best-of-the-best in internet marketing events.)

Ken opened the seminar by sharing his top “big picture” principles.  “These are the 7 things I’d tell you about marketing and business if I could never tell you anything else again,” he said.  His best advice, in other words.  And his first words were:

“Do NOT be an internet marketer.”

OK, so, the dude who (more or less) invented internet marketing tells us NOT to be internet marketers, while at the top internet marketing conference that he founded.  What’s going on here?

“Do NOT be an internet marketer,” Ken said.  “Be a business owner.”

In other words, build a business.  Your long term results matter much more than the short term successes and failures.  The foundation you build is what will support you over that long term.

Internet marketing is full of short-term temptations.  A new “blueprint” or “formula” comes along practically every day, promising to be “the missing link” to business success.  That’s not really a huge problem in the metaphysical community, but we have distractions all the same.

And the question is still worth pondering:  are you a reader, or a business owner?  It’s perfectly OK to reserve your skills for your family and friends, or just do readings on the side.  Nothing wrong with that.  But there’s a world of difference between readings on the side and making a full-time living as a reader.

2 different sets of actions for 2 very different goals.  Are you a full-time metaphysical consultant?  Congrats!  You’re also a business owner.

It can be a little weird to wrap your head around, but thinking of yourself as a business owner is absolutely critical to your success.  Why?

Simple: the choice you make in your mind (i.e., how you think) will determine how you act.  And action truly is everything.

[If you’re a business owner, smart marketing is not an option!  In my upcoming teleseminars on June 10 & 17, I’m going to share an easy step-by-step marketing plan for metaphysical consultants.  Details here: http://www.metaphysicalmarketing.com.]

Just got back from this year’s round of the mother of all internet marketing conferences, The System.

When I say “the mother of all internet marketing conferences,” I mean it. Ken McCarthy, The System’s founder, was the first person to ever host an Internet marketing conference, back in 1994. (His guest, by the by? Marc Andreessen of Netscape. Ken also invented the banner ad.)

I got home this afternoon, but I’m still reeling. I’m also exhausted, having given into the temptation to spend my last evening tooling around Chicago with my pals and fellow copywriters, Chris Haddad and Julie Eason. I couldn’t resist, but we did stay up ’til past 1, which was rather sub-optimal when catching a plane at 9:30 the next morning.

I have to say: being at The System reminded me of being at The Readers Studio. The caliber of presenters, the warmth of the attendees, the fabulous networking, the generosity of our hosts, and so much more. And the content! Ken’s breakout sessions run on FIVE tracks. I got to sit in on 5, which leaves 20 to go. (Hint: if you ever go to The System, be sure to order the recordings so you don’t miss anything).

What I learned at just those 5 sessions, plus the general sessions, will keep me busy for a while. Through it all, one theme kept coming up again and again. You probably already know what I’m going to say…

Implementation. The best information in the world does you no good unless you USE it.

Lloyd Irvin has a reputation as one of the marketing world’s fastest implementors. When he first came to The System in 2003, he’d never made a cent with online marketing. On the first day, he went back to his room and began implementing what he’d learned - yes, well before the seminar was over. Five years later, the online arm of his business makes… $10 million.

$10 million can seem a little surreal and weird, I realize. The exact number isn’t important. What IS important is that he had a goal and just got started. Ask him, and he’ll tell you the big difference between him and others is action.

In his presentation, Lloyd made another important point with regards to action. It can be hard to wrap your head around, as it tends to go against what most of us have been taught and conditioned NOT to do: get it out there, clean it up later.

So your USP isn’t perfect. So what? So your brochure isn’t perfect. So what?

Wait for perfection and you’ll be waiting the rest of your life. Just get going. (An old boss of mine had a saying that always made me laugh: “equipment that has been ordered will always arrive before equipment that hasn’t been ordered.” Same idea.)

Implementation is what grows your business. Nothing else.

I’ll have more System seminar takeaways for you all this week on the blog, so check back.

Quick reminder: if you haven’t yet registered for the Painless Metaphysical Marketing teleseminar, don’t forget! You can sign up here:

http://www.metaphysicalmarketing.com