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Lisa Orrell, The Promote U Guru 
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Posts Tagged ‘business coach’Reverse the Risk and Explode Your ProfitsOctober 23rd, 2011 Jim Palmer: The Newsletter Guru Hi All! The following guest blog post is courtesy of Jim Palmer who is internationally known as The Newsletter Guru. Jim is the premier go-to resource for maximizing the profitability of customer relationships. So without further delay, let’s jump into his informative article, “Reverse the Risk and Explode Profits”: I have a question for you. Why don’t more of your customers or prospects buy from you? If your answer is “because of price,” you’re probably wrong. I coach a lot of entrepreneurs and small business owners, and when our discussion turns to reasons for not buying, invariably the excuse is price. “My customers don’t say ‘yes’ more often because of price.” In reality, customers don’t say “yes” more often because of skepticism, or lack of trust or perceived value. It’s what Zig Ziglar emphasizes as one of the five obstacles to a sale: no trust. Lack of trust is probably the biggest obstacle between your company and a sale. It’s rarely price. The reason more of your customers or prospects don’t buy from you is that you haven’t done enough to build your customers’ trust in your products or services. Why the 30- or 60- or 90-Day Warranty Is Not Enough! You’ve heard of Murphy’s Law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, usually at the worst possible moment. Well, there’s another variation of that, and it goes like this: The product will cease working exactly one day after the warranty expires. Enough of us have had that exact experience that it lends credence to the veracity of the law. We all take those 30- or 60- or 90-day warranties with a grain of salt. It makes us skeptical consumers. Your customers are no different. They’re wondering, “What if it doesn’t work? What happens when it fails? What if I don’t get the result I was expecting?” They may be on the fence about buying from you. You’ve done a lot to move them to consider buying from you, but they’re thinking, “Yeah, I kind of like it. It sounds like it will solve my problem. I think the price is fair, but what if . . . ?” Get rid of the “what if,” and you can close the deal. It’s easy to do. Easy? Yup. All you have to do is reverse the risk. Risk reversal means that you, the business owner, assume all the risks associated with purchasing the product (or service), so it’s going to work to your customers’ satisfaction. If they’re on the decision fence and have nothing to lose, they’re going to buy. Let’s be clear—square one is that you must offer a high-quality product or service. That’s a given. It’s a no-brainer. Some of my coaching clients assure me that they do (and I believe them), and then they go on to tell me about their 30- or 60- or 90-day guarantee. That sort of offer simply makes people skeptical because we’ve all been burned by that warranty version of Murphy’s Law. What happens after 30 days? What happens after 60 or 90 days? When prospects wonder about that, they’re going to be hesitant to buy. You haven’t gotten them over the trust hurdle. The L.L. Bean Approach: “Our products are guaranteed to give 100% satisfaction in every way. Return anything purchased from us at any time if it proves otherwise. We do not want you to have anything from L.L. Bean that is not completely satisfactory.” As the story goes, a woman returned a pair of boots after fifteen years because the sole had worn out. She thought they should have lasted longer. They were replaced, no questions asked. That’s a rocksolid, stand-behind-your-product guarantee. A super strong guarantee shows that you are supremely confident in your belief that your products and services do what you say they are going to do. It should be paramount in whatever you sell in the first place. So if that’s true, and if you are supremely confident, then give an ironclad guarantee. You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain—sales and higher profits. Your ironclad guarantee is just what your customers need to increase their trust and lose their fear of risk. When they have nothing to fear and nothing to lose, they have no reason not to buy. Your super strong guarantee needs a few things to really make it work. First, it has to have a specific name, and when possible, the name of your guarantee should be associated with the benefit of your product and the degree to which you back it up. Second, it needs a specific logo. A lot of entrepreneurs use a seal in conjunction with their guarantees, and that image resonates with customers. It’s like the Good Housekeeping “Seal of Approval.” That seal, and the guarantee behind it, have been around for more than one hundred years. The Good Housekeeping Research Institute tests products and only offers the seal on those that pass its strict standards. It’s an ironclad, rock-solid guarantee. Consumers know they can rely on the product if it has the seal. They can trust it! Jim Palmer is internationally known as The Newsletter Guru, the go-to resource for maximizing the profitability of customer relationships. Jim is also the acclaimed author of The Magic of Newsletter Marketing – The Secret to More Profits and Customers for Life and also Stick Like Glue – How to Create an Everlasting Bond with Your Customers So They Stay Longer, Spend More, and Refer More, and The Fastest Way to Higher Profits – 19 Immediate Profit-Enhancing Strategies You Can Use Today. Learn more about Jim and all his programs at: www.NewsletterGuru.TV.
 Lisa Orrell Voted “Top 30 Brand Gurus in the World”June 01st, 2011Hi All! Okay, so I have some cool news to share, therefore this post is a bit self-serving…but I can occasionally share news about me, and not just helpful tips, on my own blog…right??? Here’s the news I wanted to tell you about…it’s the actual Press Release that was deployed on PRWeb.com: Lisa Orrell, Branding Expert and Marketing Consultant, Recently Voted “Top 30 Most Influential Brand Gurus in the World” Voted on by over 22,000 industry peers and business professionals, Lisa Orrell makes BrandGurus.net’s prestigious Top 30 Brand Gurus List along with other globally known marketing experts, such as: Stephen Denny, Martin Roll, Sally Hogshead and Dan Schawbel. Lisa Orrell, The Promote U Guru, is a well-known 20-year Branding Expert, Marketing Consultant and Certified Success Coach who works with small business owners, entrepreneurs, entertainers, professional and aspiring speakers, and book authors. And, based on her track record, she was recently included on BrandGurus.net’s “Top 30 Most Influential Brand Gurus in the World” List. According to BrandGurus.net, the winners who made their final Top 30 list were voted on by more than 22,000 industry and business professionals around the globe. “I didn’t even know I had been nominated to be considered for this list. Apparently they had a rather large list of candidates and then put it out to their industry database and social media networks for voting,” explains Lisa Orrell. “I wasn’t notified until the Top 30 List had been selected, so it was a total surprise! And, after looking at the experts who were on there with me, I realized I was in great company. I actually know some of them personally or I have read their popular business and branding books.” Aside from coaching and consulting with clients, Lisa is also the author of 3 business books: “Millennials Incorporated”, “Millennials into Leadership”, and of her highly anticipated new one coming out in August 2011, “Boomers into Business: How Anyone Over 50 Can Turn What They Know into Dough Before and After Retirement”. And, as a professional speaker herself, Lisa conducts popular workshops and seminars on Personal and Business Branding, Marketing, PR, Publicity, Social Media, Book Marketing and Publishing, and launching a Speaker Platform. “I think Lisa totally deserves to be on that list,” says one of Orrell’s clients, Stacey Vulakh, a Time Management Coach, founder of the Timestyle Time Management Approach, aspiring author, and professional speaker. “She has been amazing at helping me create my branding and positioning, launching my coaching and consulting business, building my speaker platform, and helping me develop the concept for my first book. Lisa is so good at what she does…it’s what she’s done her entire professional life!” Because of her vast business experience and notoriety, Orrell has been interviewed by, or written articles for, a wide variety of media, including: ABC, MSNBC, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, NY Times, U.S. News & World Report, Cosmo, China’s Her World Magazine, BNET.com, WomenEntrepreneur.com, and countless others. Plus, aside from being selected for The Top 30 Brand Guru’s List, Lisa is also the recipient of over 75 national and international awards for marketing, creative and strategic excellence. People follow Lisa’s business insights, tips and advice on Twitter @PromoteUGuru, through her Promote U Guru blog, and on her Facebook Fan Page: Facebook.com/PromoteUGuru. For media inquiries, to contact Lisa about her services, or to have her speak at your next Professional Association event, contact her at: Lisa@PromoteUGuru.com, phone: 408-340-8789, website: PromoteUGuru.com OKAY! So that’s the cool news I wanted to share! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa How I’m Celebrating 2011 National Small Business WeekMay 16th, 2011Hi All! This week, May 16-May 20, is National Small Business Week! It’s an annual event, mandated by the President of the United States, and was started in 1963 to pay tribute to all the small businesses across America each year (now totaling 27.2 million in 2011!). Other quick factoids: More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, and small businesses also create 60-80 percent of new jobs in the country…so we contribute to the economy big time! And, because I coach and consult with small business owners, coaches, consultants, speakers and authors, and I see how much they struggle with their branding, marketing, PR, sales, book marketing, and/or social media strategies (prior to hiring me, of course!), I wanted to celebrate this annual event by providing you with a special offer to help your business succeed. Special Offer Details: – Receive a 15% discount on ANY consulting package that I offer. I provide a wide variety of package options ranging in cost so you are sure to find one that fits your budget! – In addition to the special savings, I will also ADD one “bonus” consulting session to any package you choose! – This is limited to the first 5 people who contact me by the end of this national event (by Friday, May 20th). So if you are struggling with your branding, marketing, PR, social media, sales and/or book marketing efforts, contact me right away. I can also help you develop a “topic expert” personal brand platform to attract paid public speaking opportunities and media interviews…I help most of my clients with that! Again, this is limited to 5 people and you need to contact me by May 20th. Just send me an email or give me a call and I will email you my complete Services & Options Overview Package. Contact info: Lisa@PromoteUGuru.com or call 408-340-8789. Let’s get your brand, business and bottom-line booming in 2011! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa How to Write Articles for Branding and Web Traffic: Part OneMarch 07th, 2011Hi All! A very powerful strategy for building your topic expert brand positioning, and for driving traffic to your website, is to write articles and submit them to online article distribution services. Some small business owners also choose to do this for additional income (because there are some article services and media that will pay for your articles), but many experts don’t do it for pay; they write articles for the 2 other key reasons I mentioned. In Part One of this 2-part series I’d like to outline 12 ways to make your articles compelling and how they can become significant traffic-drivers to your website. I’ll then conclude this 2-part series next week by providing you with a list of some popular online article submission and distribution services that you can use to get your articles distributed to the masses. 12 Ways to Create Articles for Brand Building: When you write interesting articles in your area of expertise, it immediately positions you as an expert in your field. It also gives you the opportunity to showcase your knowledge and this can attract clients to you, as well as attract media interviews for you. But, if you’re not a great writer, don’t panic! You can hire ghostwriters (inexpensively) who will write them for you, and you can simply provide them with the topics you think will benefit your target audience. However, regardless of whether you write the articles or someone does it for you, here are 12 tips for making them compelling and a valuable marketing tool for you:
Okay! Get started on creating a list of article topics that will interest your target audience and showcase your topic expert knowledge. And be sure to read Part Two of this series for services that can distribute them for you to obtain massive website traffic and readers! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa 7 Easy Steps to An Effective Marketing Strategy For 2011January 01st, 2011Hi All! The New Year is here…are you ready with a Marketing Plan and Strategy to enter 2011 organized, poised for revenue growth and career success? If you are, fabulous! However, if you’re like many of the new clients who hire me, you’re probably “hoping” 2011 will be better but don’t really have a plan to make it happen. You may even know your previous marketing efforts have been ineffective, but have no clue what to do to fix and improve them. Oftentimes, I find that small business owners, speakers, authors, coaches, consultants, etc. are good at what they do in their profession, but aren’t that great at marketing themselves, their businesses, and/or their products. They run in circles in a “reactive” mode (versus create a strategic plan) and then wonder why they are struggling to land new clients, sell books, secure speaking opportunities, or generate more income for their businesses through other avenues. If any of this resonates with you, keep reading! Here are 7 steps to help you create an effective Marketing Plan and Strategy for the New Year:
Sure, this 7 step process is a simplistic approach (there are some Marketing Plans that are much more detailed and complex), but you don’t need to make it complicated; that’s what can scare you from even trying to create a basic plan! I’ve helped clients outline an effective Marketing Plan in an hour, so trust me when I say this doesn’t have to be a drawn-out process. I don’t care whether your plan ends up being one-page or 50…just make sure you have some sort of strategic plan so you enter 2011 feeling more organized and in control of your new year! And here’s a link to a Marketing Plan software solution that can help you: Marketing Plan Pro. Cheers to a Prosperous New Year and Happy Marketing! Lisa 7 Business Coaching Tips You Can’t Afford to NeglectOctober 24th, 2010Hi All! Over the past 20+ years, I have presented to, met with, mentored, coached and observed hundreds (probably thousands) of businesspeople. And I am still always amazed at the lack of professionalism many of them display. Highly successful small business owners strive to be perceived in the highest regard by prospects, clients, colleagues, vendors and employees. And as a certified Success Coach, I see many of my clients struggle because they neglect these tips. Sure, some of these may come naturally to you, but there may be one or two that will benefit your business building efforts. I hope so! 7 Business coaching TIPS You Can’t Afford to Neglect: 1. Be prepared and do your homework. If you tell a client or prospect you’ll have info to them (e.g. a proposal) by a certain day/time, do it. And prior to meeting, have all of your information organized and review it carefully so that you can easily explain it to them. Note: I have personally had people pitch me (for things like insurance plans, printing services, etc.), and they were a mess. Things like: Their information was incomplete, they were late to the meeting, they spelled my name wrong on the proposal, they didn’t present the info I asked for, typos in the doc, etc. Why would I invest my money in someone like that? 2. Each morning start by determining the most difficult task facing you, and do it first. Is it making follow-up calls to prospects? Asking clients for referrals? Putting together a complex proposal for a prospect? Whatever it is, do it FIRST! It gives you an edge over the competition…chances are they are avoiding the task! And if it’s a task that will benefit a hot prospect (or client) you will impress them with your initiative and speediness. 3. Don’t be late for phone or in-person appointments. It tells the prospect or client you do not value or respect their time. Successful business owners arrive to in-person meetings 10-15 minutes early and use the time to “get grounded” for the meeting. Also, this time cushion comes in handy if you get lost trying to reach your destination. It always sounds really unprofessional when you’re late and you say, “I’m sorry. I got lost.” The time cushion (normally) gives you enough time to find your way and still arrive on time. Being 15 minutes early for an in-person meeting is WAY better than being 15 minutes late! 4. Never pull a “no show”. If you cannot make an in-person or phone appointment, call the person BEFORE (not after the time) and reschedule. A good friend of mine works for a loan leads company. They screen people looking for a loan, determine the “hot leads”, and then schedule a meeting/phone appointment WITH A LOAN AGENT (the loan agents pays for these pre-screened leads). She told me that loan agents blow-off these prescheduled meetings all the time! Can you even believe that??? Here are qualified leads that the loan agent is paying the lead service for, and he/she basically throws the hot lead away by pulling a no-show! This flaky behavior costs these loan agents thousands of dollars in commission… money that could have been theirs (not to mention all the referral business they lost)! 5. Successful business owners act confident (NOT cocky!). Here’s a simple concept that I see many business owners neglect: BEING NICE! You don’t need to be a tyrant to succeed. Be genuine, be kind and be caring. Note: When I owned my ad agency for 20 years, I sometimes had client contacts that were junior-level marketing coordinators and they went on to become VP’s of Marketing. If I had been rude to them when they were “junior”, they wouldn’t have kept hiring my firm as they climbed the ladder. By being nice and sincere, I not only received millions of dollars in business (and referrals) from them over the years, but they also grew to become great friends of mine. 6. Successful business owners greet people with a firm handshake. There is nothing worse than a weak, limp handshake. It irritates me to no end. When you greet someone, immediately extend your hand, offer a firm (not crushing!) handshake, smile and make eye contact. Successful business owners make people feel comfortable and build trust right away through their confident, friendly greetings! Note: I have actually made my clients practice this. If they had a wimpy handshake, I fixed it! 7. Being organized is BIG amongst successful business owners. You must be able to keep your client/prospect files organized and your schedule organized. Successful business owners use a schedule book or electronic device (e.g. PDA) to keep track of appointments, phone calls, follow-up, to-do lists, etc. If you are scattered and disorganized, you will be less effective and sell less. And you are more apt to make mistakes. Good luck getting repeat business or referrals from a client if you miss a critical deadline or constantly have to apologize because YOU keep losing or forgetting things! Note: There are VERY successful people who are totally disorganized, but they have a personal assistant that keeps them on-track. However if you can’t afford an assistant, then it’s UP TO YOU to create a system! You can even hire an expert to create a process for you. Someone I highly recommend is Stacey Vulakh, a Time Management Expert & Coach. She helps her clients create a time management system, customized for their needs, so that they are more effective and productive – personally and professionally. Yes, hiring someone like Stacey will cost you money, but it will cost you more money in the long run without an organized system! Okay! There are your 7 tips…please don’t neglect ANY of them! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa Ten Easy and Affordable SEO Tips for Small Business OwnersAugust 24th, 2010Hi All! Many new clients who come to me have spent a significant amount of money getting their websites designed and developed by a webmaster. Or, they have designed it themselves using many of the templates available. But regardless of “how” their website was done, one thing MOST of them have no clue about is SEO (search engine optimization). The excitement for their new website quickly fades when I have to coach them about SEO; explaining that without an optimized website (or blog) their chances of being found in online search results are greatly reduced…by a TON! Personally, I look at SEO as a science. So I outsource my SEO work to a specialist. However, if budget is an issue for you, and you handle your own SEO, or plan to, here is a great article I recently came across with 10 great tips you can easily implement without breaking the bank. The title is: “10 Quick and Affordable SEO Tips”. It was written by Karen Scharf, the Small Business Marketing Consultant, and her company, Modern Image Communications, also offers affordable SEO services. Here are the FIRST FIVE TIPS she shares: 1. Submit to Search Engines You want to make sure that your website has been submitted to search engines. SEO is all about optimizing your position in various search engines, but this is only relevant if you are actually listed in the search engines. When your website is brand new and it has no incoming links yet, it can be difficult for the spiders to find it, so it’s a good idea to hand submit your site to the search engine. 2. Clean up Your Site Make sure your website is organized and clear. It is especially important to clean up any dead links. Fix any errors that may appear on your site and double check to make sure your entire site’s html is up to par. There are online services that can help you do this. Since search engines primarily work and rank websites through the use of robots it is important to make sure all of the technical aspects of your website are in good working order. This helps ensure that the robots can quickly and freely crawl through your site and they won’t encounter any errors or roadblocks that force them to abandon your site too soon. 3. Use Good Keyphrases If you’re trying to optimize your brand new website for a single keyword, you’ll be fighting an uphill battle. Try longtail keyword phrases instead (a phrase that is four words or longer) because they are less competitive and easier to get started with. Be sure to research the phrases that your target market is actually searching for, and then do the competitive research to ensure that you actually have a chance of ranking for those phrases. 4. Create Good URLs Creating readable URLs is especially important if you’re using a content management system or otherwise generating dynamic URLs. While evidence suggests that Google’s new algorithm does not apply much weight to keyword rich URLs, other search engines do. And since it’s such an easy step to create relevant URLs, it’s worth the few seconds of extra time it might take, if only to make it easier on your human site visitors. Make sure that your URLs are indicative of the kind of information that your visitors will encounter on that page. 5. Improve your Title Tags Title tags are still an important aspect of search engine placement, and since they are so extremely easy to update this is a step that definitely needs to be included in your affordable SEO plan. Make sure that your title tags are keyword rich and appropriate to the subject matter of the particular web page. And make sure you use a unique title tag on each and every page in your site. CLICK HERE TO READ THE FINAL FIVE! You definitely need to know ALL 10 of the tips Karen suggests! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa Queen of Twitter Shares Social Media Tips for Small Business OwnersAugust 01st, 2010Hi All! Are you curious to know what it takes to get 70,000 (yes, I wrote 70,000) followers on Twitter? Are you interested in knowing basic tips that can potentially generate an increase in traffic to your website of over 5000%? Then you need to know about the fabulous Jessica Northey! She is pushing 70k followers and she has helped some of her clients see an increase in their web traffic by that gigantic percentage using Twitter as the driver. Jessica recently wrote a quick-hit list of around 30 tips that can help small business owners, entrepreneurs and solopreneurs (such as: coaches, consultants, trainers, speakers and authors) have more success using Social Media in their overall Marketing Plan. And she gave me the thumbs-up to share 15 of those tips here…and, sure, you may already know some of them. But, you may not. And unless you’re totally content with the amount of followers you have, and you’re totally happy with your web traffic numbers, keep reading! But before we jump into the tips, just who IS this Queen of Twitter on the verge of hitting a mega amount of 70k followers? Well, aside from being a Social Media Expert who is contributing a chapter to my new book due out this fall, “The Promote U Guru Guide to Branding and Marketing”, Jessica has 20 years of experience in the Media industry, including Television, Radio, Internet and Print sales, as well as being an on-air personality. Now, as The SocialMediologist, she is known for being able to create complete successful marketing campaigns and bridge partnerships. Plus, she is the Associate Editor and Social Media Expert for the popular entertainment industry blog, FullThrottleCountry.com. In her weekly column, Finger Candy Friday, she offers advice and opinions on social media trends and topics. So what are 15 of the 30’ish quick tips she advises? Here you go: 1. Set a strategy for Social Media optimization and be consistent. Nothing looks worse than months without activity! 2. Take advantage of the free applications like ping.fm to streamline your Social Media efforts. 3. Don’t forget the blog! It is such a great way to control your own content & establish yourself as an authority in your industry! 4. Think of Social Media like you were scheduling radio commercials. When is your target audience listening? 5. Don’t spray and pray. Narrow your message to your target audience. 6. Connecting with other people should be your number one goal. 7. Educate yourself and understand how your target audience uses Social Media. 8. Don’t put all your “eggs” in one basket. Diversify your Social Media efforts and use multiple platforms. 9. Add Social Media Platform Participation links to Business cards, letterhead, vehicle wrap, Broadcast and Print Media. 10. On Twitter, register with wefollow.com & twellow.com and use to find people w/similar interests to get social with. 11. Define your goals and manage your own expectations. 12. Don’t get caught up in the Social Media drama & try to stay connected to positive people. 13. Budget at least half an hour a day to Social Media efforts. 14. Download Tweetdeck, Seismic or Twitterific for a better understanding of how to use Social Media platforms to their full potential. 15. Use Social Media to have discussions w/followers. Ask them for feedback and see what they want! CLICK HERE TO READ THE FINAL 15! And don’t miss the last 15 tips…she shares names and links to tools to support and improve your social media marketing efforts. Want even MORE great tips to build your personal brand or business brand awareness, increase traffic to your website, and drive your target audience to your social media communities? Then also be sure to CLICK HERE to access my YouTube Channel! View short “how to” videos loaded with marketing, PR, social media, book marketing, and branding tips. Thanks for the great info, Jessica 🙂 And to all of you… Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa 2 Ways Leaving Your Computer Can Get You More Business, Faster!July 20th, 2010Hi All! One of the first things new clients ask me is, “How can I get clients faster?”. They know building a social media presence needs to be part of their branding and marketing mix, but that can take time to generate leads and sales. So here’s my short answer to them, “Start speaking and network.” Some of you may be thinking, “Duh”. But I’m here to tell you it’s not something many people think of. I know many small business owners who stay huddled in-front of their computers “hoping” they’ll generate clients through Twitter and trolling around Facebook. They forget that part of social networking means leaving their home office and actually talking to other humans, in person. Public Speaking: One of the ways I get clients quickly is by speaking. I conduct seminars and workshops, and have my target audience for consulting and coaching sitting in front of me for a few hours. Basically, think of conducting a presentation as an audition. And, yes, I charge registration fees to attend my presentations, and I pack them full of great info, but there’s always several attendees who approach me afterwards who want to hire me to help them with their branding, marketing, PR and social media strategies one-on-one. So, I can generate revenue from not only conducting the actual seminar or workshop, but also from the attendees who hire me after. As long as speaking doesn’t totally freak you out, do it. And even if it does terrify you, but you want to try it, do it! I don’t care what your profession is, you can come up with at least ONE presentation topic that people will be interested in. So, think about that, and develop a presentation your target audience will benefit from! And, just fyi, the clients who I help develop speaking topics for, and who get “out there”, benefit tremendously. So, it’s not just working for me personally. Networking: When I ask most new clients how they are currently generating business, very few of them mention “networking” in-person. That’s unreal to me! There has got to be one or more professional associations in your area that have members who are your target audience. It’s also a great way to meet people for strategic alliances, partnerships, support, and referrals. Whenever I attend a networking event, I always walk away with leads OR with contacts who can refer people to me. And this results in getting clients faster. So, I strongly encourage you to investigate networking groups in your area, grab a stack of business cards, and go to their next event or mixer! As I say often, this all may seem like common sense BUT it’s not common practice. If you choose to try one or both of these strategies, you could see an up-tick in business faster than you thought possible. Sure, I love social media, and have benefited from using it in my business building mix, but the 2 strategies I just shared typically get me more business, faster. And they can work for you, too! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa Do You Struggle With Having Breakdowns vs Breakthroughs?June 15th, 2010Hi All! Yes, many clients hire me as their Branding/Marketing Consultant and/or Publicist, but I’m also a Certified Business Coach. And, regardless of “what” role someone hires me for, my “coaching” hat gets put on at some point. Why? Because even some of the most successful people I work with often struggle with having breakdowns vs breakthroughs…and it affects their professional and personal success and progress. And, no, I don’t mean major emotional breakdowns requiring medication! I mean those obstacles that get thrown at you all the time in business and life, that cause you moments of feeling overwhelmed and paralyzed…typically due to self doubt. So this blog post isn’t one of my typical ones pertaining to PR, Publicity, Branding, Marketing or Social Media tips. It’s focused on YOU, and how to avoid having breakdowns vs breakthroughs. Honestly, many people suffer from self-sabotage in the form of not taking responsibility for their actions. It can be more comfortable for them to stay in the “victim role” because they can put blame on everyone else for whatever is not working in their lives. And although placing blame on others for your own “issues” can be quite seductive (it gets you off the hook for doing any self introspection and work), it can be more exhausting than simply being honest with yourself. Also, and most importantly, the “victim role” mentality can make it virtually impossible to realize significant breakthroughs for progress…yet totally possible to experience consistent breakdowns in making progress within any aspect of your life. Breakthroughs = Empowerment + Growth + Happiness Breakdowns = Disempowerment + Stagnation + Sadness To effectively breakthrough a personal, professional or emotional obstacle, the driving force behind it is taking responsibility for your actions and trusting yourself. For many, this can be easier said than done! Let’s take a moment to look at both of those drivers more closely: Responsibility: You gain significant empowerment and freedom when you choose to shift your perspective from assigning blame to accepting responsibility. And although you may feel in control when assigning blame to others for your personal obstacles, the reality is you are totally out of control. Why? You have given your power to someone else. And even though it may feel like a “relief” initially, it can manifest itself into more stress later. You simply cannot resolve personal issues, and have breakthroughs, when the power is not your own. At the point of assigning blame, and releasing all responsibility for challenges in your life, not only have you given all the power to others, your “destiny” becomes based on their next move and decisions…not yours. And, being able to shift your perspective to being someone who takes responsibility, starts with having self-trust. Self-Trust: Self-trust is the foundation to our being. If you do not have self-trust, whom can you really trust? And, suffering from lack of self-trust leads to self-doubt. Having doubt in yourself is a powerful force that can set you up for failure in anything you attempt. Why? Because you are already assuming the decisions you make, and actions you take, probably aren’t the right ones, and they won’t provide you with the results you desire. Think of this in terms of (2) real-world scenarios: Scenario One: You want to make a career change because you’re bored or very unhappy with your current occupation. If you lack self-trust, your decision of making a change could be clouded by self-defeating “doubt” questions like: Am I smart enough to do this? Can I afford to do this? What will my friends, family and peers think? What if they think I’m stupid for making this career change? By having those types of self-doubt questions running through your brain you can actually talk yourself out of making the career change before you even try! Or, even before you look at options and first steps to making the career change. And what is the result of that? Being stuck in a career you no longer enjoy and wishing you were doing something else…yet never even trying to make the change happen! Scenario Two: You don’t have enough business and you’re struggling…but have your REALLY done the work to get more business? Or do find yourself blaming the economy, the competition, the powers that be? I have clients who come to me complaining about lack of business. And when I ask them what their business development strategies have been (prior hiring me), they tell me and I don’t doubt they’ve been struggling. Posting a couple blog posts, a few tweets here and there, created a website, and occasionally go to networking events. And they truly believe the “problem” is all about the economy. They soon realize they are not doing enough, they need to take responsibility for that, and they need to stop blaming others for their lack of business success. Take some time to ask yourself:
Your personal success and business success depend on YOU…you can have the best brand platform in the world, a terrific marketing strategy, an amazing book…but none of them will get you where you want if the demons in your head constantly try to sell you garbage…and you buy it! Cheers to your happiness & success! Lisa
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