The Online Prosperity Experience

When you clarify your message, you make it easier to attract coaching, consulting or small business clients. To clarify your message means to clearly define your core brand message. Your core message is the overarching message in your business. Less like an elevator pitch, and more like a value proposition, your core message tells people why you do what you do, what makes you unique, and communicates the value of working with you. Clarify your message since it’s the first thing someone sees Your message is often the first thing people hear or see from you. It’s the message at the top of your website that your ideal client reads and decides to keep scrolling. It’s the powerful bio on Instagram that causes your ideal clients to hit “follow” when they see it. It’s the statement that makes your ideal clients say, “Yes! I need to work with her!” when they hear it. Your message is important, and that’s why clarifying your message is such an important part of being in business, especially as a coach, consultant or small business owner.

How to create passive income streams for your coaching or consulting business so you can stop trading time for dollars. As a coach consultant or small business owner, you often start with 1:1 services. It’s a great way to get your first coaching clients and get your feet wet doing what you love. But at some point, you’re going to max out on 1:1 clients, either due to burnout or simply lack of time to serve them. You don’t want to be working 40 hours a week, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year. (Who does?) You started your business to have more freedom and flexibility, not less! So what’s the solution? Creating passive income streams for your coaching or consulting business. Want to create passive income for your coaching or consulting business?

How exactly do we create a compelling package that sells? When you’re a coach, consultant or small business owner you want to find ideal clients, and part of that is creating packages that your ideal clients want to buy. But how do you know where to start? This podcast will explore: Why you want to create coaching or consulting packages in the first placeThe benefits of coaching or consulting packages to both you and your clientsHow to create a coaching or consulting package that sells Creating a compelling coaching or consulting package can help you attract clients more quickly and easily than offering single sessions. Ready to create your compelling coaching or consulting package? When it comes to creating a coaching or consulting package, you want to be sure you know your niche, that you’re using messaging that resonates with your ideal clients, and that you have a marketing plan in place to attract them. That’s where I come in! I support clients in clarifying their niche, creating compelling offerings, defining their messaging, and marketing their business… so that they can attract more dream clients and grow their business. Want to learn more? Schedule a free consultation with me here.

Shifting your marketing mindset can make the biggest difference in your ability to market your business “I don’t want to do marketing.” I hear this all the time, mostly on client consultation calls. These coaches, consultants and small business owners want to have a business, want to find clients, and want to make money… but they don’t want to market their business. If this is you, this podcast is for you, because you’ll learn how marketing helps you do more of what you love. And you’ll learn the 5 marketing mindset shifts that can change your mind about marketing. When coaches, consultants and small business owners tell me they hate marketing, I laugh! When I hear that someone doesn’t want to market their business, I usually ask, “How do you plan to find clients?” Because the thing is, marketing helps you find clients. And marketing is part of having a business that's profitable and enjoyable. As a coach, consultant or small business owner who wants to get paid for their work, you also become a business owner. Marketing is the responsibility of running a business, just like managing your books and doing your taxes. When people say they don’t want to market their business, what they’re really saying is usually: “I don’t want to market my business in a sleazy, spammy way.” ~ or ~“I don’t know *how* to market my business” ~ or even ~“I’m uncomfortable with marketing my business.” So the magic question is, if you don’t want to market your business, WHY don’t you want to market your business? Listen to this podcast and Understand the real reason you hate marketing.

What it looks like to have an equal energy exchange in your client relationships When you have equal energy exchange relationships with your clients, things feel in balance. You feel good about your overall relationship, you don’t feel disrespected or taken advantage of, and you are enjoying coaching your clients. Energy exchange is about investing the same amount of effort, time and activities into the relationship, as the other person does. So, if the other person prefers to meet you for coffee twice a year, don’t bombard them with emails every two weeks asking how they’re doing. That would be strange and the relationship will most likely stop at that. Similarly, if I’m attempting to build a friendship or a love relationship, it’d be funny if I don’t find the time to meet with this person to actually start building the relationship. The same amount of activity doesn’t mean the same activities, because different people bring different things into the interaction. Our expectations and motivation are influenced by our personal values, plus the intangible soft stuff, such as emotions, moods, warm attitude, and sense of humour, often outweigh the tangible things, such as money, sex, gifts, and services. We can’t love a person because they provide us with money or services, but we love a person for their personality traits. Energy exchange is about maintaining the level of personal satisfaction for each participant in the relationship. To do that, we need to understand our own motivation and the other person’s motivation and what each of us brings to the relationship. Again, we may be bringing different things that may not seem even, but if both people are satisfied, then all is good. For example, I find the person’s company entertaining and lifting my mood, but the person’s motivation for the relationship is getting professional advice. This relationship may not seem equal and even, but it actually is, if everyone gets what they want out of their interaction.

Ever been ghosted by a prospective client? If it hasn’t happened yet, it will. You had a great sales consultation with a prospective coaching client. They seemed like a great fit and sounded excited to get started … only to never hear from them again. Suddenly you realize, you’ve been ghosted. Just like in dating, ghosting also (unfortunately) happens in business. Being ghosted can be a frustrating and disheartening experience, but you don’t have to let it affect you. In this podcast, you’ll learn some ways you can mitigate prospective client ghosting from happening in the first place, and what you can do if it does. But before you can un-ghost your customers you have to know WHY your customers are ghosting you in the first place, so let’s dig in. The reasons customers will ghost you are many and varied, and they include the customer being: Disappointed – you dropped the ballAshamed – they dropped the ballOverwhelmed – you gave them way too many ballsUnderwhelmed – it wasn’t the ball they thought they boughtBusy – they have too many other balls Being ghosted by a potential client is part of running a business Just like anything in your business, being ghosted is a learning experience. People will ghost you and it won’t be the last time. But it can be the last time you take it personally. The more you focus on your worthiness, the value you provide, and attracting the right fit clients, the more easily you can move forward.

How to Create a Marketing Plan for a Coaching Business Creating a marketing plan is the best way to attract your ideal clients consistently. In this post, I’ll share why you want a marketing plan, what’s in a marketing plan, and how to create a marketing plan for your coaching business. Want help creating a marketing plan for your coaching business? As a business coach for coaches consultants and small businesses, I help my clients create a marketing plan that is based on their strengths and attracts their ideal clients. If you need support creating your own personalized marketing plan, an Online prosperity quiz will be great for you. Click here to learn more. Why create a marketing plan for your coaching business When you start a coaching business, you will need to market your business. Marketing helps you get the word out about your business and connect with your ideal clients. (Because if they don’t know you exist, they can’t hire you!) But first, let’s clear up a few misconceptions about marketing: Marketing is just social media. (It’s not — social media is a TYPE of marketing.)Marketing means going “live” all the time. (There are plenty of marketing channels that don’t require video!)Marketing means paying for Facebook and Instagram ads. (Advertising is a form of paid marketing, however, there are many ways to market your business for free.) So, what exactly IS marketing? Marketing is any activity you take with the intention of attracting your audience. That’s a pretty broad definition. And that’s why it’s so important to clarify which activities will work best for you to reach your ideal audience.

If you’re feeling stuck in your business, it’s a great time for self-inquiry. Let’s be real for a second – feeling stuck sucks. Whether it’s being stuck in your business or in your personal life, it’s never a pleasant experience. And when you start comparing yourself to all of the other coaches, consultants and entrepreneurs around you who seem to “have it all together”, you start feeling like everyone is moving forwards and you’re still stuck in the same place. Yup, it sucks. Well, my friend, I’m here to tell you that you’re not alone, and feeling stuck is completely normal. In fact, this is something I’m going through myself right now at the time of recording this podcast. And if you’ve been following me for some time now, you know that I like to be very open and transparent when it comes to my business. Why? Because we’re all so used to reading about other people's wins and successes – but I personally find the most inspiring is learning more from the obstacles instead. So that’s why I want to be a little vulnerable with y’all and share my “personal recipe” to get unstuck when the cogs in my biz machine are not running smoothly.

Entrepreneurs are not immune to fear If you’ve started a business, you’re familiar with the common fears of solopreneurs. Fear of failure,fear of success,fear of the unknown, andfear of rejection are all common fears that raise their heads when we’re starting something new or out of our comfort zone. It’s important to remember that being afraid is normal and that you can manage your fear so you can move forward in your business. No matter what fear you’re facing, there are ways to effectively manage it, even if you can’t make it go away immediately. What you can do is take a step back, centre yourself, and view your situation more objectively, so that you’re more likely to see the potential solutions in front of you. Here are 7 steps you can use to calmly and consciously manage fear in your business:

The benefits of setting boundaries in business Setting boundaries in your business benefits both you and your clients If you run a service-based business with the main goal of helping others, you know how important it is to be functioning at your best. (I’m looking at you, coaches, consultants, and small business owners!) When you’re in a “helping” profession, you’re your greatest asset. You rely on your special skillset to show up and do your work. Using your intuition, listening skills, and ability to guide others through difficult life transitions all require that you show up centred and present.. When you show up as your highest self, you and your clients benefit You can make a bigger difference in the lives of your clients and in the world when you show up as your most powerful self. And boundaries can help you do that. As your own boss, it’s up to you to ensure you’re taking care of yourself and that you’re serving clients from a place of energy and power, not a place of burnout and resentment. When you communicate clear guidelines with clients, you manage expectations, create clarity and trust in the relationship, and build stronger relationships. Ready to set boundaries in your business, so that you can show up as your best self?

When should you hire a business coach? Here’s how to know. If you’re a business owner, you might be wondering, “When is the right time to hire a business coach?” Hiring a business coach can help you make strides forward in your business. After all, not everyone who starts a business is an expert in business! In many cases, hiring the right coach can help propel you forward in your business — with everything from improving your mindset, creating a clear strategy, and knowing exactly what actions to take to achieve your goals. How do you know if it’s the right time to hire a business coach? Consider these 7 signs it’s time to hire a coach. 1. You are just starting your business and you’ve never done this before. 2. You’re struggling to find clarity. 3. You’re missing key parts of your business foundation. 4. You’re struggling to reach or convert your ideal clients. 5. You keep having limiting beliefs 6. You’re tired of people giving you advice, yet you can’t seem to find your direction. 7. You want support along the life-changing journey of starting a business. When to hire a business coach? It’s all up to you If any of the above scenarios ring true for you, it might be time to consider hiring a business coach. Whether it’s mindset support, strategic support, marketing and sales support or all three, the right business coach can be a wise investment so that you can achieve your business goals. The first step in hiring the right business coach for is knowing what questions to ask.

What’s the difference between a business coach and a consultant? And who should you hire? So you want to start or grow your business? Congratulations! Whether you're just starting out or you're already on your way, one of the best things you can do for your business is to hire a business coach or consultant. But what's the difference between the two? And more importantly, who should you hire? In this podcast, I'll break down the key differences between business coaches and consultants, and share with you who will be the best fit for YOUR business. As a business owner looking for help, you may not be sure who you need to hire. Do you need a business coach, consultant, or mentor? You want to hire the right fit for your needs and get the results you want! In this podcast, I’ll outline the differences between a business coach, consultant or mentor — so can you choose which one is the best fit for you. Hire a business coach when you want true coaching Business coaching, and coaching in general, is where the coach guides the client to figure out their own answers vs. providing the answers. A true coaching agenda is guided by the client. The coach is there to provide a sounding board and be a guide to helping the client figure out their next steps. Business coaching can be more helpful than consulting or mentoring for the following things: Getting clarity and figuring out what you wantSetting and achieving meaningful goalsFinding the right path and starting the right business for youCreating a business that aligns with and supports your valuesBreaking through blocks and challenges, especially “internal” blocks such as fear and impostor syndromeFinding and sustaining motivationEnhancing your productivityDeveloping a more focused mindsetThriving in times of uncertaintyManaging stress, anxiety, and overwhelmStaying accountable to yourself and your goals In business coaching, we take a look at what’s working and not working for you in your business, paying special attention to those areas that seem out of alignment. We get to the bottom of the issue, you define what success looks like to you, and we go from there. Changes in one area have a direct effect on the other. Note: As business coaching has risen in popularity and given the fact that anyone (even non-accredited coaches), can claim to be one, you want to be very clear about what credentials your coach has, as well as what their approach is. (Many coaches are actually mentors in disguise!) PS: Are you receiving FREE Digital Marketing Advice, straight into your inbox? No?!! (Wha?) Let's fix that... right here!

We live in a time when extroverts seem to get all the glory and attention. Why Are You So Quiet? Have you ever been asked this before? As an introvert, I’ve been asked this numerous times in my life. First off, that’s a horrible question to ever ask someone. It comes off as degrading and you feel like you’re better or above the other person. Growing up in school and college I was always told that you need to be an extrovert to succeed. Or that on average extroverts were more successful or made the most money. Extroverts are always the focal point of group conversations and because of that, they stand out. In fact, even the education system and our workplaces put a premium on people who are gregarious, outgoing, and comfortable working in large groups. Certainly, the media likes extroverts. Those of us who are more introverted and like to spend time alone, or in smaller gatherings, have become outsiders. If you are a coach, consultant or small business owner, and also an introvert, you might feel you are at something of a disadvantage. After all, the limelight seems to shine on those coaches, consultants or small business owners who have websites filled with their photos and video clips. They hold court at conferences and do well in large client meetings. But what about the rest of us, who are more quietly spoken, and are happy spending hours at a time reading alone, thinking alone, and coming up with our own ideas? “There’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.” - Susan Cain Extroverted coaches, consultants or small business owners may make the most noise, but introverted freelancers can be better thinkers, have better ideas, and do better work for their clients. Ultimately, it’s that quality of work that builds your reputation and brings you success.

Get in the driver’s seat of your coaching, consulting or small business, or fail Most coaches, consultants or small businesses fail to achieve the level of success they deserve simply because they haven't adopted the Business owner Mindset. They follow the old model of being in the “service” of their clients. They take a subservient role, feeling grateful for every crumb of work that comes their way. In fee negotiations, they cede power to their clients and buckle under when pressured to charge less. The new and better model is to be the coach, consultant or small business owner who sits firmly in the driver’s seat. This coach, consultant or small business owner has a plan for his or her business.She sets goals and chooses her clients carefully.She markets herself in a way that associates a high level of value with her business.She spends very little time looking for work, because work comes to her, mainly through word of mouth and referrals.She is in control and negotiates fees from a position of strength.She also watches carefully for opportunities to leverage her knowledge and expertise in ways that enable her to create new and profitable streams of income. If you want to get into the driver’s seat of your own coaching, consultant or small business, learn more about how we help others create a business that's profitable and enjoyable.

Perform at a higher level by connecting with other coaches, consultants and small business owners. As a Digital Marketer, I often feel like I work in a vacuum. Generally, I work alone, which means I don’t have a team around me to celebrate with. It also means I don’t have as many opportunities to network, which makes it challenging to grow my business. But I’ve learnt how to overcome that challenge. Here in this podcast are some of the steps and actions you can take to use networking to grow your freelance business. This isolation can be tough on us. If we have a bad day, it can sometimes be hard to drag ourselves up out of the fog. If we feel lost, we can’t push our chairs back and chat with the person in the cubicle next to us. Beyond our daily challenges, we also face longer-term struggles when we work alone. For example, at the beginning of the year, we might have set some ambitious goals and created a plan to help us achieve them. But, being alone, there is nobody around to keep us accountable. In other words, building your coaching, consulting and small business can be hard when you work alone. That’s why the people that network have an advantage. They are getting to know each other. They are finding out that others share the exact same challenges. When everyone goes home, some of them will keep in touch with the people they have met while networking. Maybe they’ll form a private group on Facebook, so they can keep the conversation going. And if they create small groups and keep in touch, they’ll be giving themselves a big advantage. They won’t be isolated anymore. They will have people they can reach out to when they are having a bad week or bad day. They will have people they can celebrate with when they have a really good day. And they will have people around them who can help them stick to their most ambitious plans for the future. My advice? Get out to a conference at least once a year and make friends with a few other Coaches, consultants or small businesses. If you can’t do that, then make friends online and create a small group of fellow freelancers. Either way, you’ll perform at a higher level if you are not alone.

The Importance of Being Truly Authentic in Business Being the true and authentic version of yourself is the only way to really create a business that is profitable and enjoyable Authenticity is the quality of being the true you. It’s about being real,being true,standing forth with confidence and conviction,and showing up every day as the person that you truly are. Some people struggle with being authentic as they are led to believe that they have to put on an act or show up as the person that someone else wants them to be rather than just being themselves. To run a business that truly serves your ideal client, however, you have to be authentic in everything that you do. If you’re putting something out there that is not truly aligned with you, the results you get will not be aligned either. This includes the clients that you get to work with. You may even find that you struggle to get any clients to buy into your offering as you may be being inconsistent in your approaches to business, for example in your marketing strategies To be really successful not just as a business owner but as an individual, be the person that succeeds in originality. The one that everyone knows as being authentic because they can see how passionate and truthful you are being in everything that you do. ⁠ In this Podcast, I share 5 pieces of advice to help you with letting your true and authentic self shine through in everything that you do in business:

There's no such thing as an overnight success. Anyone who tells you otherwise is likely trying to scam you. Anyone who promises a proven process or an easy success formula is probably trying to take advantage of you. The only way to succeed in business is to learn the rules and find a Mentor who can help you navigate the system. There's no magic formula for success: just hard work, dedication, and a willingness to learn. It’s easy to sit in a meeting room on a Friday afternoon and say, “I don’t think we need to reinvent the wheel here”. It’s much harder to say, “It’s going to involve working through the weekend, but let’s step back and see if we can be genuinely creative, and come up with an idea that really is new and interesting.” In other words, the decision not to reinvent the wheel is the easy way out. It’s the lazy way out. It means you can stop thinking, stop worrying about making a mistake, and grab a “proven process” off the shelf. It’s also a first-class ticket to mediocrity. Beware anyone who tempts you with a “proven process” or an easy “success formula”. I’m not saying you should totally ignore what you see and learn. Not at all. Find out what has worked well for other people. Learn from their successes. But if you simply sit back and copy what others have done, you’ll be very unlikely to achieve any real results for yourself. As a coach, consultant or small business owner, you can take the same road. Read less about what others have done to market their businesses, and spend more time thinking of something original, and hopefully a little crazy. That’s what gets you noticed.

3 Tips For How To Focus on and Enjoy The Process of Success Do you know what the expression, “The journey is more important than the destination” really means? If you want to be successful, listen up! Life is a series of small moments. The goal of life isn’t to acquire things. Rather, it’s about learning how to focus on and enjoy the process of success. If you obsess about the final outcome, you end up missing out on all the amazing things that happen along the way. Are you ready to learn 3 tips on how to focus on and enjoy the process of success? If you are constantly looking for ways that you can get from start to finish with a hop, skip and a jump, keep reading. I’ve got 3 tips for how you can enjoy the process, while still working towards the achievement of your goals. 1. Enjoy The Present Moment 2. Celebrate Your Progress 3. Live Your Life Purpose You should also spend less time trying to focus on “where the money is at”, and more time identifying the kind of work you are best at and enjoy the most. Enjoy your work more, and you’ll feel happier. And the happier you feel, you more successful you will become.

The fewer choices you offer, the more you will sell. If you've ever wondered why more choice doesn't actually lead to increased sales or conversions, this Podcast is for you. In this podcast, marketing expert Prosper Taruvinga explains the paradox of choice and how it can actually lead to paralysis and decreased sales. He also shares some tips on how you can overcome this challenge in your own business. Whether you're a coach, consultant or small business owner, this podcast episode will give you some valuable insights into the psychology of choice and how you can use it to your advantage.

Find some challenging and interesting problems to solve. In this podcast, Business Coach and Consultant Prosper Taruvinga talks about how seeking out challenging, interesting work can help prevent burnout. He shares his own experience of burnout and how he was able to overcome it by making a change in his attitude and approach to work. If you're feeling burned out, this podcast is a must-listen!

Never try to change your prospects’ minds. Have you ever tried to change someone's mind? And failed miserably? You're not alone. In this podcast, we'll explore why it's so difficult to change someone's mind, and what you can do instead to better persuade them. After listening to this podcast, you'll know how to better identify your target market, what cognitive biases to avoid, and what methods of persuasion are most effective. I always try to be in concert with my audience’s beliefs and absolutely avoid disagreeing with or challenging those beliefs. This may sound obvious, but all too many coaches, consultants and small business owners interpret “persuasive” selling as meaning that one persuades a reader, listener or prospect to change his or her mind. Not going to happen. Your job is to persuade the reader, listener or prospect to do something they are already inclined to do.

What have you done to promote your freelance business today? We all know that online marketing is important. But what are the two words that will open the most doors for you when it comes to getting results? Push marketing and pull marketing. In this podcast, you'll learn what each of these terms means and how you can use them to get more traffic, leads, and sales for your business. Push marketing is all about getting your message out there in front of as many people as possible. This can be done through paid advertising, PR, and other forms of outreach. Pull marketing, on the other hand, is all about getting people to come to you. This can be done through SEO, content marketing, and social media. Too many coaches, consultants and small business owners, particularly those who have just started out, think that promoting their business is something that needs to be done occasionally. Not so. Promoting and marketing your business is something you should be doing on a daily basis. Every day? Yes, even if it’s something small. If you are wondering what you could do on a daily basis, I have compiled a suggestion list for you. It is divided into 2 sections – Push and Pull. In other words, it isn’t hard to do something every day. My list certainly isn’t complete. But there is enough there for you to compile your own calendar of marketing activities, and do SOMETHING each day of the week. Don’t always do the same, easy thing. Mix it up.

Help your customers decide. Are you struggling to get people to take action on your website? If so, then you need to check out this podcast on 8 rules for writing high-converting calls to action. These tips will help you write CTAs that actually get people to take action, whether it's subscribing to your email list, buying your product, or anything else. So if you're ready to start writing better CTAs and boosting your conversion rates, then listen to this podcast now!

People come to the internet to get information, are they finding yours? What is curated content? In a nutshell, it’s sharing original content you didn’t create yourself. It’ll still be high-quality, relevant content for your industry. It should also be entertaining, inspiring, and educational. By the end of this podcast, your social media platforms will include a mix of original and curated content. And it’ll be a huge part of your content marketing strategy from now on. As I explain in this podcast, I think the days are past when you can get away with asking, “Is this content good enough?” Smart coaches, consultants and small business owners now need to raise the bar considerably, and ask themselves a much tougher question, “Is this content good enough to be curated?” Aim to achieve the same level of quality content for your own websites, podcasts or blogs. This makes good sense because if your content is chosen by a quality curator, who is familiar with your topic, then you can be absolutely certain that it’s more than good enough to satisfy Google and the other major search engines. In other words, don’t try to stay just ahead of what Google wants – and you can never be sure of what that is anyway – but move way ahead of “good enough” and blow your competition out of the water. We're past the time for content for content's sake.

We need you, we need more outliers! We have all heard of those people that are so insanely great at something that we categorize them as flukes or outliers. We describe them with phrases like: “Well, yeah she can do that but she is the exception” “Yeah he did it, but he is crazy” “Well everyone except for her, she doesn’t count” People that come to mind include: Thomas EdisonOprah WinfreySteve Jobs Somehow these people have attained outlier status and as such don’t follow the same rules that everyone else does. The popular perception of them becomes less that of a real person and more that of an idea. Most of us set the bar way too low when it comes to believing what we are capable of. We do good work. We are productive. We put energy into our work. But how often do you do CRAZILY good work? How often are you CRAZILY productive? How often do you put a CRAZY amount of energy into what you do? We can all do it. It's just that we don’t reach up that high very often. This brings me to you. You have all of the raw ingredients necessary to become a changing force in the world. Bursting out of the league that the rest of us occupy is a possibility. It is just a possibility to require an uncommon amount of work and dedication. It requires moving forward when your brain screams for you to stop, taking risks that will scare your loved ones and putting yourself in dangerous situations. Even still, the potential is there. You have a chance to change the world for the better. Take it. We need you, we need more outliers!

Humans crave certainty, take advantage of this. I’m not suggesting you be dishonest. Far from it. Instead, create for and relate to your audience so that they are certain you are a trusted adviser for them. In order to be truly certain that you have the best solutions for your clients, you will need to do some work to determine who you’re selling to. You need to create a relationship with your prospect that allows you to understand the challenges and pressures that they’re facing, and to sell to their deeper needs. If you are a coach, consultant or small business owner, use the same approach when marketing your services. Find a way to promote yourself that offers certainty. Will my advice make a difference to the results you achieve? Yes, it will. It’s money in the bank. No ifs, buts or maybes.

Be ambitious, and plan to create a memorable body of work We can be so consumed with achieving right now. Instant gratification is the driving ambition of our generation, but how do you create to leave a powerful legacy? Find your why. Ask yourself the big question, why you are writing? Be honest with yourself and dig deep. If your goal is for immediate success, then give it your everything. You will be able to achieve that goal if you apply yourself, get some mentoring, and keep at it, just don’t give up. Create without the pressure of performance, develop your work and stay true to your vision. If you are going to leave something that stands the test of time, you will need to have the courage within yourself to disregard the critics. Not everyone will understand what you are trying to achieve. Great artists show us what is possible; they inspire us to become more and reach further with our creativity. Only you can decide what you want to achieve, know who you are, and give us your honest and authentic self. It’s ok if you are not driven to make money with your writing, create great art, and allow the world to enjoy it, your grandkids just might be glad that you did.

You can achieve anything you want in your life. You can build the career you want, you can write and publish a book, you can become a yoga instructor, you can travel the world, you can learn how to play the guitar and you can learn how to speak Italian. You can do all those things in your lifetime — but you can’t do them all at once. And, more importantly, you can’t excel in any of those fields, if you’re not willing to invest consistent hours into mastering them. Too often though, this is the trap we fall into. We spread our energy too thin by going after too many things at the same time. As a result, we don’t end up achieving much. Personally, I’ve fallen victim to this kind of thinking a few times. I wanted to travel the world and launch a project from scratch. I wanted to write a book and build a company. I tried to do them at the same time, but of course, that wasn’t possible. But all that changed when I came across this Russian proverb that transformed my understanding of what it takes to succeed: “If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one.” If you want to create sustainable change in your life, you must choose “one thing” and you must go deep in that thing. You must choose—and chase—one rabbit . And that’s the secret to mastery: You do one thing, you do it every day, and you did it for years.

You’ll feel better as a coach, consultant or small business owner when you see the difference you can make. I was asked on a podcast recently to identify my most memorable job from the last 10 years as a Digital Marketer and entrepreneur. The interviewer was probably expecting me to come up with a job I did for one of my big-name clients from the past, like Office works, Myer! or Jim's Cleaning franchise. But I didn’t. My most memorable job is one I did for a friend about 5 years ago. I helped her start a Chutney business and to help her grow her one-man business. And it worked gangbusters. In fact, she now has her products in her local IGA and has published a recipe book. Why was that job more satisfying than some huge project I did for a much bigger company? It was satisfying because I could clearly see the results. I could see how much I had helped my friend and her company. In other words, I had made a difference and could see it. With much of our work, we never really get to know if our contribution made any significant difference… The Digital marketing work I did for Office works may have been good, but it certainly didn’t change the trajectory of the company. I couldn’t see the difference I had made. This is important because as humans we find it deeply satisfying when we can see that our skills and hard work are actually worth something. Working for money is one thing. But making money is not as meaningful to us as the knowledge that what we do has meaning, and that our work can change lives. I’m not suggesting you stop working for larger companies, but you might want to consider an occasional job for some very small companies or causes. It doesn’t matter what they pay you, or whether they pay you at all. I never took a penny from my friend. What matters is that from time to time you get to see and feel that the work you do is important. Do more work that matters, more for the selfish reason of the satisfaction it gives you...

There are few things more wonderful than being able to earn a living by writing and speaking. It's a remarkable gift that allows us to share our thoughts and ideas with the world, and to connect with others in a meaningful way. If you're lucky enough to be a speaker or writer, then you know how precious this gift is. But it's also a gift that comes with a lot of responsibility. Because when you're a writer, you're not just writing for yourself. You're writing for your audience. And that means that you have to be constantly aware of what your audience wants and needs. You have to be able to give them what they're looking for, whether it's information, entertainment, or both. First, you will have found a way to express yourself, your feelings and your opinions beyond simply writing one more Facebook entry or a Tik Tok Tweet.Second…you will have developed a craft that allows you to make a living, or some supplemental income, in a variety of different ways. Myself, I have made a living by writing for the last 10 years. One of my brothers-in-law is a journalist. One of my nephews is a feature writer. I know someone who makes a living as a travel writer, and a couple of people who are nonfiction writers. Not to mention all the people I know professionally, most of whom make an excellent living as copywriters or business communications writers. Writing or speaking is not simply one more way to make a living. It is a unique way to make a living. As a writer and a digital marketer, I have some huge advantages over friends and colleagues who have traditional jobs. – My work skill is evergreen. I don’t have to relearn how to write as the world and technology change around me. – My work skill is hugely flexible. I can write sales copy, editorial content, books and ebooks, programs and courses, and so on. – My work skill is totally portable. Give me a small laptop and you can drop me off anywhere in the world, so long as I can find internet access. In other words, I can work as a writer from wherever I want. – I can’t be fired. I work for myself and am light on my feet. If I lose a client, or some project comes to an end, I can just find another. In effect, I can never “lose” my job. – It doesn’t matter how young or old I am. Most employees start to get pretty nervous when they hit the age of 50. If they lose their job, they know they’ll have a tough time finding another. That isn’t the case for me, or for anyone else who writes for a living. For as long as my writing and speaking have value, I’ll never be penalised for my age. And so on. In a world where everything is changing fast, and where jobs are disappearing faster than they are being created, it’s wonderful to have a skill that is so resilient. Can you follow the same path? Of course, you can.

Remember the very best work you have done. As coaches, consultants and small business owners we suffer from self-doubt from time to time. We have good days and not-so-good days. Days when we think we can do anything, and days when we feel we’re not even worthy to get paid for the work we do. Welcome to the life of an entrepreneur! Hopefully, you have more up days than down days. When you do have the occasional down day, here is something I do to snap myself out of it. I think back to some work I did that was really good. Maybe it performed incredibly well.Maybe I was just particularly proud of what I created.Either way…it is proof that I can create good work. Sometimes I’ll just think back to that moment, or when that project was completed. Other times, I’ll look at a sample or an image on the portfolio page of my site. The trick here is to remind yourself of what you did and reaffirm your ability to do good work. Another way to do it is simply to think back and remember times at work when you really enjoyed what you were doing. That memory could be related to a project you worked on or a great team of people you worked with. The idea here is to get your mind thinking about a very positive moment in your work life. Why? Because the brain works with a rather peculiar cocktail of chemicals. And you can often get out of a funk simply by adding a splash of good memories. If your memory makes you smile – and by that, I mean physically smile – that’s even better. The act of smiling also adjusts that chemical cocktail. It may seem odd that you can change your frame of mind in this way, but you really can. So even if you are feeling on top of the world right now, you may want to think about those positive moments from the past – make a mental list of them — so you have all the ingredients you need at hand, ready to help you handle one of those bad days.

Rename your “To-Do” list to your “Opportunities” list To give yourself a daily lift in self-esteem, get into the habit of using to-do lists. I have an ongoing list of things I need to get done and the days by which they are due. When I get up in the morning, I can immediately see my tasks for the day. As each item is completed, I check a box next to the article. As the day progresses, more and more items get checked off. At the end of the day, I can look at my list – at all the items with check marks against them – and I feel good. I feel good because I can see what I have done with my day. I can see I have had a productive day. I can see that I have made progress and am moving forward. The funny thing – I used to simply delete items from the list as I progressed through each day. But…that didn’t make me feel as good, because at the end of the day I could no longer see the complete list of what I had done. So now I use a system where I can just check that box. I still delete the items at the end of the day, but I like to look at the day’s list, all with their check marks before I do that. This is one of those weird mind games one has to play with oneself. It shouldn’t make any difference to us whether or not we can “see” what we have achieved each day, but somehow it does. What program or service do I use for my to-do list? I have tried numerous services, a few of which I paid for. But now I just use the tasks function within Google Calendar. I have the calendar open to see my various appointments for the week, and on the same screen can see my task items for the day. If you are not doing this already, try it. It will make you feel good.

The Great Outdoors Can Teach Us Entrepreneurship Lessons If you've listened to a few of my podcasts, you know I find business inspiration in the oddest places: the dentist's office; kid's shows, and Mr Bean; heck, even learning Italian has given me some lessons about running a business. So it should be no surprise that on a recent hike in Plenty Gorge, Mernda's urban outdoors setting, inspiration struck once again. Even if you don't get outside much, you can take these lessons to heart. The feeling of awe is a powerful thing. We can feel it when watching a gymnast performing some incredible feat, or at the birth of a child, or in nature. That moment of awe has a profound effect on us. It’s a little like a reset button, allowing us to view everything afresh. All the jumbled-up worries and thoughts in our minds are swept away. For myself – perhaps because I don’t have easy access to gymnasts, and have just the right number of children already – I find awe in nature.

Is your content created simply to market your podcast or site, or to actually inform your listeners and readers? A lot of coaches, consultants and small businesses create content simply for the purpose of marketing their websites, blogs or podcasts. We are driven by the knowledge that content is king and the creation of content is a powerful means to attract new visitors. In other words, we use the content as bait. We end up just creating content for content's sake But when we do this, are we really giving our readers or listeners what they really want? Another way to look at it would be to view your website, podcast or blog as a library. For a moment, imagine your site as a physical library, built with bricks and mortar, and stocked with research books and old texts. Now think about what kinds of books you would buy for your library. In the real world of bricks and mortar, you would buy and display books according to what the public wanted to find there. You would cater to their tastes and have a few reference books on the shelves that might be rather mundane in their subject matter, but are nevertheless what your readers want to find. Now imagine a physical library where the librarian thought more like a website creator or editor. He or she would probably buy books that are new, exciting and provocative. The reference books would give way to bestsellers. In fact, the librarian would be driven to choose books that attract the most attention and ignore the useful, information-packed books that people really wanted to find. Such a library might attract some attention at first but would soon lose favour. People come to the internet to get information. And if they get this from our websites, they get to know, like and trust us. And we all know, people do business with those they know, like and trust. Readers might be excited by what they first find there. But they would stop coming back as soon as they discovered that the library no longer offered the full range of useful, informative reference materials they really wanted. We can fall into the same trap with our websites and blogs as coaches, consultants or small businesses. We create content that grabs attention, hooks readers and hopefully, is shared far and wide through social media. To put it another way, we use the content as a means to market our site or business. But all too often we forget to create content that is actually useful. We don’t like publishing what we consider to be boring content, even if it is what our readers are really looking for. The best sites – the ones that get it right – are those that find the right balance. Yes, they create fresh, exciting content as a means to market their sites. But at the same time, they also create content that is deep, useful and helpful. Going back to the library analogy, by all means, create an entrance area that is filled with bestsellers and other exciting, provocative and eye-catching books. But behind that entrance area, be sure to stock the shelves with the deep body of reference materials your readers are looking for. Check out your own website or blog now. Do an audit. Do you have the right balance? Or do you offer too much brain candy and too little serious reference material?

Grow your blog post audience by always writing from the customer’s perspective. The problem is that, for coaches, consultants and small business owners to create great blog content that keeps people engaged (and returning for more), you have to know why people read blog posts. Your blogs, specifically. What led them to your brand?What are they trying to accomplish when they read your blog? In short: you should be writing content that’s valuable from the customer’s perspective, not yours. Blog posts about your product features and company events? They’re okay to include in your larger content library, but they’re not what’s going to drive organic traffic to your site. In this podcast, I’m going to cover why people read blogs and how you can use that information to grow your blog post audience.

Your new subscribers, site visitors and audience don’t know who you are, yet. Do people even really understand what you do these days? What’s the watered down, back-to-basics story of what you do, what you stand for, and who you are? How would you tell that story to your audience?How do you tell it on your blog?And what does it look like in under 140 characters? Starting fresh is somewhat harder than it seems sometimes, but the effort is really important. If you are a coach, consultant or small business owner, what story would you tell anew for people who have forgotten who you are and what you mean for for those who already know of you? If you’re a solo business selling some service, how do you tell your story in such a way that it resonates with your prospective audience? As you move forward with your career, many of your readers have stepped in half way through the narrative. They may not know where you “came from” or how and why you do what you are doing today. The challenge we all face, certainly as coaches, consultants and small business owners, is to speak to all of our readers and customers effectively, whether they have known us for 10 years or just 10 days. We not only need to communicate where we are today but also how we got here.

The internet is driven by, community, conversations and content. Think about how often you see businesses shouting their messages at their audience. No engagement, no context, no conversation. Those brands look spammy and self-centred, not exactly trustworthy. Brands that foster community on the other hand clearly care about their customers. They converse with their customers, sometimes even one-on-one. They want to learn more about their interests, needs, and behaviours. They want to solve their customer’s problems. As a result, their customers care about them and what they have to say in return. They become loyal to these brands. Tip your hat to those companies. They knew how to build an online community.

What Does It Mean to Be an Affable Person? I was talking to a client the other day and came across a discovery about how people choose their doctors, coaches or consultants. And this is where the 3 A’s come in. Affability,Availability andAbility. When a doctor is affable, that means he or she is friendly, empathetic and appears genuinely caring. Availability is about how long the patient will have to wait to get an appointment. And ability speaks to the patient’s sense of just how good or bad the doctor is at his or her job. What interested me was that the client I was talking to, was just expecting the social media, funnels and website we had created for them to do all the heavy lifting. I had to let the client know these 3 A’s are listed according to their importance to the patient. In other words, patients care most about their doctor being affable, then about their availability, and finally about their ability. Yes, their ability was listed last. Of course, this doesn’t mean people don’t care about how good or bad their doctors are. And maybe people place it last in part because it is very hard for us to make a judgement as to how good a doctor might be. That’s how it works with doctors and patients. And maybe we can learn from this when figuring out what a client is looking for when he or she mulls over whether or not to hire us. I think many of us coaches, consultants and small business owners assume that clients are most interested in determining our abilities. How good are we?Are we good enough to do the job? So as coaches, consultants and small business owners we put a lot of effort into providing proof of our ability, using testimonials, case studies and the like. I think what we do less well when prospecting for clients is displaying our affability and our availability. Making it clear that we are available and ready to start work on their project today is easily done. You can simply put an online booking system on your website or social media. Demonstrating our affability is a little harder, and takes more time. Let’s look at the topic of affability in this podcast in a little more detail. Why? Because I suspect it is a lot more important than we think when it comes to securing a client.

Because the hard things ultimately build you up and change your life. Many people often take the easy way out of, well, everything. They take shortcuts in life and often times they end up living a life that is less than fulfilling. A new idea – probably the best idea – is to do the hard things in life instead. This means making decisions to do the things that other people aren’t willing to do, or the things that you’ve always avoided doing. In this podcast, we discuss some valid reasons why doing the hard things is the best way to live your life. The ‘hard things’ in life can be whatever you think they are. Like getting up before sunrise to exercise even when you want to sleep in. Mowing your elderly neighbour’s lawn after mowing yours for three hours. All these things make a difference, help others, and essentially make you a better, healthier, happier, and fulfilled individual.

Your services can be generic, but your message can’t be In the early stages of their business, coaches, consultants and small business owners often struggle to come up with really strong messaging to describe what they are selling, and this has a huge impact on their ability to raise money, find customers, and attract employees. This is not that surprising, as it can be really hard to arrive at great messaging that is simple and appealing. This focuses on how to get messaging and positioning right so you can have a business that's profitable and enjoyable. There are two reasons why you need to have a clear message about what you are offering: You need it to connect with customers, investors, potential employees, the press, etc. and if you don’t have a simple, compelling message, they won’t bother to learn more. They won’t take the time to learn about, and ultimately love and share your product. More so, if you don’t steer how people think about your product, the market will make up its own version which may not match your vision.Every touch point a customer or potential customer has with your product or company will shape their view of you. It’s critical that each of those touchpoints send the same message. When you create a clear brand message, it ensures your team is fully aligned. This gets everyone moving in the same direction, telling the same story and creating consistent touch points for your customers. Your services can be generic, but your message can’t be. Your primary message, as viewed on the home page of your website, or in that elevator, has to be exciting to both yourself and your readers. It has to convey value, and it has to make your prospect want to work with you, and nobody else.

Today, all your content headlines have to do double duty: Making headlines shareable through social media? What’s that about? Well, if your content page headlines aren’t gaining significant traction through social media, you’re missing the boat. Today, all your content headlines have to do double duty: First, they have to work on the content page itself. The page headline has to compel attention, hook the reader, and drive readers into the body of the content. Second…your headlines have to be shareable through social media. They have to be able to stand alone, away from your page, and jump out the crowd in Twitter streams, on Facebook pages, on Reddit, in RSS feeds and elsewhere. In other words, your headline alone should make people want to share both the headline and a link to your full page or post. You want to maximize shareability because social media exposure can bring you a ton of immediate traffic, extend your reach to a larger audience, and maybe generate some new inbound links as well. So how to you do this? How do you write a content headline that works on your page or post, but also works well in isolation…on Facebook, Google+ or elsewhere? Shareability Tip #1: Write your headlines to a maximum length of 80 characters.Shareability Tip #2: Mention multimedia.Shareability Tip #3: Get NEW into the headline. These are just three of many ways to make your content headlines more shareable. Above all, it’s important to recognize that the craft of headline writing is changing fast. The proliferation of site pages and blog posts have a lot to do with this. As does the explosion of social media, and the massive adoption of content via smartphones. The bottom line is that you now have to write better headlines in order to get noticed, compel attention, drive readership, and build loyalty among your readers.

You don’t want to seek out any old clients. You want to pursue the very best clients. One of the most important things you can do as a business owner is to get ruthlessly honest about who you work best with, and for whom you are the best fit. What this means: You need to know your criteria for an excellent client fit. And that won’t be the same as mine, or as any other business owner. It also means that you have to be willing to often say no. Which can be really. damn. hard. And initially, this can seem impossible if you’re in a position where cash flow is an issue. Everything in your business will change when you commit to letting go of clients/projects that cause you to feel resentful. You have a lot more control over your business than you think you do. It all starts with the clients you work with. Without clients (or customers), you don’t have a business. So what kind of customers do you want to have? What matters to you in your business? How do you want to feel during and after your projects? And how do you want others to feel when they work with you? Get clear on who aligns best with what you’ve got to offer, and start saying NO to anything less. You owe it to your business and to your clients. This is you moving into a bigger leadership role, and making space for great. So, who is a perfect fit for you?

Imagine you’re getting dressed for a client meeting. Would you scan your wardrobe and choose the perfectly pressed outfit or the wrinkled shirt and pants that’s been soaking in your dirty hamper? You’d likely choose clean clothes because you want to make the best impression possible. And while we don’t judge – other people do. The same rule applies in the digital realm: you want to represent your brand in a way that is modern and clean. Let’s look at the benefits of regularly updating a website and how it could impact how people perceive your brand! Your business is important to you – and you probably want it to be important to other people too. An outdated or hard-to-navigate website can turn clients off before they even know who you are. If your website looks or feels outdated, your prospects will turn away and not look back. So, how do you instantly captivate potential customers? Easy: keep your website up-to-date by using safe web practices and custom web design! The top 6 things to focus on when updating a website are: Updating Your Website SecurityBoosting Your SEOKeeping Up with TechnologyKeeping Your Content FreshImproving Loading SpeedUpdating Your Website Design Ultimately, there are two reasons to keep updating your coaching consulting or small business website. First, you need to look current. You can’t afford for your site to look old. It’s bad branding. Secondly, you need to build on a platform that allows you to connect seamlessly with your audience.

You can achieve success if you really WANT it. There's no magic pill or secret comes down to hard work and dedication. But if you're willing to put in the effort, success is within reach. In this podcast, learn about people who have achieved success in their field and what it takes to reach the top. I'll share their stories of struggle and perseverance, and offer advice on what it takes to achieve your goals. So if you're ready to succeed, listen to this podcast and find out how.

The Real You is Hiding Underneath the Vanity Persona You Use to Get Validation and Approval. Let me preface this by saying I am a big fan of social media as a business tool for coaches, consultants and small business owners, or for any other kind of solopreneur. The smart use of social media can be a great way to connect with people in your industry and reach out to potential customers, clients or partners. However… The smart use of social media involves achieving absolute clarity over how you use it when you use it and how much time you spend using it. To take an extreme example, you can quite easily spend hundreds of hours on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, build up a list of 10,000 followers, friends and connections, and then derive zero benefits from your efforts. As I watch my Instagram feed, and see some people posting dozens of times a day, I sometimes ask myself, “Why? Why is he posting so much? What’s his strategy? What benefit is he deriving from all this time spent on Insta? What is his ROI?” That’s the first thing. Create a social media strategy for yourself. Decide on why you are using it. Set some goals. Then spend your time achieving those goals. Also, keep track of the time you spend on social media, and make sure you are getting a good ROI. Now let’s talk about lunch. Imagine having lunch with a supplier, peer or old client. Or an existing client. Or a possible, future client. You spend a couple of hours over your meal. That’s 160 minutes of face time and talk time. A little talk about family stuff. A little moaning about the economy. A then some talk about what you are doing, the clients you have, the kind of work you are picking up, the kind of work you hope to be doing soon. Maybe at about minute 89, your lunch guest says something like, “Hey, I should hook you up with my pal Frank. He’s the marketing manager over at Xyz busines, and I know he’s looking for the kind of expertise you offer. I’ll get you guys together.” That took 89 minutes. How long would it take you on Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin? Regardless of the time spent, consider the power of the referral. An introduction through LinkedIn is very nice. But it has nothing like the power of someone saying, “Frank, you should talk to Prosper. I have known him for years and the other day we were having lunch, and he was talking about this new SEO service he is offering.” Put simply, a real-world referral is infinitely more powerful and effective than a virtual referral through social media. How come? Because of the relative power or the connections you make. You may well have 10,000 connections through social media. But these are vague, misty, fleeting, ethereal and essentially very weak connections. These people don’t really know you. They have no reason to go out of their way to help you. They’re not your real friends. They don’t care about you. But when you get to know someone over the years, and have lunch each month, and hear about how their kids are doing at school, that creates a very strong connection. Make a note of how much time you spend on social media each week. 6 hours, maybe? That’s three lunches. Which would be the better use of your time? For most of us I think the answer is to do both. Just don’t get so tied up with social media that you forget the power of real-life, personal relationships.

Do coaches, consultants and small business owners really have to become local celebrities? Don’t Focus on Being Momentarily Popular. Focus on Being Missed When You’re Gone. Not being you will destroy you. and you will never be satisfied. The way to have a successful business is to focus on being of value to your clients, not on being momentarily popular. In this podcast, I talk about how social media can be a trap of vanity metrics and how you can avoid it by creating content that is actually valuable to your target audience. The reason most people are unhappy is that their priorities are wrong. See, most people prize gadgets, appearances, and the attention of others over what makes them feel truly alive. Their lives revolve around other people and the validations/affirmations other people give. Unfortunately, these people are usually the least qualified to pass judgement on your life. If you want stop focusing on popularity, you can finally focus on creating good, true, noble work that truly helps people. You can evolve from an insecure “influencer” to someone people will actually miss when you’re gone. I received a really nice email from a reader of mine: “Do you know you come across as such a warm person? Is that what you are really like? I love getting e-mails from you.” I’ve fought hard — against myself, the world, and even the people around me — to become a warm, kind person. The kind of person people actually miss when I’m gone, who look forward to seeing me. I’ve been able to build a business that's profitable and enjoyable doing this, but more importantly, I’m able to wake up each day happy to be me — something I could not have honestly said for most of my life. Don’t focus on being popular. Focus on helping others, and being missed when you’re gone.

The ingredients for success are different for each and every person. What motivates you? Understanding that is key Does it really matter what motivates you to be an entrepreneur? Actually, it does. Entrepreneurship is a grind, so whatever you can hold onto to give you motivation is key for getting through difficult times. If time is what you value, think about the extra hours each day you could have with your family doing activities that are meaningful if you are able to succeed as an entrepreneur. If making the world a better place is of chief importance to you, think about all the people you’ll help if you’re successful.If you just want to love what you do, think about enjoying your workday for once as a motivation to keep going. In the meantime, check out some tips for entrepreneurs, and don’t forget that your journey will not be an overnight one. Keep your eyes on the prize and remember why you took this path, to begin with. Persistence will pay off eventually, as long as you remember what you’re fighting for.

Stop handing in second rate work! When I’m busy with other work, I sometimes outsource copywriting work to other , coaches or consultants in that field. Working with project partners, I often have to read the copy submitted to my partners by their freelance copywriters. Here’s the shocker… More often than not, most freelance copywriters, coaches or consultants hand in garbage. These are good, professional copywriters, all capable of producing outstanding work. But the work they submit is rubbish. Maybe the opening is weak. Maybe the flow just doesn’t work. Maybe there are factual errors, or spelling errors. Maybe part of the offer description from the brief is missing. Maybe the headline is just plain wrong. Or maybe it’s not terrible, but clearly in need of some more polish, with a second or third draft required. Do you think I’m joking? I’m not. I see this again and again. In fact, I see unfinished, unpolished copy more often than I see well-crafted, error-free copy. The bottom line is – most freelance copywriters fail to hand in their best work. This is insane, because you will be judged by what you send in to your clients. And it is immensely frustrating for your clients, because they often know what you are capable of, and don’t understand why you would send in anything less than your best. Maybe you think, “Hey Prosper, sometimes we send in a draft just to get feedback before we move on to the final draft.” That may sound like a reasonable excuse, but I think it’s just that – an excuse. If you have questions you need to ask your client, ask them. But don’t send them a weak draft, in the hope that they’ll help you make it better. You are meant to be the expert. That’s what they are paying you for. Work for fewer clients and spend longer on each job, so you can hand in your best work every time. And as you build your reputation as a coach, consultant or small business owner who always submits great work, you’ll be able to charge higher fees. Fewer clients. Better quality. Higher fees. Doesn’t that make more sense? And believe me, with so many entrepreneurs submitting second-rate, unfinished copy, there is a huge opportunity to brand yourself as the freelancer who always delivers his or her best work.

First, figure out what you love to do. Then figure out how to make money doing it. Coaches, consultants, and small business owners, receive all kinds of good advice about how to make a decent living. Goal setting.Finding a niche.Marketing.Commitment.Mental toughness.Organization. This is all good stuff. But it won’t help you much if you don’t love what you’re doing. And if you do love what you are doing, all those other elements will fall into place more easily. So, before you leap into your next venture, ask yourself the question, “Do I love doing this?” If you don’t, pause for a moment and ask yourself this question: “If I had followed the path of what I loved to do back when I was 22, what would I be doing now?” Whatever the answer, perhaps you could start doing that now. When you love what you do for a living, everything changes.

There is a need for a strong strategy and clear limits. One of the great challenges of Digital marketing is to make sure your time and resources are being used effectively. It’s all too easy to put a huge amount of energy into social media, across multiple sites, and then scratch your head and wonder whether your hard work actually made a significant difference. Social media activity is always open-ended. There are always more sites you could become active on, and there is no limit to the time you can spend on the sites where you are already engaged. Hence the need for a strong strategy and clear limits. If you work for B2C companies, it can be tough to set those limits. And that’s why, even if you don’t have B2B clients, I suggest you create a social media strategy for an imaginary B2B client. Just as an exercise. For B2B it is somehow easier to set limits. Let’s imagine you are working for a company in the food services industry that specialises in selling frozen goods to independent restaurants and bars. How might you help them with social media? Here are some options I might explore: – Look for vertical social media sites which serve restaurant and bar owners etc. – Search for and join relevant groups on LinkedIn and Facebook. – Create an account on Twitter and engage prospects, thought leaders, food journalists and other influencers. – Create a geolocation based campaign to implement at hospitality services trade shows and other relevant events. – Reach out to restaurants and offer to sponsor local, geolocation based deals and offers. That will do for now. Each option is fairly clearly defined. Each has a specific purpose. Each is looking to engage with a specific group of people. It’s this kind of clarity you want to apply to any social media work, especially for B2C clients. What you want to avoid is goals that sound like this: “Reach out to as many new prospects as possible.” Or, “Use social media to better establish our brand.” These are very open-ended goals. There are no boundaries or limits. You could spend forever on them, and probably with a very poor ROI. One way or another, whether you do my B2B exercise or not, create social media strategies and campaigns that address a specific audience, for a particular purpose, within a specified time frame. Do that, and you’ll be able to apply resources where they matter most, and measure the results you achieve. Above all, avoid vague, open-ended strategies and campaigns that will be a drain on your time and unlikely to achieve tangible results.