Strengthen Your Brand Identity

Customers make the heart of your business beat with their desire to choose products, services and experiences that meet their needs, fit their values, engage their emotions and respond to their desires. Your role is to transform prospects into customers and customers into fiercely loyal advocates. As your own marketer you have to be heard over the marketing noise that is everywhere, (TV, newspapers, on every street corner, now even at the movies). You then have to overcome the skepticism of the more sophisticated consumer.

In creating a Personal Brand it is important to understand that all of this starts … Read More

A New Year, New Goals, New Opportunities!

Now that you have things sorted out and put together, put last year behind you, scrap the old plans and get ready for a new start. New things require new strategies, new tactics and new plans. There’s an old saying – if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got. Einstein may have put it better when he defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over, while expecting different results.

Recently our Mind Masters Licensee Facilitator Erin Samaniego posted some ideas that support what we all need to change and recognize in … Read More

Are You Preparing to Thrive and Survive?

Where is your business now in relation to this years goals and plans. Is your business thriving and surviving?  As business owners we are all playing a high stakes game of on and done and it’s our responsibility to the hero of our business.

So let me ask you, do you have your finger on all the aspects of the business?  As a business owner with so many conflicting priorities, and so much information out there trying to sell you the next most important idea, gadget, or technology, how do you make good decisions and concentrate on the critical matters? Read More

What Does Freedom Mean to You?

What is it inside of people that makes them willing to risk everything they have to be in business?  Is it to join the league of greats like Ford, Carnegie, Hearst, Jobs, Gates or just to have the freedom of being in a business of their own?

Perhaps it is the spirit passed down by parents or grandparents who ran the butcher shops, bakeries and small service businesses from the beginning of time.  Some say it is a burning desire that hits like a flash of lightning or an idea that begs to be developed.

At the height of it Read More

What Does It Really Take to Generate Referrals?

Last week at Mind Masters I posed that question about generating referrals. It came out of one my own experiences that week from a member I had 30 years ago.

Their referral was for a “partner” the sisters were bringing into the business and felt what they had received from Mind Masters to build their practice would help this person be better prepared to take on marketing and growing herself. You see it wasn’t about how to be a chiropractor but about how to grow her business.

In marketing, getting referrals is a primary tactic for generating new business. But … Read More

How to Cope with CHANGE

Here it is half of the year is finished.  How many of you after these several months working day and night to achieve those goals you set in January to create a new service, introduce a new product or even design a new business model – all at once find all the drive that brought the initial motivation and excitement has melted away, the steam has run out, the place you are in is comfortable and the dream world has slipped out from under?

This is the wakeup call.  You must reawaken the drive and motivation, you must motivate yourself!  … Read More

Choose Your Success

What is it inside of people that makes them willing to risk everything they have to be in business?  Is it to join the league of greats like Ford, Carnegie, Hearst, Jobs, Gates or just to have the freedom of being in a business of their own?

Perhaps it is the spirit passed down by parents or grandparents who ran the butcher shops, bakeries and small service businesses from the beginning of time.  Some say it is a burning desire that hits like a flash of lightening or an idea that begs to be developed.

At the height of it Read More

Uplevel Your Brand

Do you remember the song Purple Rain by PRINCE?  He was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Widely regarded as one of the greatest musicians of his generation. And even in death his music is as popular as ever. What can we learn from this legend?  Well, when it comes to marketing, it pays to build a buzz and then back that up by being the real deal. 

It’s important to get the word out about who you are and what you do. PRINCE did it through record releases, public appearances, concerts, interviews, and fan clubs.

Was it easier for PRINCE? Read More

Financing Business Growth

The question is always asked, how much should be spent on marketing and advertising.  Some businesses start on a shoestring and grow rapidly.  Others take hundreds even thousands of dollars and go at a snail’s pace.  While I have never heard a hard and fast answer to how much you should spend, you need a strategy that will produce results for you. Good accountants do far more than prepare tax returns; they help you understand the tax impact of your business decisions and assist you in reducing your overall exposure to taxes. It’s important to consult them before making decisions Read More

Master the Fear of Self Promotion

How often have you walked out of a seminar thinking you wasted your time and maybe even your money because the presenter seemed more interested in promoting his/her next workshop then delivering the topic you signed on for?

I have often heard business owners complain that they hate being sold.  The market place has changed, customers do have access to more information and have become more educated about what they want.  But what is “wrong” with self promotion?

Sometimes it has to do with that bad experience we had with that salesperson who talked us into buying something we really Read More