Getting Ready For New Business In 2010

It’s not uncommon to hear the New Year chiming in with shouts of “out with the old, in with the new”. In many instances, these are words to live by, especially when it comes to growing your business. There’s a palpable energy that’s felt when you’re building on a clean, strong foundation as opposed to PILING more on to a shaky foundation.

Here are some things you can do to “clear the path” for new business in 2010:

1. Are your desires in alignment with the path you’re on?

Many start out full of purpose and passion and then somewhere along the way start losing steam. The further you stray from what truly drives you, the more difficult it is to grow your business. Make it a priority to re-align your goals with what’s driving you.

2. Re-evaluate relationships that aren’t serving you.

Having strong support around you can feel like wind beneath your wings. However, when you’re experiencing conflict or lack of support, it can drain your energy and slow your progress. Gracefully back away from people that aren’t supporting you or have your best interests at heart.

3. Take time to create a process for your major activities.

The more systems you have in place, the more your productivity will increase. This includes everything from intake of information, how you follow up with customers and investors, and a marketing schedule.

4. Organize your office.

Working with clutter or disorganization will have a direct correlation on the flow of revenue coming into your business. Make it a point to properly organize your work areas.

5. Evaluate new technologies.

You’ll want to know what the latest technologies are that will help you automate some marketing aspects of your business, increase your productivity, and provide for more mobile interfaces. Take time to learn and then implement some of these in 2010.

6. Communicate regularly with your customers.

One of the fastest ways to increase your revenue is to offer additional products and services to existing customers as well as receive referrals from those customers. Creating new ways to stay in touch with your customers in 2010 could prove to be very profitable.

7. Connect with your prospects.

Prospective customers require up to 7 impressions from you to make a buying decision. Plan on creating more connection and building more value with this group of people. This could occur via email or direct encounter with you.

8. Create a plan for acquiring resources to support your new growth.

As you plan for various growth spurts in 2010, make sure you’re similarly planning to fund this growth. This could include self-funding strategies, pre-selling, raising money from private investors, etc. You don’t want your growth to exceed your ability to service this growth otherwise you’ll find yourself imploding.

9. Determine what levels of expertise/experience will be required.

Unless you’re planning on having “more of the same” in 2010, you may require some new skills to help manage the new business. Plan for continuing education for yourself or consider building a team with all the expertise you require.

10. Re-evaluate your priorities as it pertains to revenue.

What may have worked last year may not be as lucrative in 2010. Market trends are shifting so this is a great time to develop new revenue goals. I recommend doing some basic research and speaking with existing customers to get a feel for any shifts.

You may reprint this article in its entirety with author's contact and bio information.

Maria Simone is a dynamic speaker, author, and transformational business strategist. As the “Passion To Prosperity Diva” www.mariasimone.com, she helps entrepreneurs package and monetize their talents to create 6 or 7 figure businesses. She’s appeared on ABC News, Fox TV, and in Business Week, Success Magazine, and many other publications.

In A Small Village, A Goat Bears Your Name

Every year I make donations to various organizations that provide food and education to the poor on behalf of my clients and subscribers.
This year I decided to expand my support and purchase goats and chickens that help sustain lives in various villages around the world.
The contribution seems nominal considering the overall impact it will have...and it was blessed in your name.

One of the driving factors of creating abundance is the ability to give back and help change someone's life and I have found that if I focus on that goal in business, financial abundance seems to flow in a lot easier.

Think about this: What would you do with an extra $1000, $10,000, or $100,000 per month in revenue?

If you're interested in doing the same, I encourage you to contact your local food banks or perhaps connect with one of these organizations to make a donation or to make a micro-loan:

http://www.mercycorps.org/

http://www.kiva.org/

http://www.bracusa.org/

http://www.cambodiaschools.com/


If you're committed to creating more financial success in 2010, don't forget to join me for my 30 Day Revenue Makeover starting TONIGHT

http://passionatebiz.com <--- click here to register

I'll be sharing specific strategies of how to put more to your bottom line, leveraging what you already have to create more revenue, and attracting more customers.


Wishing you many blessings during this holiday season!

Maria Simone
http://passion2prosperity.com
http://the15minutementor.com

8 Ways a Mentor/Advisor Can Help You Grow Your Business

There are several distinctions that can be made when describing someone who is thriving, or has the potential to thrive, in business. One of the things I look at is how well they’ve surrounded themselves with movers and shakers in their industry, influencers, investors, business experts, and so forth. Having such a diversity of talent close by can help accelerate your success in ways beyond your wildest imagination. Here are 8 mutually-agreeable ways you can work with Mentors and Advisors to help achieve your goals. Please visit http://the15minutementor.com to make your own requests.

1. Let them share their experience of having made the journey.
Have someone on hand who has traveled a similar path in business and ask them to help you with future pacing. They can easily stay a few steps ahead of you because they’ve been there and know the trail. Knowing your options means fewer obstacles, less risk and acceleration to your goals.

2. Allow them to offer Moral Support.
It’s imperative to have someone around you who can be your moral compass and/or provide emotional support. That will help you stay grounded and reduce the number of “what was I thinking” crazy kind of days that occasionally do pop up.

3. Position them as a funding magnet.
Someone who has raised capital and turned it into profit or has achieved success in your industry can probably duplicate their efforts. This is a huge risk reducer and investors like that.

4. Receive CEO/Leadership Development Support.
You’ll want support as you evolve your inner-self so that as your business grows, you’re able to effectively lead your team.

5. Help understanding financial forecasting.
You may have “people” that manage your books or run your numbers but it’s also helpful to get perspective from someone who has managed millions or even billions in revenue if this person isn’t already on your payroll.

6. Let the connectors open doors for you.
Why stand in line when you don’t have to. Let someone else make the necessary introductions to new business and other opportunities. Move past the gatekeepers.

7. Ask the creatives to help you innovate.
Brainstorm with your creative and visionary advisors to come up with amazing new product or marketing ideas or ways to package it all.

8. Allow the influencers to help celebritize you.
If you are associated with people who are highly regarded in the public’s eye, chances are your status will also be elevated as they make your connection public. Similar to what a book endorsement does for an author.

Ready for a makeover?

There's nothing like a new look, a yoga class, or perhaps a massage to help put that spring back in our step.
Whatever "it" means to you--- we all have something we go to for that pick-me-up.

Makeovers allow us to resume our lives re-invigorated, confident and joyful.
I feel the same is true for our businesses...plus add INCREASED REVENUE to the mix.

So, beginning December 5th, I'm offering you a POWERFUL "30 Day Revenue Makeover" Teleclass Series --my treat.

http://passionatebiz.com <--the video will give you perspective!

I'll share strategies covering 3 specific areas to help you create massive shifts in the New Year:

*New growth--
I'll help you with some marketing tips that work FAST to help expand your current customer base.

*Leveraging what you've already created-- You have assets and resources that aren't being fully utilized.

*Putting more to the bottom line--
Today, less is more. I'll show you how to improve efficiencies and mindset to increase profits.

Good things come in 3's and I've organized the event in 3 parts over 30 days.
Don't underestimate the value of this call...this is good stuff!
I'll be sharing strategies I help clients with during our paid sessions.

This is a great time to be in business, especially if you're getting the results you want.
If you're stuck or thinking "what's next", it may be time for a 30 Day Revenue Makeover.

**I can help but you have to be registered.**

http://passionatebiz.com <-- register here today.

I truly look forward to connecting with you on the calls...

YES ---Social Networking Is Good For Biz

Social Networking and Social Media Marketing are all the rage these days but there are still many people who don’t get what it can do for their business and haven’t quite gotten involved. Many others who are active on the social networks tell me that haven’t figured it out yet and are not seeing tangible results. If you prefer to keep your experience personal and use Facebook and Twitter just to interact with your friends and family, then that’s fine. If you’d like to use it for more business building, then here are my top 10 Social Networking strategies I’ve been using this year to expand my reach, attract media and speaking opportunities, create powerful new alliances and generate new revenue. Try them for yourself and become your own Pied Piper of Social Networking.

1. View your social networking activities as an extension of your marketing plan.

Consider duplicating online the activities you participate in to attract and educate prospective customers. The more of a strategic marketing plan you already have, the easier it is to execute this strategy on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

2. Identify and follow your prospective customers.

You probably have an idea who your ideal customer is so it shouldn’t be so difficult to search for them either by name or descriptive qualities. Follow them and who they know and you’ll create a snowball effect of followers thereafter.

3. Identify and follow people you’d like to partner with.

There are plenty of people out there who have complimentary services and who reach a similar demographic. It’s easier to meet and start a conversation online. You’ll take it offline and strike up a deal in no time! Same approach applies for investors, mentors, and other resource people.

4. Share yourself authentically.

Give information freely, answer questions, ask questions, share resource links, start conversations with people on your list, chime in on conversations of others. Also, if you regularly share and promote the postings of others, your periodic self-promotion will be accepted.

5. Connect to the media.

I like to follow anyone involved in radio, TV, or print not only to follow their perspective on current events but to also be in ready mode to be interviewed or take advantage of some other publicity related opportunity that comes my way.

6. Be gracious at all times.

What happens online stays online. Period.

7. It is what you make of it.

Approaching this in a focused, systematic way while engaging in daily conversations will yield you positive results. If you don’t think Social Networking is worth it and participate only sporadically, it will NOT yield measurable results.

8. Rave about your colleagues, friends and customers.

What goes around comes around--- they will talk about you too and others will notice the buzz!

9. Keep a schedule and automate some of your activities.

There are tools such a FriendFeed. Ping.fm and Posterous allowing you to update all your profiles at the same time which multiples your efforts. Also, just spending as little as 15 minutes twice daily has an impact.

10. Invite people to cross over to your “island”

Where do you do business? If you want people to join you in a program, come to your store or visit your website, it’s a lot easier to simply ASK them to join you once they know who you are.

Your ability to SCALE is an indicator of growth potential

One of the cornerstones of a business that experiences healthy growth is its ability to scale or increase its volume without impacting the contribution margin (Contribution margin= revenue - variable costs). The ability to do more with less. If you haven’t created scalability in your business, you’ll always struggle with growth and especially with breaking through revenue ceilings. If this becomes an issue then it doesn’t matter how much marketing or sales support you may have. If you’re business isn’t set up to scale, you’ll max out on the number of customers you can serve and cap out on revenue.

Even before you launch your business, you’d have a difficult time getting an investor or bank to bank you if your revenue potential was limited.

Here are some key areas you may want to avoid as a start-up or small business:

1. Trading time for dollars.

You may have started out getting paid for your individual services but at some point you’ll want to be compensated for VALUE, not time. If you want to put a price on your time, it would then become a premium item. This could include moving into group facilitation and away form one-to-one experiences. Perhaps turn a process or instruction into an online automated activity, a book, or audio/video experience. The opportunities to transform a talent into a scalable product or service are bountiful. People will then be able to compensate you for value, not time.

2. Intellectual Property that serves a finite purpose.

The technical word here is obsolescence which is when something loses values because the world around it (tastes) have changed. Streetlamps and streetlamp lighters became obsolete when electricity was invented. The pet rock became obsolete after it’s first wave. Whatever your “it” is, make sure it has the ability to expand, grow and evolve as time goes on. Rather than a title for one book, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen created an anthology franchise of Chicken Soup books that are still breaking records. Over the years, how many variations of Windows have you had to purchase for your computer?

3. Lack of automation.

If your dream is to help as many people as possible, then you’ll want to serve your market without limitation and in a way that is most cost effective to the business. Virtually every area of your business can have some type of automation to increase efficiencies and output--- more people being served! Start with manufacturing then on to the delivery of your goods and services. Order processing, follow-up and marketing are key areas to look at as well. Also, is there any continuity with existing customers or does your relationship end after a sale? This is why even a follow up email Autoresponder system can make such a difference.

4. Lack of trained personnel.

That’s often a bottleneck in a business…especially if the CEO is wearing all the hats and hasn’t taken the time to train & delegate. Make sure there are people around you that you can offset responsibilities too. Outsource these functions initially if you’re a start-up but treat it as a priority, not a secondary thought.

5. Undefined business model.

It’s difficult to create scalability if you’re just trying make money from a variety of sources but haven’t tied it all together. What’s at the core of your business? Is it just you or is there a website or some other presence that’s independent of you?

You may reprint this article in its entirety with author's contact and bio information.

Use the Triple S formula to grow your business

I can usually tell very quickly what kind of revenue someone has and how sustaining their growth will be by using my Triple S formula:

* Systems

* Structure

* Scalability

Without it, you may feel that you own a job and work hard to stay ahead.
Without enough of the Triple S, you may not be able to break through revenue thresholds.

Want a million dollar business? Think Triple S!

We'll be discussing what it means and how you can have all this on our next Abundance Mastermind Group Call.

Tuesday, October 20th at 12pm pacific/ 3pm eastern.
You can join this call and next month's call for FR*EE when you purchase my ebook:

"Passion To Prosperity: Instant Ways To Profit From Your Skills and Talents".
http://passion2prosperitybook.com

During our call, I'll lay out key areas of your business where you want to create systems, structure and scalability to help you break through any revenue plateuas you may be experiencing.

I'll also take questions about how to integrate it in yours.
I'll help you shift your thinking about how to create that million dollar business AND you'll have specific action steps to take after the call.