Entrepreneurial Myths that Will Hurt Your Business

Is Your Business Impacted by E-Myths?

We are going to embark upon a journey through the world of e-myths and debunk them to help you avoid falling into the e-myth trap.

First, let’s take a minute to talk about what an e-myth is. An entrepreneurial myth, or e-myth, is an assumption that anyone can succeed at business with:

·       Desire

·       Some capital

·       Projected a targeted profit

This sounds great, but it just not realistic. Think of starting a business as a marathon. Sure, everyone starts out of the gate at record pace, but after a few miles people start slowing and some drop out entirely. Building a successful business takes stamina and agility.

The reality is that there are many different facets to a successful business and none of them can be ignored if you plan to find success.

Let’s take a minute to talk about entrepreneurial seizure. This defines the roller coaster of emotions that comes with starting, nurturing and the potential failure of a business.

The emotions that occur, in order, are:

·       Exhilaration

·       Exhaustion

·       Despair

·       Sense of self-loss

This is usually cause by the e-myths and assumptions we talked about. You can get your hopes so high on instant success that even the smallest lag and you are sent into an emotional tailspin. This is also brought on by the stark realization that you can’t do it all and will need help in the areas where you don’t have the knowledge. Now, faced with limited choices you may feel like you need to back out and hide, but don’t do this.

Pick up a copy of the Visionary Womenpreneur's Field Guide to learn how to create your strategy effectively.

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Self Worth or Self Esteem

Self worth or self esteem...are they two different concepts, or just different names for the same thing? Many people use the two terms interchangeably, but there are others who believe that these are two separate and unique concepts entirely.

First, let's examine self worth a bit.

How worthy or valuable do you believe you are? Do you feel you deserve the things you desire? The answer to these questions determines your self-worth. It might surprise you to know that there are many gifted individuals who have very low levels of self-worth, and will subconsciously sabotage any potential success at the first given opportunity. The larger and more life-changing the potential success, the harder the will to self-sabotage.

Self worth or Self esteem - Is There a Difference?

Your self-worth is largely built up during your early childhood years. You're essentially told what your own worth is by your parents, how they act and react to you, and the quality of attention you get from them. The good news is that even if you've had a challenging childhood, self-worth is something that you can build up yourself!

Set Realistic Goals for Yourself

Setting realistic yet challenging goals that stretch our limits shows you what you're capable of achieving. Reaching those goals proves to you that you're worth the result, thereby growing and maintaining a healthy sense of self-worth. And successes don't have to be solely financial. Success can be seen as anything that you've achieved that holds true value for you, whether it's a new, higher paying job, learning a new skill such as painting or drawing, or having healthy relationships.

Let's Talk Self Esteem

Now, let's talk about self esteem. Your self esteem can be dependent on things outside of yourself - like rejection. A small rejection can feel very large and painful, and it immediately changes the way we think, and feel, about ourselves. One of the best ways to bolster your own self-esteem is to surround yourself with supportive people who like and enjoy you, and appreciate your unique talents and skills. Everyone likes to be liked and appreciated, and everyone deserves this treatment from those they have within their inner circle.

If you do take a hit to your self esteem, there is good news - you can recover quickly by simply doing the things that you're good at. By recognizing that there are distinct things you are great at doing, that hit to your self-esteem will hurt a little less, and a little less until the hurt is gone, and you're feeling great again!

For me, I have found refuge on my bike. Being physical helps me to feel confident in myself overall.  I have am confident as a rider and I find that when I am physically fit it contributes to my overall health as well as my self worth. Taking the time to be physically fit is an important component for me in staying positive.

Both self esteem and self worth are rather important facets of a healthy identity. You should try to develop and maintain both for the most positive outlook.

Developing a success mindset can help your feelings of self worth or self esteem.  Pick up my guide to build your success mindset along with the comprehensive daily planner.  When you plan for success and work on success, your mindset shifts.  Low self worth is not possible with a success mindset or a growth mindset.

When you work on your own mindset, you will see a shift.

Download the guide today.  HERE

When you start focusing, intentionally, on your mindset, your self worth you will find that you do get to choose it. You have the ability to shift it and take control and change the results.  Decide today to change low self worth. Don't let it take control of your life.

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How to Finish What You Start: Beating Procrastination

New Learning for Me!!

Or, an OLD lesson, re-learned!!

Are you someone who struggles with procrastination? Do you often find yourself putting off important tasks, only to feel the weight of stress and anxiety as deadlines approach? If so, you're certainly not alone.

In the video, a guide titled "7 Ways to Finish What You Start" was introduced, focusing on combating procrastination through actionable practices. The seven practices outlined in the guide are as follows:

- Plan with creativity

- Overcome your negative bias

- Visualize the spectacular outcome

- Hold yourself accountable

- Don't insist on perfection

- Enjoy the journey

- Assess your progress

I'm no stranger to the challenges of procrastination. It's all too easy to put off important tasks, only to be left feeling stressed and overwhelmed as deadlines loom closer. In my recent video I share a valuable lesson about overcoming procrastination, and it's a lesson that resonates with many of us.

https://youtube.com/live/2k80RlUwSh8

The video introduced a guide titled "7 Ways to Finish What You Start," which focuses on actionable practices to combat procrastination. These practices include planning with creativity, overcoming negative bias, visualizing the outcome, holding oneself accountable, letting go of perfectionism, finding joy in the journey, and assessing progress.

Overcoming Negative Bias

Out of these practices, the concept of overcoming negative bias struck a chord with me. The video shared a personal experience of procrastinating on a daunting task, leading to months of unnecessary stress and financial impact. The turning point came when I decided to confront the task head-on, despite my initial negative assumptions about how difficult and uncomfortable it would be.

To my surprise, the task was far easier and more straightforward than anticipated, resulting in its resolution in a matter of minutes.

This experience served as a powerful reminder that negative biases often deceive us into thinking that tasks are more challenging than they truly are. By taking action and overcoming these biases, we can alleviate the unnecessary stress and burden that procrastination places on us.

The transparency about relearning this lesson served as a poignant reminder that overcoming procrastination is an ongoing journey. It highlighted the importance of continuously challenging ourselves to take action on the tasks we've been avoiding.

So, how can we apply this lesson to our own lives? Firstly, it's crucial to recognize when we're allowing negative biases to influence our approach to tasks. By acknowledging these biases, we can then consciously choose to confront the task despite our initial reservations. Additionally, the video emphasized the importance of taking action on something that we've been putting off, highlighting the relief and freedom that comes from resolving these tasks.

Valuable Lesson

Ultimately, the lesson learned from the experience shared was a valuable one. By overcoming negative biases and taking proactive steps to address tasks that we've been avoiding, we free ourselves from unnecessary stress and empower ourselves to move forward with confidence.

So the next time you catch yourself procrastinating on a task, remember this lesson. Challenge the negative assumptions, take action, and experience the liberation that comes from conquering procrastination.

Let's embrace the opportunity to finish what we start and make the most of each day. Take action on one thing you've been putting off and make it a great day.

Let's embrace the opportunity to finish what we start and make the most of each day. Take action on one thing you've been putting off and make it a great day.

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5 Benefits of Empowering Employees

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Table of contents

- 1. Free Up Management Time:

- 2. Company Growth

- 4. Empowering employees is good for morale.

- 5. Increased staff satisfaction

-  

Empowering employees can have multiple positive benefits to the workplace.

1. Free Up Management Time:

Employees can take the lead on projects and tasks and free up the manager or leader to do other things.  The leader often has the responsibility of growing the company. When they tie themselves up in the day to day operations they remove themselves from this important task.

2. Company Growth

Growing the company, getting out and acquiring new projects, new clients and visioning greater success are all part of being the CEO or leader.  Employees can take on the day to day operations of organizations.

4. Empowering employees is good for morale.

When managers have to control every aspect of an employee’s work it is demoralizing to the employee.  When staff make suggestions or put forth ideas and they are never accepted or considered, or have to be the idea of the manger or leader, then employees stop making suggestions.  Staff do not work for pay alone.

5. Increased staff satisfaction

Work conditions play a major role in staff satisfaction and performance.  When staff are in a situation where they have little control, are not acknowledged for their work or ideas then their performance suffers.  The results for the team or the company are negative.  Turn-over increases and the costs to organization are impacted.

Empowering means giving up some control, but does not mean that the organization runs wild. Staff have great ideas.  It is gold.  They see ways to improve operations, get things done faster, easier for less cost.  The misconception of the micro manager is that only they care about the company.  When true leaders share their vision and passion for the company, employees can embrace that vision and passion as well. When that leader then empowers the employees to do great work, results can soar.

As the leader or CEO you can set up communication systems that empower employees and at the same time keep you informed and in the loop.  But you do need to follow through and let employees make decisions and not take back all control when you are informed of staff decisions.

Empowering instead of micro managing will result in better organizational results and free you, the leader up to further grow the organization.

When you develop an environment that coaches staff, then you are meeting with your staff consistently and regularly.  Your staff have specific goals that they are working on and reporting on and you are both tracking what the results are. That environment looks forward towards the company vision and strategic plan so that everyone is working in the same direction for the growth of the organization. This shift not only empowers staff but also empowers you as the leader to be the leader and focus on growth.

 

- How to Stop Micro-Management and Empower Staff

- Team Building

- Donna Price Books

- What Happens When You Put Off Leadership Development?

- Leadership Growth - A Number 1 Success Strategy
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4 Steps to Start Your Membership Website

If you have decided to start a membership website you'll want to read these 4 steps to creating a successful membership site.

Step 1: Target the Correct Market for Your Membership

You want a market that's hungry. Therefore you want to find discover what it is people are buying. Then you design your membership site focused on that. Look for a market that is passionate on your subject there are certainly tons to choose from. Take advantage of keyword search programs that can show you what people are searching for.

Do this before you start your membership website to see if there is a large enough market for your membership ideas.

Step 2: Get Subscribers and Members

Great, now you have built your membership website and it is time to get members by building your list. Don't worry this isn't as difficult as it sounds. You can get the most new connections to your list by combining joint venture marketing with viral marketing. It works great! You contact a well known person in your target industry and then you create a deal where you offer to their customer base. Typically, this is going to be a free offer that is valuable to their customers. Then you can offer prospects access to your membership or course. This type of advertising works extremely well for obtaining subscribers and new members.

Step 3 Make Your Membership Unique

It is important that your membership is unique. Now we have talked about the ability to find many things online for free. You need craft your offer so that it makes total sense to join instead of search!!Build credibility and interest.

Step 4: Add tools and/or Services to Your Membership Site

Try to combine numerous tools, services, audio/video files, software, information, etc. There is no need to get complicated. There are all kinds of tools you can find that will support what your website is offering and interest potential subscribers.

Setting up a membership site can be fun and running it can be very rewarding. This does not have to be a complex undertaking. You can make it as simple or as complex as you like. You decide what your membership will offer and then you seek out subscribers that are interested in what it is your membership site is going to offer. So get busy deciding what your membership website will look like, and start creating.

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The Gratitude Project

🌟 Discover the Power of Gratitude with The Gratitude Project!

🍃 Are you ready to embrace a life-changing attitude? "The Gratitude Project" offers a unique opportunity to transform your perspective through the power of gratitude. This course is not just about learning; it's about experiencing a profound shift in mindset.

📘 Dive deep into the world of gratitude. The course provides a comprehensive package including a workbook, video, eBook, and specially designed gratitude exercises. These resources are crafted to help you understand and practice gratitude in your daily life, leading to lasting positive changes.

💫 Gain full access to this transformative course, including journals and the Gratitude Challenge, designed to make gratitude a natural part of your life. And there's great news for members of the Womenpreneur’s Resource Center — access is absolutely FREE!

🔥 This journey is more than just a course; it's a pathway to a more fulfilled and joyful life. The Gratitude Project is your stepping stone to a mindset where gratitude is not just an occasional practice but a continuous, enriching habit.

🔗 [Enroll in The Gratitude Project Today](https://compassroseconsulting.com/course/gratitude-project) and start your transformative journey. Witness how the simple yet powerful practice of gratitude can revolutionize your outlook, relationships, and overall well-being.

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Tackling Business Challenges Head On

🌟 New Video & Blog Post Alert! 🌟

Are you facing challenges in your business? Watch our latest video with Donna Price from Compass Trust Consulting as she discusses effective strategies for tackling business challenges head on. Discover the power of regular SWOT analysis, proactive approaches, and the importance of assessing, creating, and tracking strategies for continuous improvement.

Plus, in the blog post accompanying the video, Donna dives deeper into the significance of celebrating victories and learning from challenges. Join the conversation by sharing the biggest challenge you've overcome in your business in the comments!

🔗 Watch the video now, read the blog post, and join the discussion: Click the Link

#BusinessChallenges #SWOTAnalysis #ContinuousImprovement #SmallBusinessTips #JoinTheDiscussion

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7 Strategies to Build a Relationship with Your Prospect List

How to Build a Productive Relationship with Your Prospect List

For all businesses- small, medium or large scale, developing a healthy and mutually satisfying relationship with their prospect list holds a great deal of relevance. It should be given apt importance because the success of a business depends to a large extent on this.

Lets have a look at some very important points that cannot be overlooked in order to build a long relationship with your prospect list-

1. Communicate frequently-

Your prospect list should always get the required attention and never feel neglected. The best way to enhance their faith is to be in constant touch with them, so as to get their attention and remain fresh in their mind. Never let your image slip out from their mind.

2. Being personal-

Being personal implies giving them a touch of "belongingness". This means that you need to make them feel connected to your product. Add some data about how the product can benefit them in their personal and social life, and arouse the feeling of trust in your list.

3. Cater to their requirements-

For enhancing relations with your list, most important point is that needs and requirements of your list should be given the topmost priority. Make suitable plans and policies so as to provide them with their potent and immediate requirements. Remember, customer is and always will be the king.

4. Focus on interactive communication-

Best way to build a solid relationship with your prospect list is to have a two-way communication with them. On many occasions, people get sick and tired of receiving monotonous e-mails. So, make efforts to enhance their value by inducing new and creative ideas, and increasing their appeal in the eyes of viewers.

5. Remain informative and educational-

Keep in mind the simple fact that your e-mails need to focus on the main topic only. Being educational implies you need to provide some information of genuine worth to them. Also, it should help them in case they want to share it with their peers and colleagues.

6. Reward loyalty-

Another effective way of enhancing relationship is to reward the most loyal people in your prospect list. Keep a track of them and allow them to get benefits for being true to you. Giving them little gifts can infuse their interest level, and foster a long time commitment with your brand.

7. Avoid excessive criticism-

Keep in mind the simple fact that mistakes are committed by humans only. In case you find some people are becoming a barrier in your way, don't go for excessive criticism. Remember, a person lost can be a big loss in the years to come.

So, keep in mind that building healthy relationships will help you to go a long way, and will surely become the stepping stone to your success.

Email marketing is by far one of the best ways to stay in touch with your customers and your prospects. An email list is YOUR list, not Facebook's or Instagram's. It is YOURS and you can reach out in many ways to that list. You can separate the list into customers and prospects.  You can educate your prospects about YOU, your expertise, your products or services.  It gives you a bigger platform than a post or a tweet. Yes, social media is important, but your goal is always pointing people back to your list!!

Pick up my new email marketing for profits toolkit!!

Four Reports!

- Build Your List Fast

- Email Copy Writing Best Practices

- Nurturing Your Email List

- Tracking and Optimizing Emails

Four Worksheets!

- 50 Subject Line Starters

- Email Promotional Planner

- List Building Worksheet

- Email Copy Writing Worksheet

12 Email Templates!

- Ask Questions Email Templates

- Free Download Email Templates

- Event Announcement Email Templates

- New Content Announcement Email Templates
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Do you have a strategy for that?

🌟 Uncover the secrets to successful strategic marketing with Donna Price from Compass Rose Consulting in our newest video, "Do you have a strategy for that?" Gain valuable insights into the importance of thinking strategically and creating a solid plan for your business's success.

Learn how to align your day-to-day tactics with your overarching vision and values to propel your business forward. Check out the video now and head to our blog for even more in-depth information on strategic marketing framework. Don't miss out on this game-changing advice!

#StrategicMarketing #BusinessStrategy #CompassRoseConsulting #WomenpreneursResourceCenter #BusinessGrowthCoach #NJBusinessCoach🚀

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5 Warning Signs That Your Project is Going to Be Derailed

Make Sure Your Project Does Not Get Derailed

When we get derailed or experience a major setback or failure, it always takes us by surprise. Sure, the going was a little rough but we just didn't see it coming. At least, that's what we think.

Getting derailed is serious. It could mean having to start all over again or worse, ditch a project altogether. It’s one of the main causes of not finishing what we start and if this happens often enough, our whole life course can be impacted.

But you can avoid derailment by being alert to the warning signs. That's right, a derailment shouldn’t come as a surprise because there are always red flags that indicate you're heading for big trouble.

Here are 5 key warning signs to be on the lookout for:

You're procrastinating too much

If you're constantly procrastinating rather than acting, it's a sure sign that something's wrong. Your loss of motivation causes you to procrastinate and this could be due to many reasons.

It's your job to quickly find out what they are.

Usually, a quick review of your goals and timeframes to ensure that they're realistic can resolve the issue. Make any modifications you need to, roll up your sleeves and get to work!

Take a look back at your vision. What are you building, why are you building it?? Vision can often get us back on track. If you don't have a vision, (the Vision Board Project is a great resource!!) it may be time to do some visioning. Write it down, make an image for it, revisit it every day. Vision can help re-inspire you and motivate you out of procrastination!

Work has to be redone

When work results are poor and have to be redone (whether you're responsible or others are to blame), this is a big red flag. It means you could be headed for that one big, irrevocable error that could completely derail you.

Usually, the reason is poor communication of task requirements or poor skills. Pinpoint what the problem is and take quick measures to fix it, and closely monitor work outcomes.

You're falling back on deadlines

Whether you're working to your own deadlines or have an assigned one, it doesn’t matter. Consistently falling behind is the biggest motivation-zapper of all. It could simply be due to unrealistic deadlines or goals, and these should be modified. Of course, if the goals are NOT unrealistic then modifying them is not the answer -- accountability and follow through may be needed.

It's important to assess what could be going on. Pinpointing the problem will allow you to quickly get back on track with your deadlines.

You lack motivation

The loss of motivation means mediocre or poor work outcomes, or even finding an excuse to quit altogether. Reflect on why you find the work at hand boring or frustrating.

Sometimes, injecting some enjoyment into a task or project can reignite your motivation. You can do this by mixing up your routine, changing your surroundings and finding new and creative ways to do things. Setting up a reward for work done each day and a bigger reward for the complete project. We do this in Accountability Coaching with daily rewards and bigger rewards.

You're making excuses to quit

When things get difficult, it's easy to find a dozen excuses for quitting – and having to admit defeat and failure is the worst kind of derailment because it destroys your self-confidence and self-discipline.

Learning to see obstacles as exciting challenges that you're totally capable of overcoming will kill your thoughts about quitting and keep you fired up. Shifting your mindset to seeing these as challenges puts you in a better place to finish what you start and overcome the challenges.

Stay Alert

Don't let derailment take you by surprise again and empower yourself to finish what you start with success and outstanding results. Stay alert to these 5 signs that you're getting derailed.

Recognizing the signs of derailment early on and addressing them can effectively keep you moving forward with your project.

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The Power of Sharing Your Vision

Sharing Your Vision is One of the Best Ways to Make it Happen

As a business owner sharing your vision is a powerful step in building your team and building your business. As a business owner and business coach, I find vision a significant key to business success. Staff needs to know what the vision is and what their role in that vision is. Have you shared your company vision?

Share Your Clear, Compelling and Powerful Vision

Having a strong, clear vision of your business and where you are going is an essential component of building that business. It goes beyond the daydream of success and deep into what that business will look like. How you as the owner visualize it. Am I talking about using visualization? Well certainly that can't hurt and can even help you in manifesting what you want. But more importantly I am talking about having a clear vision, written down of where you want to go. Your vision statement becomes your road-map. It guides you on your journey. A clear vision helps you to make good decisions for your business. Often there are tempting distractions that get us off course. We decide to add a new product line or create a new service, and down the road we find that it doesn't feel like the right fit. When we look back at our vision, there it is clear as day. The new service or product wasn't a part of the vision. That's why it didn't fit or wasn't successful. It didn’t fit into the company mission, vision and values.

Sure, we want to be creating new services, new products, new opportunities for business growth, but we want to stay on our path. If the new service takes us too far off the path then it might not be the right choice and as the owner it's your role to evaluate that.

Do you have a compelling vision? When you write a compelling vision statement it inspires and motivates. It has the detail you need to move forward.

Business owners that have been working with me will tell you that I keep coming back to this with them and in my own business.

- What is the vision?

- What does the company look like?

- What are the services, the clients, the products?

- What growth has the company experienced?

- What does it feel like, sound like?

Writing a detailed vision that includes all of the emotion helps you to develop a clearer plan. I recommend writing your vision statement in as much detail as possible. Write it in the present tense, as if it is happening now. Include the details of who, what, where, when, how... And the emotional details – the feelings you have living that vision, the feelings of the clients/customers/staff, what it looks like, sounds like, and smells like.

Once you've created a written vision story, and then make a picture, hang it on your wall where you can see it. Read your vision regularly, every day if you can. Share the vision story and picture with your staff, your colleagues. Letting people know what the vision is gives them the opportunity to help you achieve the vision.

Sharing your vision, ultimately empowers your staff and helps you to continue build your business.

I have witnessed the power of sharing your vision, both personally and in companies. When I have shared my vision, I have ultimately connected with the resources I needed. They can become your partners in making it happen.

Gain clarity with a powerful vision.

The Vision Board Project guides you through the process of creating your powerful vision. How to put it into action and really make it work for you.

A vision board shouldn't live in your closet or under the bed.

It's not a hope board, its a map to the future.

Learn HOW to make it happen instead of just day dreaming!

Join The Vision Board Project

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Rewarding Self-Discipline and Delayed Gratification

Setting up milestones for reaching your goals is important if you want to succeed. Equally important is setting up a reward system that allows you to enjoy and celebrate each milestone you've fulfilled.

But what kind of reward should you give yourself? Should you go out and buy the latest 1,000 iPhone? Or would you settle for self-praise and a pat on the back for a job well done?

The right reward for your hard work

Choosing the right reward is important if you don't want all your hard work to go to waste. If you've worked hard, and succeeded, in losing 10 pounds over 2 months, then you don't want to reward yourself by going to an all-you-can-eat restaurant.

In fact, your self-discipline will dictate you to stay away from places that will encourage you to eat more than what's good and healthy for you.

Instead, you can reward yourself by buying a slice of chocolate cake just to get that sugar craving out of the way or you can choose to buy exercise equipment that will help you lose even more weight.

Achieve more with delayed gratification

When you've achieved a certain milestone, you might want to consider adopting a delayed gratification system. Instead of immediately rewarding yourself, try extending your reward to the next milestone. This is called delayed gratification.

For example, if you're trying to lose weight and you've set every pound lost as a milestone, then you might want to consider making it 2 pounds instead. This means that when you've lost the first pound, you'll be pushing yourself to lose the second pound quickly so you can finally get your reward (and no, you still shouldn't reward yourself with an outing at your favorite buffet restaurant).

Delaying gratification is a great exercise to push yourself to do even more. Your self-control and self-discipline will come into play and allow you to focus on completing more tasks so you can finally reward yourself. You just need to egg yourself on, encourage yourself to put one foot in front of the other because your destination is right around the corner.

Lastly, its important to point that when practicing delayed gratification, you must have a punishment in place as well. So this means if you don't achieve the milestone you've set for yourself, then you don't get any reward. Its really that simple. However, if you're disciplined and committed, then you'll do everything in your power to achieve your milestones and get your reward.

What reward will you choose? Leave a comment below!!

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How To Stay Committed To Reaching Your Goals

Make the Commitment to your goals!!

Let's admit it, we all have that one goal we've been trying to set yet failed to achieve. Think about countless New Years resolution attempts, broken piggy banks, a planned vacation that remains a plan.

So how exactly do we go about having a goal and then actually achieve it?

The key to success is an overly used word, yet only followed by a few commitment. Yes, the word does not only apply to relationships. It also applies to everything else in life that one wishes to achieve. It could be with regard to your first million dollars, your weight-loss program, your love life, or simply beating your early-morning alarm.

Commitment is the key.

The only problem is that not everyone stays committed. The word itself is associated with fear, distraction, procrastination, and whatnots. You are in luck though, because below are a set of tricks you can carry up your sleeve should you plan to tackle your goals head-on.

Set a Clear and Definite Goal

Another clich, but this actually is a herculean task for most of us. You must set a realistic goal first, one that you think is worth your efforts if you intend to achieve a result.

Its not enough that you know what you want to achieve. You also should have a detailed plan before you make that first step. As soon as the path has been carved, it will only be a matter of time (and willpower) before you reach the destination.

Focus

We all fall victim to pitfalls and unexpected turns. In fact, a lot of people would stop after the first fall or wrong turn. When challenges come up and emotions cloud your judgment, you need to focus on what your real purpose is and go on with your journey.

Keep Moving

This is the reason why goals are planned ahead in detail, so you will not have to analyze (or overanalyze) when you are already midway through your journey. Sacrifices are expected and you will fall a few times. Just get up and keep moving until you reach your destination. Stopping in your tracks, giving up, and turning back are no longer options at this point.

Enjoy

Take it from Mary Poppins (she is one of my absolute favorites!!), Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. Don't think of your goal as a task, but a game.

After all, its in the journey that we learn the most lessons - not the destination.

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Your Weekly To Do List For Your Membership Program

Keep Up With These Tasks on Your Membership Site or Course:

Once you get your membership site up and running, you'll need to stay on a weekly maintenance schedule to add new content to your website, promote it and promote the affiliate program. Fortunately, there are just a few simple steps that you need to take on a weekly basis to keep your membership site moving along.

1. Respond to customer support questions

This should be your top priority because it helps you hold onto your existing customers. One dissatisfied customer can make you lose out on a whole bunch of future customers. Try to get to this at least twice a week so you can respond promptly to their inquiries. Be sure you have set up a support ticket system.

2. Cull out membership cancellations

Most membership scripts will require you to manually remove canceled members from the database. Take care of this quickly each week so that you wont have people getting into the site for free.

3. Post new content

This depends on whether you are offering a course that has a definitive beginning and end, or a membership with ongoing support. With memberships, your members are paying for fresh content delivered each month. Rather than have them wait all month for a new update, split up your monthly delivery into four different parts. This way there is fresh content for the members to see each and every week. An editorial calendar will help you stay on track and keep your customers satisfied. If you have a forum as part of your membership site, be sure to check in several times a week to stay on top of important threads and respond to questions from members. Be present and your members will see that you are dedicated to helping them.

4. Poll your subscribers

Your membership sites success depends on giving the members exactly what they want. You can keep your finger on the pulse of the market by offering a weekly poll. Ask them about their favorite parts of the site, what theyd like to see next, and their worst problems with the topic or any other information that youd like to know. If you do this on a weekly basis, the members will look forward to participating and give you tons of valuable feedback.

5. Send out a wrap up e-mail newsletter

Toward the end of the week you should send a short e-mail newsletter to your subscribers to let them know what happened in the site. Many times people will sign up for a membership site, forget why they did it and then unsubscribe a few months later. With an e-mail newsletter, you can remind members of what is going on within the site and encourage them to come back, see the new content and get involved.

6. Develop content related to your membership site's topic and syndicate it

Your membership site won't grow unless you promote it. Content marketing is a powerful way to drive traffic to your site and brand yourself as an expert in your niche. At the beginning of every month, brainstorm a list of four to six different topics that you'll write about that month. Write one to two articles per week and then distribute the articles to a few key places. You can repurpose your article into a video, a podcast episode, a social media post etc. The whole process won't take more than an hour or so per week and it will be well worth it.

7. Make new connections on social networking sites

Spend some time each week finding and connecting with people in your market on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or X (Twitter) and any other sites you may already be a part of. Use search terms related to your niche and add new people as friends. This will help build your circle of influence and get potential new members to your site. Work on the site where your customer is.

Related Articles

- Assessing Your Business And Vision

- Weekly Workshop

- Content Repurposing

- Content Marketing

- Promoting Your Content
https://bit.ly/4akSOpI

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5 Quick Tips for Membership Site Success

Building Your Membership Site Success Quickly and Easily!!

Membership sites are a great way to make recurring income online. If you're thinking of starting your own site or you already have one going, here are a few quick tips for success with your membership site. They will help you simplify your content creation process, get affiliates to promote your site and get new members.

Creating your membership site success quickly involves embracing innovative strategies: consider outsourcing content to focus on your strengths, enhance user experience with professional graphics, and diversify offerings with multiple membership levels. Engage your audience through a dedicated blog and make a significant impact with dynamic video content.

1. You can Outsource content creation

Your membership sites success depends on content. You might be delivering new content each month, or perhaps you create the content once and it is evergreen and stands alone. There are several ways to outsource your content creation:

You can hire a ghostwriter to provide your site with articles, reports, workbooks, checklists and blog posts, if you want to cut down on your content creation time. When you use a ghostwriter you'll be able to concentrate on your strengths (like promotion) rather than wrestling with the writing/creation part. When you outsource, you don't have to worry about being a good writer or knowing a lot about your topic. You can have professional content that gives the site value without writing it yourself. BUT, you must review the content to be sure that it fits with your ideas, values, and what you promote.

If it doesn't, it can be a great jumping off spot to revise and improve the content that you paid for. It is critical that you also ensure that you have the rights to publish and sell the content.

Another strategy is to buy licensed content from other experts. This can be a really fast way to build your site and get it off the ground. Again, make sure it is a good fit.

2. Make Sure Your Graphics Sell.

Studies have been shown that outstanding graphics can compensate for average content. Of course, this isn't an excuse to produce lackluster content. But if your site looks good, people will want to be part of it! Your sites graphics don't have to be overly fancy, but they do need to look good. If you're not a pro at graphics, you should find a website designer to give you the professional look that you need to draw in customers. You may be able to barter with a designer for free graphics by offering a free membership to your site. There are also sites such as Fiverr that you can hire someone to do the graphics for you. Tools such as Canva can also help in creating that professional look and feel.

3. I like to have different membership levels or offers

Giving people options that have different price points can make your membership more attractive to different people. Creating two levels of membership or more can help you draw in a wider customer base. You can help people join the site who might not be able to if the price is higher, but you still have the opportunity to get a higher monthly fee from those who want the added benefits of being in the top tier. To encourage more sign ups, you can have a free membership level, a silver level and a gold level.

4. Use a blog to promote your membership site

Create and maintain a blog outside of the gates of your membership site in order to build traffic and increase your presence within the niche. Syndicate your blog posts to your social media sites. I use Blog2Social to do this. My blog is HERE (you are on it right now!!) and it is build on Wordpress. Blog2Social is a plugin for Wordpress.

You can maintain your blog as part of your main website (I prefer this) or create it on a completely different domain. Blog about popular topics inside your membership site and give teasers about the content that members are receiving. When you give quality content and mix in references to your membership site, you'll create credibility and get new members for your sites.

5. Add video to your membership site for major impact

Video is almost a must these days. Including short educational videos as part of your site can be meaningful to your members. You can take your articles and convert them to video, you can do talking head educational videos or more formal training videos. Services such as Zoom or Streamyard allow you to record your video and save the recording for adding to your website!!

To elevate your membership site, consider outsourcing content, investing in professional graphics, offering varied membership levels, promoting through a blog, and incorporating engaging video content. These strategies can streamline operations, enhance appeal, and broaden your audience, setting the foundation for a thriving online community.

https://bit.ly/43fM61R

Could Your Marketing Be Wrong?

Could There Be More To Marketing Than What You Know? 

What if what you have LEARNED about marketing was all wrong?  What if the money you are spending, the time you take to carefully build your brand and your exposure -- just wasn't cutting it?  Marketing is like reminds me of my sailboat -- a hole in the water that I threw money into....BUT, it doesn't have to be that way.

When Marketing Is Set Up Wrong -- Then The Results DO NOT Happen...

There are systems that DO work for small businesses.  They are different from what works for BIG corporations.  The "BIG BOYS" have a lot of money to play with. They CAN throw money into the hole.  they can afford to market over and over again, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on their marketing.

There are several strategies that work well for small businesses. The first key is strategy.  It needs to be complete.  Not just a one off tactic, but a complete strategy.  From beginning to end... lead generation --->> through the buying process and to the close or acquisition of a new customer.

For instance -- if you are using a website and there is no opportunity for the prospect to become a lead, then the website is not an effective tool for adding new customers.  Websites should have more than a phone number or a contact us form. There needs to be an informational offer and a way to request that offer.  Then the website becomes a lead generation tool.  BUT, it doesn't stop there.  Because you also want to have a follow up system.  For leads on the web, it is easiest to have an email system that provides the informational report and then continues to follow up with the person.

Multiple Touches Are Needed in Marketing

Remember it takes 7-10 touches or connections before an individual is ready to buy.  That means that your email system needs to provide additional ways for the person to get to know you.  Follow up articles, resources, tips and strategies are each good ways to continue to connect with the individual.

If you are using networking in person as a strategy, then you need to be sure that your USP or 30 second elevator pitch is solid and gets people talking to you.  Your business card needs to be a lead generation tool just like your website.  Your business card should offer people your informational offer (on the backside).  Then it gets people onto your email list and now you are following up with them via email.  Because you met them in person, you can also follow up with a phone call, a post card, or personal note and other media forms.

Multi step follow up is a key to an effective marketing strategy. It does not work to just run an ad.  You want information from the person in order to continue marketing to them.

- Identify 5 Common Errors in Marketing Your Business

- Follow-Up Strategies

- How to Follow Your Calling

- Money Systems

- Marketing Your Business
https://bit.ly/3wniPX1

5 Reasons You Should Start Your Membership Site

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Table of contents

- 1. Regular monthly recurring revenue.

- 2. Affiliates promoting for you

- 3. Particular niche prominence

- 4. Backend sales possibilities

- 5. It's never been simpler!

Membership sites are one of the most effective online business models that you can make use of. There are lots of different kinds of subscription sites that you could start so there's no reason why you should not make them part of your Web marketing strategy and your business revenue strategy.

The power of a membership or continuity program is amazing. Here are several reasons it can make sense.

It fits into several of the profitability accelerators for increasing your revenue.

1. Regular monthly recurring revenue.

When you construct a membership site you'll have ONE HUNDRED, 200 or also 500 members paying you on a monthly basis for your information. If you supply even more material as well as ask for a greater price for your subscription site, you can be gaining well over 6 numbers a year for your website.

2. Affiliates promoting for you

Affiliates love membership websites. They are going to invest their time promoting the membership site if they have a choice in between repeating month-to-month earnings and a one-time ebook sale or product sale in the exact same particular niche. They are searching for the very same sort of repeating earnings that you are. You can quickly set up your associate program via Clickbank, 2checkout or ThriveCart. Here at Compass Rose Consulting, we use Advertise your associate program to your members as well as extremely affiliates to obtain more sales.

Join our Affiliate Program HERE When you are an affiliate, you can promote others programs and earn significant income. When you have an affiliate program, others promote YOU.

3. Particular niche prominence

Within the entrances of your subscription site, you could provide a large selection of content. The even more content you put into your subscription site and the even more participants you have, the a lot more your content and your referrals will certainly be appreciated within the specific niche. There's no faster way to brand name on your own as a specialist within your niche compared to by producing a subscription website.

4. Backend sales possibilities

The revenue from a membership website does not quit with the regular monthly subscription charges. You can likewise repackage component of the material made use of in your membership website as well as market it as an independent product.

5. It's never been simpler!

It has never ever been much easier to run a subscription website, specifically if you don't have any technical knowledge. It made use of to be that you would require the aid of a web programmer to obtain a subscription site set up correctly. Thanks to very easy to make use of material administration systems like Wordpress and also membership website scripts that will make protection simple, you could have your subscription website established within a concern of hours. There's no reason why you should not begin one today. (check out our course on creating your membership site!!)

If you offer even more content as well as bill a higher rate for your subscription site, you could possibly be making well over 6 figures per year for your site and increase your revenue in other streams as well.

Brainstorm the valuable information your customers or clients ask you questions about. This is a great starting point.

Leave your ideas below for growing your business with a membership site and I will gladly comment on them and let you know what I think!!

https://bit.ly/3fvCVle

The Power of Sharing Your Vision

Sharing Your Vision is One of the Best Ways to Make it Happen

As a business owner sharing your vision is a powerful step in building your team and building your business. As a business owner and business coach, I find vision a significant key to business success. Staff needs to know what the vision is and what their role in that vision is. Have you shared your company vision?

Share Your Clear, Compelling and Powerful Vision

Having a strong, clear vision of your business and where you are going is an essential component of building that business. It goes beyond the daydream of success and deep into what that business will look like. How you as the owner visualize it. Am I talking about using visualization? Well certainly that can't hurt and can even help you in manifesting what you want. But more importantly I am talking about having a clear vision, written down of where you want to go. Your vision statement becomes your road-map. It guides you on your journey. A clear vision helps you to make good decisions for your business. Often there are tempting distractions that get us off course. We decide to add a new product line or create a new service, and down the road we find that it doesn't feel like the right fit. When we look back at our vision, there it is clear as day. The new service or product wasn't a part of the vision. That's why it didn't fit or wasn't successful. It didn’t fit into the company mission, vision and values.

Sure, we want to be creating new services, new products, new opportunities for business growth, but we want to stay on our path. If the new service takes us too far off the path then it might not be the right choice and as the owner it's your role to evaluate that.

Do you have a compelling vision? When you write a compelling vision statement it inspires and motivates. It has the detail you need to move forward.

Business owners that have been working with me will tell you that I keep coming back to this with them and in my own business.

- What is the vision?

- What does the company look like?

- What are the services, the clients, the products?

- What growth has the company experienced?

- What does it feel like, sound like?

Writing a detailed vision that includes all of the emotion helps you to develop a clearer plan. I recommend writing your vision statement in as much detail as possible. Write it in the present tense, as if it is happening now. Include the details of who, what, where, when, how... And the emotional details – the feelings you have living that vision, the feelings of the clients/customers/staff, what it looks like, sounds like, and smells like.

Once you've created a written vision story, and then make a picture, hang it on your wall where you can see it. Read your vision regularly, every day if you can. Share the vision story and picture with your staff, your colleagues. Letting people know what the vision is gives them the opportunity to help you achieve the vision.

Sharing your vision, ultimately empowers your staff and helps you to continue build your business.

I have witnessed the power of sharing your vision, both personally and in companies. When I have shared my vision, I have ultimately connected with the resources I needed. They can become your partners in making it happen.

Gain clarity with a powerful vision.

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A vision board shouldn't live in your closet or under the bed.

It's not a hope board, its a map to the future.

Learn HOW to make it happen instead of just day dreaming!

Join The Vision Board Project

https://bit.ly/3n1hJcq

E-Learning and Micro Memberships

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Do YOU Have a Marketing Plan OR Are You JUST Winging It?

Are You Winging it? OR Do you have a solid marketing plan?

Do you have a solid business plan? Marketing plan? Strategic plan? Or are you winging it and hoping?

Creating a plan and sticking to it can improve your results. A plan becomes your blueprint for success. We most often see small businesses winging it, because business development is not their knowledge base. They are wonderful at their craft, but creating a plan and living that plan is not in their 'wheel-house'.

Developing solid strategies and tracking those strategies gives you the real world information that you need to move your business forward in a predictable and reliable way.

This is especially true for your marketing. You need to have a Marketing Plan....

Marketing isn't simple. To do it right, it requires a great deal of planning. Small businesses without massive marketing budgets have to handle this aspect of their business themselves or outsource in an affordable way. To do this effectively, either way it should be part of YOUR plan and not just a hope.

This is why businesses create a marketing plan. A marketing plan is a detailed document that includes the data you need to make marketing decisions and set a course of action that you can implement immediately. Drafting a marketing plan takes a great deal of time and work, but in the end, the benefits to having a plan are worth the effort that you have put into it.

Here are a few questions to get you started.

Who Is Your Target Market?

If you're already selling, take a look at your existing customers. Who are they? What do they like about your company's products? Try to recall any positive feedback you've gotten from them. Naturally, if your brand resonates with these individuals, it will resonate with others like them.

It sounds simple but so many business owners tell us that EVERYONE is their ideal customer or ANYONE is their ideal. Defining your true customers is an exercise that is worth your time. It directly IMPACTS your marketing strategies and tactics.

If you don't already have customers, defining your target market may take a bit more work. Look at companies that offer similar products to yours. Who is buying from them? Who could benefit from your products? Try doing some market research to glean some idea of who your target market is.d

What Makes Your Products or Services Unique? Why You? How Do You Stand Out?

There are bound to be other companies out there selling goods or services similar to yours. So, what makes yours different? Why would someone buy from you and not another company? Think about it for yourself, why do you buy from one company instead of another? Is it the product or the customer service, the location? There is always something that causes the person to hit that BUY button.

If the unique qualities of your products don't come to mind immediately, some work needs to be done. Do some soul searching and look for the strengths of your products. Write down everything that you love about your product/service. Include what you have heard from your customers.

If, in the end, you find that your product unfortunately resembles basically everything else on the market, how can you differentiate it to make it unique?

What Do You Want Your Marketing to Achieve?

Every business takes for granted that it needs to market, but why? The 'why' is critical. You need to identify exactly what you hope to achieve through your marketing because this will guide all of your efforts and help you choose which tactics are most appropriate.

Are you trying to build your email list?
Do you want buyers directly on your website?
Is your marketing for new leads?
WHAT is a critical question.

Once you know who your target market is, what's unique about your product or service, and what you want to get out of your marketing efforts, you're ready to get started with your marketing plan.

Winging it in business is most often not a good strategy. Spending money on marketing with HOPE that it will work is a waste of money. If you are like most small businesses you do not have money to waste.

https://bit.ly/3wfEIYi

List Building is a Top Business Growth Strategy!

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Table of contents

- Why List Building – A brief Introduction

- List building is more than a tactic!

- The essence of list building...

- Understanding the Importance of List Building

- The Advantages of Building Your List:

- Join the List Building course and work on building and growing your list, your community!!

Why List Building – A brief Introduction

Harnessing the power of list building in your marketing strategy is akin to discovering an untapped well of potential for your business. Ignoring this approach essentially means you're overlooking a wealth of opportunity—like leaving money unclaimed. It's commonly said, "The Money Is in the List," and there's profound truth in this. Engaging with your audience to cultivate a robust list is paramount.

List building is more than a tactic!

It's a cornerstone strategy that enhances your presence within your niche, spreading your message far and wide. By gathering crucial contact details from your visitors, you're not just collecting data; you're nurturing future relationships that could convert into loyal customers.

The essence of list building...

...lies in its ability to forge a list teeming with engaged subscribers, setting the stage for sustainable revenue growth. This strategy isn't just about expansion; it's about deepening connections, enhancing your brand's footprint, driving quality leads, and fostering trust and reliability.

Understanding the Importance of List Building

List building isn't just beneficial; it's crucial across the spectrum of business sizes and types, from nimble startups to established enterprises, spanning both B2B and B2C domains. Whether you're in e-commerce, healthcare, or any other sector, the value of a well-maintained list is universal.

A dynamic list is a treasure trove for businesses and marketers alike, prompting a continuous quest for innovative ways to keep visitors engaged. Offering value through free resources like reports, guides, and tutorials is a proven method to captivate potential customers.

In crafting your marketing mosaic, list building should be a centerpiece, complemented by a blend of strategies including content marketing, SEO, social media, and beyond. The goal is a holistic approach where list building synergizes with other tactics to achieve your objectives.

Engagement is key; maintaining a dialogue with those who show interest in your offerings is crucial. By consistently addressing their needs and interests, you guide them closer to realizing the value your products or services hold for them.

The Advantages of Building Your List:

- Enjoy a steady stream of traffic independent of advertising or search engines.

- Amplify your lead generation efforts.

- Enhance conversion rates and bolster your ROI.

- Increase the likelihood of closing deals.

- Cultivate trust, encouraging repeat visits and loyalty.

Remember, every lead holds potential value for as long as they remain subscribed. The larger and more nurtured your list, the greater your opportunities for successful conversions. Keep the momentum of lead generation going and watch your list—and business—flourish.

(Rewritten with the help of ChatGPT, reviewed and approved!!) It's all good stuff. Let me know what you think!!

Join the List Building course and work on building and growing your list, your community!!

https://bit.ly/3whGUhP

Values Alignment

LEADING TO YOUR VALUES

As a leader, the values of the organization need to be a focus.  When you lead to your values, then you are walking your talk, practicing what you preach, and living those values.

Values Alignment Check

Doing a periodic values check is important. Are we in alignment with the values of the organization?  Do the values we have outlined still fit the organization? And, what do we need to do to be in alignment with the values of the organization?

Here at Compass Rose Consulting, we just recently been looking at our own values. But values alignment is something that has been important to me for a long time. It was included in my first business development program: Business Builders Intensive and is still a part of Business Growth CORE in the Womenpreneur's Resource Center.  It is important to look at.

When you are out of alignment with your values -- your staff notice and your customers notice.   Something doesn't feel right. They know it and it impacts them.

Our values alignment evaluation looks at:

What is the value? Name it:

How is it practiced across the organization?
Operations?
Products?
Marketing?
Leadership?
Staffing?
HR?
etc.

For instance, I worked with an organization that worked with youth and taught that you needed to get a college education so that you would be fairly paid. And we hired people with college degrees to work with the youth. BUT, we did not pay a fair wage for the work done.  The values were out of alignment with the practice. I successfully changed that practice or at least improved it.

When you do the values alignment, you are going through each value and making sure that you are walking your talk and practicing the value in all that you do.

Take a look at your values and how they are working in your business. Is there something that you need to shift or change?  Is there a way to practice them better?

Leave me your thoughts below and let me know how your business is doing on it's values alignment.

https://bit.ly/2UI1TUW

Building Your Marketing System

Why do you want and need a marketing system?

When you build a marketing system that is YOURS, you KNOW that you have a way to increase your revenue easily and predictably.

A marketing system consistently:

- Brings new and qualified leads (future buyers) into your business

- Has a system for follow up and nurturing that helps YOU connect with your new leads and build the "know, like, trust" relationship

- Uses calls to action wisely to bring people into your customer base.

- Provides customer service that builds loyalty and repeat business.

- Works easily and reliably so that you know what to expect for your growth each week or month.

- Is trackable so that you can improve it when it is not working as well as you want or need it to.

So what does this really mean? Isn't all marketing the same?

There are definitely marketing concepts that work across businesses and industries that you should be implementing in your business. But they can look different for different companies.

For instance, if you are a local boutique you need local traffic into your store. Can the Internet or social media help with that? Definitely. But you also need signage on your storefront, local ads with calls to action.

The biggest mistake I see is that people focus on getting buyers and that doesn't work in a lot of industries. And the mistake is that they don't get the person's information or capture the lead! They have no way to follow up or continuing to build the relationship. The interaction is over.

This happens over and over. A business owner runs an ad -- sending the lead to their BUY NOW button and they don't buy, they bounce! But what if was a different call to action -- an optin where the first step was a really valuable item at a low cost or no cost. Then you have the opportunity to continue marketing and building the "know, like, trust."

So, whether you are a local shop or an online business -- lead capture is key. It has to be a part of your marketing system!!

Lead capture or optins are different from followers or connections. When you build your email list -- it is YOURS. When you have followers or connections or friends on a social media platform, they can definitely become buyers but they can also be taken away by the platform without your control. Moving people over to your email list is key.

What are the pieces of the marketing system?

- Being clear on your target market -- who are you marketing to?

- Lead capture -- having a way of capturing the information when someone connects with you.

- Follow-up - they say the money is in the follow-up and so many miss this opportunity to continue connecting.

- Presenting valuable offers -- when you have done a good job of connecting with your target market, your service should be valuable to them. Building good offers that provide a ton of value are the offers that people will be interested in.

- Loyalty -- everything you are doing up to this step is geared to help you in building loyalty. If you don't have a good follow up system, you will lose customers and they won't come back, because you are not telling them what you have to offer to them.

When you build YOUR system, you have the ability to predict your results. You can turn it on and off. Or up and down based on what you can handle.

When you have a working sales and marketing system -- you can look at HOW to scale your business!! That's exciting! Not everyone is doing that, because not everyone is building a system for their sales and marketing. If there is only one system that you are going to build in your business -- this is the one!!

https://bit.ly/3LrNhDW

Strategic Plan - The Map to Results

Strategic Planning Improves Results with Consistent Implementation

Strategic planning only helps organizations when they are kept active and implemented.  The strategic plan defines the business direction.  That direction is based on the future, the vision of the company.  Before an effective strategic plan can be developed a clear and compelling vision is needed.

Visions are optimistic, the ideal picture of the future. 

The strategic plan that results from the leadership team’s strategic planning, is the map to that vision and then it is only effective if it is implemented.

Strategic plan can sound intimidating and overwhelming to many small business owners.  The most effective strategic plans are those that are simple, completed with the leadership team and key people in the company.  Complex documents that consume excessive amounts of time to create don’t guarantee success.

In fact, the large and cumbersome strategic plan can be so overwhelming that it just doesn’t work.  Strategic planning sessions that go on and on for months also fail because so much time is consumed in the planning and the implementation, which is the key, is pushed aside.  The goal to have the perfect strategic plan doesn’t produce results.  Instead, the team that engages in strategic planning and produces a good working document is more likely to succeed.

Mapping Your Vision:

Start with vision.  Write down what you envision for the future.  What does the future of your business look like?  What do you want for the future? Vision stories are inspiring, it’s your dream.  Once you have created your vision you can begin building strategies.

The vision is the destination, where you are going.  The strategies are the map that gets you to the vision.  Company values are the guide or the “compass” in our map metaphor for making decisions along the way.  Values keep you oriented and in alignment.  When values are out of alignment the company is off track; not moving in the direction of the vision.

Strategic goals can be limited to the top 6-10.  By having fewer goals the plan is able to stay alive and in front of you and the team.  By alive, it means that the plan is always where you can see it, use it and keep working on it.  It means that the team is focused on the strategic goals at all times, talking about them, brainstorming on them and reporting to each other their successes and challenges.

To set strategies for your business first look at the vision, the different aspects of the vision.

Brainstorm all of the goals, all of the strategies for each aspect of the vision.  With brainstorming it is important to get all of the ideas out and write them down without judging them or editing them.  Often the best idea comes from an idea that at first look seemed too wild or crazy.  Ideas jump off of other ideas.

Once you have brainstormed all of the possible goals, prioritize them. Often strategic goals can be grouped with similar strategies.  This can help in the prioritization process.  The goal is to narrow the list down to the top 6-10 strategies.  What are the goals or strategies that will give your business the future you envision, that will create a breakthrough that will produce the results that you want?  Those are the goals that you should be selecting as top priorities.

Creating a powerful strategic plan is just one of the first steps.  Many organizations have strategic plans that are well thought out and crafted.  Where they fall short is in the implementation of that plan.

Strategic Plans Only Work When Implemented

Implementation is the key.  If you fail to implement, the results will not be what you set out to achieve.

Implementation is the result of focused and continuous action.  Strategic plans don’t just happen on their own: they require your attention.  By keeping the plan in front of you and the team responsible for the plan, focus is maintained.  Regular meetings about the plan also keep the plan moving in the right direction.  Check-in meetings hold people accountable.  When teams don’t meet and don’t keep their eye on the plan, the day to day interferes and the status quo remains.

Strategic plans don’t just happen on their own: they require your attention

Donna Lynn Price

In order to make changes in the results that you achieve there has to be intention and commitment on the part of the team. The check-in meeting gives the team the opportunity to review what is happening, what is interfering with the results they want and need and make the changes necessary to change the outcomes.  Through the intention of the leadership, the plan and the team, the culture of the workplace can shift from one of non-performance to one of performance focused.

Performance focused companies are companies that are thriving. The energy of high performing teams shifts the energy of the whole organization.  It becomes more positive and contagious.  People become excited about the vision, the plan and their implementation of the plan.  Results create energy and excitement that keeps the plan moving, it propels the plan and the ultimate results of the company.

Organizations that produce results have a clear vision of the future; have a plan that is simple and strategic; and they work on the plan all the time.  Their actions are designed to move that plan forward.  They don’t let themselves or others get in the way. Through effective strategic planning and by implementing the strategic plan organizations achieve results.

Creating a strategic plan can be the first action towards growing your company with focus and intention. But as you can see, it takes some thought and then it takes consistent and persistent action. It does not work if it sits on the shelf. Your company does not grow when you are not focused on that growth.

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Unveiling the Key Benefits of Having a Membership Site for Your Business

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- Are you looking to enhance your business's success path?- Wondering how a membership site could benefit your entrepreneurial journey?

- Let's dive into the insights shared and explore how a membership site can be a game-changer for your business.

- So, if you're ready to explore the potential of a membership site for your business, consider the following action steps:

Are you looking to enhance your business's success path?

Wondering how a membership site could benefit your entrepreneurial journey?

In a recent episode of the "Womenpreneur's Success Path" series by Donna Price, the key benefits of having a membership site were discussed.

Let's dive into the insights shared and explore how a membership site can be a game-changer for your business.

- Continuous Profits: One of the standout benefits is the opportunity to market your offerings once and continue to profit from them. Similar to how a gym membership generates monthly revenue, a membership site offers the prospect of ongoing income without the need for constant marketing efforts. This continuity lays the foundation for sustained profitability and business growth.

- Predictable, Stable Income: By charging a monthly fee for membership access, you can establish a reliable stream of income. This stability serves as a financial cushion, allowing you to focus on expanding your business and welcoming new sales without solely relying on one-time transactions.

- Builds Loyalty: A membership program offers a unique chance to cultivate loyalty among your customer base. Whether it is a complimentary addition to a product or service or a standalone offering, a well-crafted membership site can serve as a testament to your commitment to customer satisfaction.

- Rewards Loyalty: Membership sites provide an avenue to reward the loyalty of your customers by granting them exclusive access to specialized content and perks. By incorporating tiered membership levels, you can further incentivize long-term commitment and engagement.

- Strengthens Relationships: Harnessing the power of a membership site allows you to forge and sustain enduring relationships with your customers. You can offer tailored incentives to top clients, fostering their continued patronage and advocacy for your brand.

- Value Provision: Through a membership site, you can consistently provide value to your members by sharing your expertise through various mediums such as newsletters, blogs, articles, videos, and audios. This continual act of providing enriching content bolsters member retention and turns into a reliable source of revenue.

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With the foundation laid out by Donna Price, it's clear that a membership site can be a catalyst for revitalizing your business dynamics. However, the real magic happens when you tailor the concept to fit your unique business and customer base. Imagine a scenario where your customers are not just interested buyers but valued members, reaping the benefits of your exclusive community.

So, if you're ready to explore the potential of a membership site for your business, consider the following action steps:

- Assess Your Business: Evaluate your current offerings and customer base to identify the potential for a membership site. Which exclusive benefits and resources can you offer to your members?

- Create a Value-Driven Plan: Devise a plan for offering unparalleled value to your members through specialized content, perks, and ongoing engagement strategies.

- Implement Loyalty Rewards: Incorporate tiered membership levels and exclusive access to incentivize loyalty and long-term commitment from your customers.

- Sustain Engagement: Focus on methods to continuously engage with your members, ensuring that the value you provide translates into enduring relationships.

- Accelerate Your Membership Strategy: Reach out to consultants or experts in the field to brainstorm ideas and create an action plan for launching and sustaining a successful membership program.
Incorporating a membership site into your business model can redefine the way you interact with your customers and elevate your revenue streams. As you embark on this journey, remember that the key lies in consistently providing exceptional value and experiences to your members, cultivating a loyal and thriving community.

If you're genuinely motivated to transform your business dynamics and elevate your success path, it's time to embark on this remarkable journey. Let's dive into the realm of membership sites and craft an enduring legacy for your business.

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