Here are my top 10 ways to screw up your business.  If you just know that you don’t want to get results in your business, you don’t want more clients, or achieve any kind of success, here are the 10 ways that you can do it… Enjoy!

1. Don’t niche or become a specialist or expert in your field – you don’t want to restrict your client base do you?  Offer to help everyone with everything, as isn’t it right that everyone wants to be happy, reach their dreams and get what they want…?

2. Before you create your website, google other people in your field.  Then create your website just like theirs.  Don’t do anything different, like add a video or create a compelling freebie – won’t that make you different or unusual?

3. Just let things happen.  There’s not much point in having a plan or making things happen, as you’ll always find new things to distract you.

4. Implement every marketing technique that people tell you about as it makes sense to try all the bright shiny things out there and never actually speak to your clients.

5. Don’t tell people about your service and products – as they are not going to be interested in them anyway… They won’t know people who are begging for your knowledge or expertise and need help to get results in their life, will they?

6. Spend all of your time on your computer.  Isn’t networking about using social media to connect with potential clients? You need to be on Facebook all day, send dozens of tweets and check out what your contacts are doing on LinkedIn… Why go out and meet with prospects, have coffee with colleagues or pick up the phone, when you can spend all day speaking virtually to others?

7. Don’t take action or make any decisions.  There’s not much point in stepping out of your comfort zone, being a little bit scared or doing something new, as all of your new ideas are bound to fail anyway.  Isn’t that what all your friends tell you, that you now believe yourself?

8. Make sure everything is absolutely and totally perfect before you do anything.  Get 10 people to check your copy for spelling mistakes, make sure that your documents are completely aligned and that everything is right before you share your knowledge with the world.

9. Tell people about every single element of what you offer them – how many hours of your time they get, about your email support and the fundamental packages of your programmes.  Surely that’s all they need to know – they don’t need to know about the transformations, outcomes or results, do they?

10.  Make your business complicated.  Business isn’t supposed to be easy or effortless is it, and god forbid, it isn’t supposed to be fun…  Make sure that your systems are cumbersome, your processes are confusing and that nobody understands what you do…

… OK, so I admit it, a little bit tongue in cheek! But are you guilty of any of the above?  If you are (and be honest here), what are you going to about it? Love to have your thoughts, comments and shares!

For those of you who want to discover the ways to STAND OUT In Your Business, rather than screw up your business, join me for this free preview webinar on Monday 28 May at 1pm BST.   I will be sharing with you:

• How and why you need to stand out in your business
• Some of the steps you need to consider before you make that decision
• 5 of the ways in which you can stand out from everyone else

It’s my birthday today!  And I want to share it with you.  Yes I could share my birthday cake with you, but I thought it might get a bit squashed. So I have an even better offer for you.

This year I have decided to hold a 4 day sale on some of my best selling products.  It’s very rare that I do this, so please take advantage of it whilst you can.

Now I’m not going to tell you here how old I am. Just pop over to the page to see the 3 special priced offers and event discounts. And I’m sure you can guess…

http://www.thesecretsofsuccessfulcoaches.com/karens-birthday-sale/

If 20% of coaches and solopreneurs get 80% of the clients, I’m wondering, are you being small in your business?

From what I’ve noticed, many people who want to set up a service-based business, such as coaching, do so because of a passion to help others.  They want to make a difference, change people’s lives, and do something worth while.   That’s not to say that they don’t want to create a business, make a profit and live their life on their terms, but this may not have been the original trigger.

But what happens to many of these people?  Well if you believe the 80/20 rule I talked about earlier this week, very few of them will make it in terms of running a successful business.  I should know as I’ve observed it myself.  For those who don’t make it, they get fed up with the challenges, get worried about money and often make the decision to pack it in.  And then what happens? They don’t get to support the people they wanted to help when they started.

So what is the answer?  Let me share with you a few strategies to stop being small:

1. Know the big dream for your business.  Visualise it in multi-colour, create your vision, and dream big! Know the why and then you’ll work out how you can make it happen.

2. Don’t try and do everything yourself. In a recent survey I ran, a few people mentioned that the main thing that stops them achieving their goals is doing everything themselves, and not outsourcing the things that would free them up to serve their clients. It not only takes your time and energy to do everything, but other people can do it better than you!

3. Believe you can do it.  Whether you believe you can’t do something or you get fearful, the only thing that stops many of you in business is yourself. And I’m sure you agree, worrying about something takes up much more time and energy than just getting on with what you don’t want to do!

4. Get clear on your business.  It is not enough these days to be all things to all people. You need to have a clear understanding of who you are, what you do and the problems you solve for others.  And be as specific as you can.  If you can’t clearly articulate what you do, who else will understand the results you give?

5. Get mentoring support.  It’s not enough to get support from your spouse, your friends or a coach-in-training.  The most successful entrepreneurs learn from the experts and apply the strategies that work.  Even if you think you can’t afford to invest in your business, what costly mistakes will you make by not learning from the best? And how long will it take to serve the clients you want to work with?

I was reminded about the 80/20 rule when I listened to my friend Roberta Jerram last week. She was running a teleseminar relaunching the new website and programmes in the Women’s Business Community, Giant Potential.

If you don’t know about the 80/20 rule, let me give you a brief summary.  This principle was suggested by a business management thinker, Joseph M Juran who named it after Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto.  Pareto observed many situations relating to this principle – for example, he noticed in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population and he observed that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas.

You’ll will often hear Pareto’s principles applied to many things in life.  Pareto’s rule can also be applied to businesses.   It is a common rule of thumb that 80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients, and 80% of your results come from 20% of the effort.   Or indeed you can look at this the other way.  Roberta was saying about Giant Potential that 20% of the business owners in the community earn 80% of the income generated by the 1000+ members.  And it is widely known that 20% of coaches have 80% of the clients (or indeed there is talk that just 10% of coaches are successful).

This is was also demonstrated in the statistics that were shared last year in a training session I attended with Tim Fearon from The Extraordinary Coaching Company.  These are the statistics he shared:

• 1% of business owners are seriously wealthy
• 4% are wealthy
• 15% are doing well
• 60% of people are getting by
• 20% are struggling

When was the last time you took the time to find out what your clients want? Perhaps you talked to them directly, maybe you did a survey or held a focus group.  Or have you?

Knowing your clients and what they want is an essential part of being in business.  You want to be at the stage where people look at your website and follow you on social media, and ultimately they feel like you are talking directly to them.

To do this, you need to know their pain and their problems and how you can help them to solve these problems.  But you’ve got to speak their language, and provide what they want rather than what you think they need.  Otherwise, you’ll just have an expensive hobby!

If you haven’t done your research for a while, what needs to have happen?

Well you could carry out a short survey, just like this one: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FMGDJVB (and if you haven’t answered this, I’d love you to respond – it will just take you 5 minutes).

The basic www.surveymonkey.com tool is free so all you need to think about is asking the right questions for your audience.  So where do you start?

1. Give people an incentive to complete the questionnaire – you could give away some of your time, a prize draw of one of your products or something else your audience will benefit from.  Tell them this in a short summary before you start the questions.

2. Ask a mixture of different types of questions.  Get quantitative results by asking questions that require your respondents to tick boxes, as this will give you statistics and numbers (just don’t provide too many options).  Also get qualitative results by asking for their comments using an open question.  This will give you a real insight into your clients thoughts, language and problems.

3. Make it easy for people to complete.  Tell them how long it will take them to complete and why they should do it.

4. Test your survey with a friend or a colleague to make sure that the questionnaire works, that the questions are logical, and make sure you proof read it too.

5. Give people a chance to add other comments through using the ‘other’ button.  Comments here are invaluable as you can find out what people think.

6. Ask people to share your survey so you can get decent data.  Send it out to your list, share on social media and ask others to do the same.

7. Do something with your research.  Produce a summary for respondents, blog about the results and ultimately make sure you act on the information!

I’d love to hear what you think – so please add your comments below and feel free to share!

On Thursday evening I am running a List Building Masterclass and in the meantime, I wanted to share with you my top 10 tips (you can find out how to join us at the bottom of this page)

It has been said that the money is in your list, so I believe that if you want to run a successful business, it has to be part of your strategy.  With this in mind, how can you implement the right list building strategies that will work for your business?

1.     Make the decision to have a list 

Building a list is an essential part of running a service based business, such as coaching.  Make the decision to not only create a list, but build a list that works effectively alongside the other marketing and business strategies in your business.

2.     Choose the right email marketing provider

The most effective way of having a list is by signing up for an email marketing provider, such as Aweber, MailChimp, Infusionsoft, ConstantContact or 1ShoppingCart.  This allows you to automate your systems, create autoresponder messages and much more.  Make sure you start with the end in mind when choosing the email provider and that the functionality will support you as your business grows.

3.     Focus on your ideal clients 

When you set up in business it is easy to be a generalist, but this won’t help you to grow your business.  When you are known as a specialist in your area of expertise, it is easier to attract clients through referral and recommendation.  In terms of your email list, people will feel like you are talking to them when they sign up on your website and be interested in your services.

4.     Give people a reason to opt-in to your list 

It is no longer enough to expect people to sign up to your newsletter.  We get bombarded with information every day so it is essential to give people a reason to opt-in to your list and stay loyal.  This is when knowing your ideal client is important as you can provide them with something that interests them, and maybe solves a problem that they have.  A free report, top tips sheet, video series, audio recording or an interview are some good ideas to get you started.

5.     Share useful information 

As well as sending people your freebie (by autoresponder of course!), share useful information with your subscribers.  Share your best content as this shows you in your greatest light. If you are wondering what to share, start with top tips, comment on recent news articles, link to notable events, and tell people what you are doing in your business.

6.     Follow up regularly 

One mistake I see people making is not following up regularly with their subscribers.  OK, there is a fine line.  You don’t want to bombard people with too much information, but it is a mistake not to keep in touch too.  Find the strategy that works for you, schedule it in your diary and then just do it.  In the early days you may find that you have a few people on your list (and some may be your friends and family!), but in doing this you will get into the routine of keeping in touch.  By the way, if you are not a writer and this all daunts you, choose something like a video message instead.

7.     Tell people how you can help them 

Ultimately people have signed up to your list because they want help with something in their life.  They’ve seen your website or have met you live and they want you to help them to solve a problem or give them some inspiration.  So it makes sense to tell people how you can help them, whether you are running group programmes or one to one sessions.  Just note the fine line between marketing your services and sharing useful information.

8.     Develop your tribe 

Think about your list as a tribe who are interested in what you have to say.  They are not a ‘list’; they are individual people with whom you want to share.  Find out what they want – you could do a survey or offer them one to one time – and then give them this information.

9.     Have a list building mindset 

List building doesn’t have to be confined to your website, working for you in the background.  Develop a list building mindset where every day you are finding ways to organically grow your list.  If you are speaking at an event, ask people if they would like your freebie.  If you are at a networking event, ask people (the right ones!) whether they would like to opt-in to get your information. Add your list opt-in form to your social media sites too. Just don’t spam people, please!

10.  Think quality not quantity

There are many people out there with thousands of people on their list and you don’t have to be one of them (unless you want to be!) The important thing is to have quality not quantity, ultimately people who will benefit from you and buy your services.  Numbers are not important but relationships are, so take time to cultivate and nurture the people on your list, provide valuable and educational information and encourage two-way communication and interaction.

What’s next?

I’d love to get your feedback on these initial 10 strategies; these are just a few of the tips I share with my clients.  If you are thinking about setting up a list for your business, know that your list could work better for you, or want some easy list building strategies, join me on the April List Building Masterclass this Thursday evening at 7.30pm BST.  Click here to register today.  Or if you are on one of my mentoring programmes or have signed up for the Your Business Success System programme, you can join me for free.

When I set up my business, I went through many deliberations over my business name.  In training we were advised to use our own names, but for people like myself with a name that is popular, that didn’t seem like the best option.  So like a lot of coaches (which was where my mindset was at the time), I looked for business names that were inspiring, exciting or that meant something to me.

Like many coaches, I hadn’t niched at that point and to be honest, many of the names that inspired me were already taken – pretty much expected I’m sure you’ll agree. But it’s not just the name that’s important, there are other things that are useful to consider.

1. Choose a name that will stand the test of time as your business develops – if your name is unusual, using your name is a good option.  But if not, consider it wisely.  You may change your area of expertise, your niche, you may tweak the type of work you do, the problems you solve and the clients that you work with.

2. Your business name is part of your branding so make sure it is consistent with who you are and what you do. Think about the image it portrays and how you feel when introducing yourself using this name.  It may mean something to you, but will it mean anything to others?

3. Make sure the domain is available – both the .co.uk and the .com too – then register them for your business.  This will save any confusion in the future if another business chooses the same name.  Also if your business name can be spelt in many different ways, make sure you register the various combinations too. For example, a word with two or more words could be spelt with hyphens between each word or without.

4. When you check your domain name, make sure that the words when they have been typed without spaces don’t spell something that may be difficult to remember, rude or something that will be frequently misspelt.

5. Check Companies House for your preferred name.  Although you may decide to be a sole trader rather than limited company, it makes sense to check whether your name is already registered to another company.

Like many things, I wish this type of information had been available when I was starting out in business.  I’d love to have your thoughts, comments and experiences.

When you are in business, one of the first things that you will be told to do is to get some business cards printed.  You may feel that it is the one thing you need if you are going to networking events, meet a prospective client or to tell people about you and your business.

Personally, I don’t believe that having a business card is  the most important thing that you need, and to be honest, it is becoming a bit passée.    In a recent article, I shared with you the 5 reasons why I think you don’t need business cards.  However, it still seems to be the norm right now, so I believe that if you need to go down this route, it is incredibly important that you get it right.  Why be the same as everyone else and how can you stand out from the crowd?

I often find that business owners make huge mistakes when they do have business cards, and this is one of the reasons to not have a business card. It is easy to provide a less than professional image, be unclear about what you do and not do yourself any favours!

So with this in mind, here are my top tips to create a professional image through your business cards.

1. Get your business cards professionally designed and printed, or at the very least choose high quality card, your unique business logo and your contact details.  Ultimately your business cards will be reflecting your brand, so make sure you are proud of them.

2. Be different – include a photograph of you (as long as it is a good professional picture!)  This will enable people to remember you, put a face to your name and ultimately as a solopreneur, you are your business.

3. Tell people about the results you provide rather than your profession.  People don’t want to know that you are a coach, therapist or something else, they want to know about what you do, the results you provide and the people you work with.

4. Give out your social media contact details.  In this day and age, the successful solopreneurs are on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and more.  So make sure you include these details so that the recipient can connect with you online.

5. Check your details.  I know that this may seem fairly obvious, but it never fails to surprise me how many business cards have numbers crossed out, email addresses changed or other amendments made.  So before you go to print, check, double and triple check! Plus make sure you have all the details that someone may need such as your website, phone number, email address, etc.

6. Keep it simple and clear.  It may be fairly obvious that you don’t want to crowd your business cards with all your details, it happens all the time.  If you have separate businesses, you may choose to have two separate cards so that people don’t get confused by what you do.

7. Include a call to action.  Many business cards just end up filed in a drawer or at the very best in a business card folder, so what can you do to be different? Include a call to action so that the receiver does something, such as signs up for your free report, books a free session with you or follows you on Twitter.

Oh and lastly, don’t forget that your business cards have two sides so use them wisely!

If you are a coach or solopreneur in business, I believe you don’t need to have a business card.  Many successful entrepreneurs I know don’t have the need or desire to have a piece of card telling people what they do and personally, I think I have about 6 cards remaining.

Think about what happens now.  You go to a networking event and you meet some interesting people. You exchange business cards, go back to the office and what happens next? Do the cards go into a drawer with all the others, or at the very best a business card wallet, or do you do something with them? If you ask other solopreneurs about their business card habits, I bet you will get a sheepish look and reluctant agreement that they get added to a pile, they have a clearout every so often or perhaps the cards end up in the bin.  And if that is the case, why do you waste money on getting business cards yourself?

Yes of course, there will be the people who do something different, like actually follow up with the people they have met, but with the increasing technology, how important are business cards now?  I’ve heard that 10 billion business cards are printed annually – scary statistics hey!  So here are the 5 reasons that I don’t think you need a business card.

1. You’ll be the same as everyone else.   Unless you do something different, you’ll be like a sheep following the herd and if this is the case, you won’t stand out. If you don’t have a business card, people will take notice.  You could do something else, like hand out a postcard, a book you have written, or just tell people what you do, who you help and why people need you.

2. If people want to connect with you,  they’ll find a way to do so and you don’t need to have a business card for this to take place.  With the increasing use of the internet and social media, this is a better way to connect, get to know each other and build important relationships.

3. It is better for you to get someone else’s card than share your own.  This means that you can follow-up with them, invite them for coffee and actually do something other than file the card away. As long as you do so!

4. It’s about the other person not you.  People love to talk about themselves and when you are networking, it’s exactly the same. Spend your time finding out about the other person, how you can help them and who you can connect them with.  This is more important than handing out a piece of card.

5. Take advantage of technical advances.  With Mobile Apps, QR-Codes and more, there will be less need to carry around business cards in the future.  How can you use these advances to your advantage, do something different and stand out from the crowd?

I know that business cards are still the norm and will I get some printed in the future? Well watch this space, but in the meantime if you are convinced that business cards are the way forward, at least wait until my tips on how to create professional business cards, coming soon.

When I started out as a coach, that’s what I was.  I was qualified as a coach, I ran my business as a coach, I introduced myself as a coach and couldn’t see past that label.

It took me a couple of years to reach that moment when I realised that this was the biggest mistake I had ever made in my business. It sounds simple when you know how, but people don’t buy coaching, hypnotherapy, massages and the like, they buy the feeling they get when everything is sorted.

You need to know who your clients are, the problems they face and the solutions you provide.  And you need to tell them what this is.

I wanted to share this with you because when I discovered that I needed to change my mindset from being a coach to a business person with coaching as one of the tools in my toolkit (and believe me, there are many!), my business started to grow.

I had people telling me that they felt like I was talking to them when they read my website, plenty of referrals and recommendations. Isn’t this the easiest way to build your business?

I was talking about this in my webinar last week.  Perhaps you have a gift or talent that you want to share.  But unless you realise you are actually running a business, how can you fulfil your dreams and make them a reality? You’ll always have an expensive hobby, never be able to give up your day job and ultimately, you won’t be able to help the people who NEED your services.

It no longer surprises me when I see many people making the same mistakes through their marketing message, their networking introduction and what they say and do.  But many people aren’t trained in the business skills that they need.  You see the thing is if you have a passion and you’re struggling right now, you’re not going to be in the right mindset to make it.

The most exciting thing for me is that I can let you know what is actually possible and can share with you the strategies that DO work for your business.  I have put together a total business success system that will give you the tools and techniques not to make the same mistakes as me.  This is a step by step process to take your business from zero to profit in just a few weeks.   To find out more, and get access to some of the tools that I only share with my one-to-one clients or at my live events, click here: Your Business Success System.

PS When you book by midnight tonight, you get a free ticket to The Star Biz conference in November plus if you are one of the first 10 people (but be quick), you’ll get a mentoring call with me too.