I’ve invested in having a unified look among my multiple online presences: twitter page, blog, website, and newsletter. I did this because it makes sense. In the real world you work hard to portray yourself and your business consistently. (If you don’t, then you should.)

So, why shouldn’t it be this way online, too? It’s tempting to just go with whatever design template is available at the time when you sign up for an online presence. Twitter, Constant Contact (my newsletter’s provider), WordPress (blogging service), and HostMonster (my web host) all have numerous free templates to choose from. And this is what I did at first – choose whatever seemed kinda green and tan (classic Growth Coach colors) and went forward.

But after doing all this I realized that my various instruments weren’t creating one beautiful melody. That was not powerful, but rather counterproductive. So, I hired Erin as I mentioned in the intro above.

Now I challenge you to look at my blog site, my newsletter (sign up if you haven’t), and twitter page and say that it doesn’t look professional. I’m not trying to brag, I’m trying to make an important point. You should want this for your business. Impressions count. How you come across online is too important in this age and this geography to take lightly.

Contact me if you have any questions about this. I’d be happy to talk with you about the online instruments you’re using and how to make them part of one orchestra.

What is it about modern life that beseeches us to over commit? Especially when over commitment can easily create lots of stress. I’m trying to move away from telling people I’m ‘busy’ when they ask me how I’m doing as if it’s some badge of honor. It’s not. Instead I think it suggests you’re on a treadmill, which is good 3x a week for 30 minutes, not all the time.

I’m realizing as I grow older and, ahem, wiser, that under commitment is the way to go. Why? Because life throws us unexpected events all the time. How will we handle them if we’re already over committed? We start dropping balls, which creates even more stress.

On the other hand, if we are fortunate enough to not have anything unexpected happening, then we simply have some free time on our hands to do something relaxing or creative. I believe a relaxed mind is much more creative, which is why we spontaneously generate ideas when we’re doing something simple like showering or cutting flowers. If you haven’t come up with any good ideas for your business lately, then you might not be relaxing enough. Hmm.

How will you apply this idea of under commitment if you’re presently way over committed? Gradually. Start extricating yourself from commitments over time. When it comes time to renew one, don’t. When someone asks you to sign up for a new commitment, decline. It’s a habit you need to cultivate or you’ll never be able to leverage the power of under commitment for creativity, relaxation, planning, goal-setting, and so much more that’s only done with consistent free time.

Another magical thing about under commitment is that it gives you much more time to spend with those that are closest to you. This may be what I value most about committing to this change in my life.

I have been listening to audiobooks from Roy H. Williams lately and I must say they are GOOD. They are the Wizard of Ads series. I want to share a few things that I’ve learned from them with you. First thing is that there is no one ideal advertising medium for a product or service. Of course, there are some forms that are better suited for certain types of ads than others (Roy really likes the power of radio), but what’s more important than the medium is the…message!

Too many advertisers place boring messages in the right advertising vehicles and get nowhere. Most ads don’t really say anything except, “Buy from us. And here’s how to find us.” That’s not compelling advertising. If you can’t give the reader, viewer or listener some darn good reasons to buy from you that mean something to them, then you may as well save your money. So, first lesson, the message is what makes or breaks an ad, not the demographics of the audience.

Another great lesson is that you can’t count on your advertising salesperson to tell you if you have a compelling ad or not. Oftentimes they either aren’t paying enough attention to notice, don’t care, or don’t want to tell you it’s a bad ad because then you won’t run it while you go fix it. Moreover, just because a person sells advertising doesn’t make them a good marketer. They may have little to no experience in marketing. So, second lesson, if you don’t have a keen understanding of advertising principles, don’t count on your advertising salesperson to guide you UNLESS they happen to be great marketers, too. (Here’s where I insert a plug for me as an experienced marketer ready to go to work for you).

Last lesson I’ll share with you here is that radio, when done properly can blow the doors off of many other mediums. Why? As I understand it from Roy, it’s because you can reach a lot of people over and over to the point where they will actually remember you if you have a compelling, what? Message. And they’ll take that memory right to you to buy what you’re selling. Indeed, you can expand your business like crazy with a proper investment in radio. What’s a proper investment? A one-year commitment for starters (Roy says you shouldn’t expect much of anything for the first three months), broken down in to regular weekly advertising on how ever many stations you can afford. The actual formula is in Advertising in America and I’d be happy to go over it with you in detail and help you to put it all together if you have the courage to commit to radio for a whole year.

I highly recommend the Wizard of Ads series to anyone interested in improving their marketing knowledge. I’ll share more tidbits with you down the road.

That blank space next to the picture above is there for you to write them down. If you’ve never written down your goals before – or dare I say it, set goals before – then you’re on the verge of a major breakthrough. Why? It’s been proven over and over by success researchers that those who write their goals down concretely and review them regularly are much more likely to out pace their peers.

Think about it, who gets anywhere without a plan, a map, direction? Goals written down provide a target for you to shoot for. When they’re supporting steps towards a longer-term strategy, then they’re turbo-charged.

People often ask me why I became a Growth Coach out of all the careers I could have chosen. Between you and me a key reason is because I knew this business would impel me to do everything that I want you as my client to do. It would be hypocritical to do otherwise.

Therefore, I use a Strategic Planner provided by The Growth Coach to map out each 90 days of action. I know where I’m going from week to week. It’s very exciting to see these goals on paper come to fruition as months 1, 2 and 3 come and go. As an extra boost I have a coach who encourages, challenges and holds me accountable to get it done.

Perhaps you’ve been successful without goal setting on paper. If so, a hearty congratulations to you. Will you allow me to challenge you to see how much farther you can go with a more rigorous approach to achievement?

I offer something called The Strategic Mindset Workshop series. In this series, we spend a day together with a small group of business owners reflecting on the past, examining the present and contemplating the future. Lastly, we make goals for the next 90 days. This signature Growth Coach process is proven, powerful and maybe best of all, guaranteed. I take all the risk that this process will propel you to new levels of success in your business or you don’t pay. If you’re at all intrigued by the potential, then let me know you want some more detail.

Even if you’re not drawn to the workshop series at this time, ask me for a free copy of the Strategic Planner to use privately for the next 90 days to see how powerful just that one step alone can be for you.

There are a lot of people who are uncertain of how to invest their money right now. I don’t blame them. I do have a suggestion though. Invest in yourself. We can never be finished learning. We must be lifelong learners if we are to always be at our best to serve our customers.

This is a great time to invest in some training for yourself since prices very well may be reduced. Yet, the value to you should be no different. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can’t afford to invest in your own development. Continually sharpening your saw is one of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and for good reason. Those that invest in their ongoing development will eventually get quite an edge over their competition. Just get a little bit better each year and you’ll make huge leaps over time.

As a business owner, or busy independent professional, you’re generally going, going, going nearly every day. It’s not unusual to find yourself losing touch with some good friends over the course of the year.

Why not take some down time this month to reconnect with the friends you’ve lost touch with in the past few months? Sure, you exchanged Christmas cards, but did you meet or have a real phone conversation? Go through your Rolodex, Outlook Address Book, Linked In Connections, or Facebook Friends list and see who pops out at you. Chances are you won’t even get through the first third of the alphabet before you realize you need to make some calls.

I recently reconnected with an old friend. We were roommates in college and very close in the first few years after graduation. I even lived with Vinnie again for a few months early in my career. Over time we lost touch as we went in different directions. I reached out to Vinnie through Linked In hoping to reconnect. He was happy to see my message and responded to me quickly.

When we did talk a few weeks later we spent a good hour on the phone. I’m so glad we’ve rekindled our close friendship after several years. It feels really good. Isn’t there someone like this in your life? Perhaps it’s not a friend but a family member or relative. Take the time during this season to reconnect with a few people. You’ll find your heart warmed by doing so.

Every week I sit down with small business clients to talk about how they can grow their businesses. We talk about social media, traditional advertising, face to face networking, their website and so on. What we rarely talk about is PR. Why is that? Well, for starters because I’m not a PR expert. It’s never been my thing and I don’t even feign an in-depth knowledge. Secondarily, it’s because PR seems to matter less now since traditional news outlets are seemingly less relevant every day. And if that’s the case, then isn’t PR becoming less relevant?

The answer is no. However, it is changing. Where PR seems to be going from my viewpoint is online. I’ve just done a simple search for online press releases and came up with lots of rich links to robust websites offering online press releases. There are numerous ones offering free online releases. Here’s a few: 1888 Press Release, Free Press Release (name kind of says it all, doesn’t it?), i-Newswire, and PRLog. Each one has information to help you write an effective press release and gives you lots of options to enhance it. Almost all of them offer additional features that do cost money, but I was surprised at low little some of these premium services run.

When you think about why you have a website, blog, use Twitter, it all boils down to the fact that you want to be found online. Well, online press releases can help you achieve this goal another way. Where it’s a little different, and perhaps challenging, is that you need to have some news around you or your company. It can’t just be Tuesday and you feel like sending out a press release. It needs to be Tuesday and you’re launching a groundbreaking new product.

We all go through periods like this when we do have something newsworthy to share, or at least it feels like it. So, let’s not forget to consider a news release. One blog I read called The PRoactive Report, states that 98% of journalists start with a Google search when working on a new story. Well, I’d like my news to be part of what those journalists find. If I have a newsworthy item that coincides with an article being written, Bingo!

These online releases can also have links embedded that lead back to our websites or videos, our logos, pictures of our products, and lots of the keywords we want to be found for. Almost sounds like a dream come true when you think about it.

We really need to be careful not to ignore the areas we don’t know a lot about when it comes to marketing our businesses. Otherwise we could really be missing the boat. Adwords comes to mind as being in this category for many small business owners. Me included. I’m doing something about Adwords though by starting to bone up on the whole subject of Pay Per Click advertising. Next up for me, is learning more about online PR. I want to be a marketing consultant that knows about using this vital area of marketing that’s intersecting with SEO and social networking for my business and those of my clients.

How about you? Let me know how you use PR to grow your business or you’re not, why not. If you know of other good resources to learn about using online press releases, please share those with me, too.

In a recent sales coaching workshop I lead, the number one takeaway mentioned by the attendees was learning about having a multi-step sales process.

My definition of a multi-step sales process is having numerous options to take people through besides contact, appointment, close. Many people in sales have just the one step, which is to have a 1on1 appointment with their prospect. When the prospect is clearly looking for your product or service this is the way to get the sale. However, there are those other times when you meet someone in a non-sales context. They’re not necessarily looking for you. Then what?

If the person you’re speaking with shows a little interest, then one option is to offer an appointment to discuss your service. What might work better though is to spend a little more time developing the relationship. There are several personality types that like to buy from people they have gotten to know over time. They rarely buy a service from a total stranger unless they really need the service urgently. Business coaching fits in to this category. Not too many people hire a coach they don’t know at all.

So, in this context what I’ll often do is pull from my options to extend a relationship’s development by inviting the person I’ve just met to do something else with me besides an appointment. I belong to a couple of referral clubs, run my own monthly networking and education event with a few partners, conduct free marketing seminars, am a member of Rotary, and on the board of a non-profit. Dependent on the interests of the person I’m talking to I can invite them to join me for any one of these  groups or events.

After they attend an event, and hopefully like it, then we might have an appointment, or they might come to another event. Or, they might connect with me on LinkedIn or subscribe to my newsletter.  With each successive decision to engage with me the relationship grows stronger and moves closer to a coaching engagement or paid workshop.

Do you see what I mean by multi-step? I attended Michael Port’s Book Yourself Solid training in LA in 2008. It’s a great two days where you learn a ton about how to be really successful as a business coach, marketing consultant, sales trainer, personal trainer, life coach, financial planner and so forth.  As long as you’re in a service profession, BYS is for you. Anyway, a key point Michael made that has never left me is this, “Always have something to invite people to.” Face facts, people aren’t always going to want an appointment with you after meeting you the first or second time. However, people like to be invited to things (can be webinars or teleconferences, too). The more they like what you invited them to, the more they like you.

If you don’t currently have a few steps you could take someone through to get to know them better, you can improve your sales by adding some. Think about what steps you can add to your sales process. If you already have multiple steps, which ones work best for you to build relationships and get sales? Please share your ideas and comments.

Recently I wrote on the necessity of being remarkable. Today let’s talk about the mindset you need to have at all times if you want to win in business: You are in a competition. You may not know what you are up against when you start the day, but you’d better play to win every time.

We compete for dollars. We compete for attention. We compete for talent. We compete for referrals. We compete for publicity. We are always competing. Get used to this idea and embrace it for that’s what it takes to win in any economy, especially this one.

All right, let’s get to some specifics on competing at all times. First thing, look the part. I often see people dressing too casually when they’re working. Why? Because it’s comfortable? Be comfortable on Saturday. Look successful Monday through Friday. When you look successful it creates an impression that you are and who doesn’t want to work with someone who’s successful?

Next, be able to talk about your business anytime, anywhere. You never know when it’s going to be your turn to deliver your elevator pitch. Will you be able to rise to the occasion each and every time? If your answer is no, then fix this fast. Your competition is ready and they will eat you up if you’re still thinking about how best to say what you do and how it can benefit people.

How about your approach to sales? Are you selling with a process or are you simply winging it with prospects and existing clients? I know contractor’s school didn’t come with sales training and neither did law school or medical school. But now that you are on your own competing for dollars you have to be able to sell. Learning a basic and effective sales process will go a long way to help you in this critical area. Continue learning after that.

When it comes to competing for attention do your ads resonate with people? Are you testing different ads? Are you trying out multiple channels of marketing to see what works and what doesn’t? Are you at least marketing consistently? The war for attention is so intense now that you have to be savvy in marketing to get anywhere, or hire someone who is. Otherwise you’ll just be burning up time and resources. What marketing books have you read this year? Please tell me you’ve read at least one.

And now, technology. Are you using technology as a competitive edge over your competition? I’m always looking for new tools to save time or improve service. I’m now seriously considering buying a LiveScribe to better capture notes for myself and my clients. Don’t be afraid of new technology. Adopt it earlier rather than later and it will become your valued ally as you compete to be productive and efficient.

This brings me to the last topic, the competition for improvement. What are you doing to make your business better on a regular basis? I love this thought from the late Peter Drucker, “Look at your business as a customer would and think about what changes you’d make.” So incredibly simple, right? All right, raised hands time, who’s done it? I haven’t. I do listen to feedback and make changes, but I haven’t done exactly as Peter suggests. I am thinking that way now.

Your turn now. What ideas do you have to share in how you compete to win everyday. I’d also like to hear your comments on what I’ve shared. May you win today.