That pressure to do more to be more and to learn everything about EVERYTHING that has to do with growing your business?
I’ve been in the middle of a Strategy Session frenzy over here because it seems like it’s a germ or cold or virus that is going around.
And I don’t want you to catch it because it is highly contagious and it will force you into the world of overwhelm. ((Insert record screeching noise here.))
And we all know that isn’t a good – or a fun – place to be.
You see, I want your business to be fun. And easy. And focused.
I want you to know the difference between what you need to do and what is nice to do.
The “nice to do’s” are, well, just that: they are nice.
As the nice guy learned in dating, being “nice” doesn’t always get the girl.
I’m not saying that I want you to be rude or to treat your business with disrespect.
I’m saying quite the opposite: I want you to be respectful of yourself, of your goals, or your vision, and to be respectful to what matters most in your life. And I want you to spend your time, your most precious resource, in those places.
I want you to get to work, have fun building your business, and then get on to the things that make building a business important to you.
Maybe it’s spending more time with your family and friends.
Or maybe it’s finally carving out the time to train for that triathlon.
Maybe it’s jumping off of cliffs, swimming with sharks, and building schools in underdeveloped countries.
And that’s what I want you to spend your time doing. I want you to spend your time LIVING in a way that feels completely authentic and wonderful and REAL to you. I want to live a big, spacious, amazing life.
Your business is a tool that is going to allow you to live in your biggest and boldest way possible.(Isn’t that great? A business that you built, around your values and what you love to do for “work”, is one of the key ingredients that helps you to have a life that you love outside of that “work”?)
That’s why I want you to understand the importance of creating a plan for your business.
Please don’t panic, I’m not suggesting that you grab your highlighter, your computer and pull up Excel and start making charts and graphs and all types of overly complicated things. No, nothing like that.
I am suggesting that you create a tool that allows you to connect the dots between where you want to be and where you are now so that you know where and when to invest your time.
I don’t want you to spend your time learning how to build a website or how to sell an information product or how to get your first membership set up if those things aren’t going to take you directly from where you are to where you want to be.
The only way that you can know what is really worth your time and your money is to create a strategic business plan.
I offered a One Page Strategic Plan-a-thon workshop last year and I’m actually offering it again right now (due to popular demand). So, if you know in your heart that this type of organization, simplicity, and focus will help you to mark this year as the YEAR that you made it big in your business and your life, please consider joining us. I’d love to help and support you. More details here .
The most important things for you to consider when you put together your strategic plan (and that we cover in great detail in the workshop) for the next 12 months include:
Your Core Values: This is the Foundation.
What do you believe to be true and how do you want things to be? These are the building blocks for how you will build (and grow) your business and how you’ll make decisions.
It is so vitally important to consider your values as your build your business because you want it to be built in a way that feels good to you and is authentic to you as a person.
These are also the reasons that people will choose to do business with you.
Your Big Vision. This has been said time and time again but I want you to ask yourself: how clearly can you articulate what your Big Vision is? Have you ever really written it down?
WARNING: Do not get stuck in the “how”. Think big, bold, and way out in the future.
Your Big Business Vision. You probably noted that “Your Big Vision” items may not directly align with your business activities. That’s OK.
When you put together this part of your plan, please be sure to write it in the present tense.
This part of the plan is where you consider how your business can give “Your Big Vision” items to you.
Your Long Term and Short Term Goals.
What do you want to accomplish in 5-7 years that aligns with your big vision?
What do you want to accomplish in 3 years that aligns with your longer term goals AND your big vision?
Break these down into two groups: one for your long term goals and one for your short term goals.
Focus Points and Priorities for Long Term and Short Term Goals:
What are the most important areas for you to spend your time and money to achieve your goals for 3 years down the line?
What are the key areas for you to focus on so that you achieve your goals in 5-7 years?
Choose 3-5 priorities in which you need to focus on (long term vs. short term) and clearly label them.
Trackable Items: What are the things that you can track on a weekly (or daily) basis in your business to make sure that you are measuring your progress towards your short term goals?
Make sure you that you track and measure your progress so that you can easily self-correct and make changes if you aren’t moving in the right direction. (Added bonus: this keeps you focused on the areas that you prioritized and that relate directly to your short term goals, long term goals, and your big vision).
A strategic plan differs from a business plan in that you figure out where you want to be and then work backwards to where you are today. Planning your business based on where you want to be is an incredibly powerful way to create the clarity and focus that you need to build your business in a way that feels good, that serves you and allows you the time and space to live your life in a big way outside of your work.
This year is going to be your year. I hope you know that.
It’s going to be the year that you dream business becomes your reality if you invest a little time up front to get really clear on where you are going. Where you need to focus. And where you should invest your time and money.
It’s not hard.
AND it’s up to you.
What’s your choice?
Krista is CEO & Founder of Make Your Mark (www.kristamartin.com). As a business strategist and client attraction coach, she partners with entrepreneurs to build their service based businesses to serve more clients, make more money, and have more fun.
She has a MBA in marketing and is a CPCC (Certified Professional Co-Active Coach). In addition to working in the marketing and sales arena for more than 12 years, she built and sold her first “side biz” and now loves that she has the opportunity to partner with entrepreneurs that have so many great ideas but no clear plan of how to build their dream business. By putting together an action focused plan, she loves supporting clients to build a business that fits into their lifestyle instead of the other way around.
She and her husband have two perfect (ha!) kids, ages 4 and 2, and an equally as perfect dog. Originally a native of the Midwest, she is glad to call Atlanta her home as she has much better access to the beach and ocean from there.
LinkedIn is being called THE go-to Social Media site for 2014.
Does that strike fear in your entrepreneurial heart? We’re getting the hang of Facebook, and expertly bemoaning the drop in post reach. We’re even tweeting, using Twitter to reach our target market, our business idols, and to get a quick customer service response. And who doesn’t love Instagram’s fun platform?
But LinkedIn – it’s on your list to get to soon. You know you have to figure it out. You have maybe a few hundred connections, kind of a mish-mash of people you used to work for and your family and friends. Every now and then you come across a really great LinkedIn profile and think “I need to contact her and find out how she got her profile done”.
I talk a lot about the components of a great LinkedIn Profile. Today I want to talk about size.
YES, size does matter with LinkedIn.
If you’re going to establish yourself as an expert in 2014, your LinkedIn profile can support and accelerate that status. The number of connections you have is an important part of that. Here’s why.
Reason Number One
Unlike all of the other Social Media sites, you only need 501 connections to be considered in the elite tier. Your connections won’t know if you have 501 or 50001, they’ll just know you’re a player, because when they see your profile, they see that 500+ connection count. It’s not that hard to surpass that mark! Find ways to connect with people. Regularly post this on your other Social Media platforms: “Are we connected on LinkedIn? www.linkedin.com/in/yourname” You’ll start getting more connection requests right away. Get involved with Groups, other members will start connecting with you. There are so many creative ways to get more connections. Once you surpass that 500+ mark, your followers will believe you are GOOD at this LinkedIn stuff.
Reason Number Two
The more first degree connections you have, the more second and third degree connections you have. These second and third degree connections are such a POWERFUL benefit of LinkedIn.If you’ve watched any of my workshops, (free at www.linkedinstars.com) then you know the power of those second degree connections. You literally are one connection away from being able to reach hundreds of millions of people. Maybe it’s for funding, maybe it’s to find someone who has an oxygen bar for your next event, maybe it’s to find a great space in Barcelona to teach a guest yoga class. You have reach to all of that and so much more. The more first degree connections you have, the greater that reach.
Reason Number Three
LinkedIn searches look only for first, second, and third degree connections. If you want to be found on LinkedIn, you’re doing keyword optimization and you’re thinking about what people are searching for when you want them to find YOU. Here’s the thing. You can do hours of keyword work and still not ever come up. LinkedIn’s algorithms put first and second degree connections to the top of the search results. Even if you’re a third degree connection, you’re likely to be way down low, and free accounts will only be shown the first 100 entries. By strategically increasing the number of LinkedIn connections you have, you’re giving yourself exponentially more power to be found in searches.
I do want you to have a strategy for your connections, and of course you can deny any connection you don’t feel comfortable with. By staying active in relevant groups, and by sharing your LinkedIn URL everywhere, you’ll start to build those relevant connections. I highly recommend putting your URL on your business card, so when you’re out at live events you’re making it really easy for the people you meet to connect to you, and to keep that connection warm.
Take a minute today and write down the number of LinkedIn connections you have in your business planner or on your calendar. Then start schmoozing. Grow those connections. Size DOES matter.
Do you have a favorite way to make more LinkedIn connections? Share it with us in the comments below!
If you want to succeed in your business, you need to claim this, own this, BE this.
So often we think that what comes easiest to us is easy for everyone else. That couldn’t be further from the truth! There are things that you love to do, that you lose track of time when you do, that you love to talk about to others. Those are the things that hopefully you’re building your business on, and those are the things that you’re expert at. Or maybe you’re thinking “Yeah Karen, but who the heck needs me to make their eggplant parmigiana?” Let me tell you, people DO. I happen to make an excellent eggplant parmigiana, but I’m busy. So even though I CAN do it myself, I would very likely pay you do make it for me on my busy weekdays. That makes YOU the expert, YOU are the one I’m coming to when I’m hungry. Sounds silly but you can take this same concept and apply it if you design websites, if you’re a health coach, if you’re a personal trainer, if you sell widgets. YOU are the expert and you need to own that.
Step 1 to using LinkedIn to build your expert status: CLAIM it, OWN it, BE it
The first place you want to do this is in your LinkedIn Headline. If your headline says something like “Accountant”, I want you to stop reading this right now and change it up.
Click here to watch a short video I created a few months ago that shows you exactly how to claim your expert status in your headline.
Make sure your headline makes you feel just a big queasy. Put yourself out there in a big way!
No one is going to think “she must be even BETTER than she says”. In order to get clients, your headline needs to make them feel as if they’re in expert hands.
Step 2 to using LinkedIn to build your expert status: Strategic use of keywords
Keywords are important in establishing your expert status. You want to be consistently using the same keywords throughout your LinkedIn profile, leaving no doubt to your readers that YOU are the expert on those topics.
Keep a notebook of what keywords you’re using, review it monthly to be sure they’re still relevant
Don’t forget to use those same keywords in all areas of your Social Media marketing
Step 3 to using LinkedIn to build your expert status: LinkedIn Recommendations
I want you to consistently be building social proof of your expert status through strategic use of LinkedIn recommendations. How, you ask, do I get other people to recommend me? Strategy.
Each week, recommend someone else, someone that might possibly recommend you back.
When your clients send you a nice note via email or a Facebook post, reply back thanking them, and asking them if they would mind sharing it as a LinkedIn recommendation. I bet they’ll be happy to.
Share those recommendations all over the freaking place. There’s a WordPress plugin that will rotate them on your website. Schedule Facebook posts sharing recommendations. Brag about them in your newsletters. You get the picture.
LinkedIn is the first place you should go to establish your expert status. Once you do, you’ll start to see your business changing, you’ll be asked your expert opinion and you’ll see opportunities to grow.
And if you want my help, remember you can still join LinkedIn Stars at the introductory price, and I’ll take you through exactly what you need to do. LINKEDIN STARS
Comment below, share your LinkedIn headline with me. If you want, I’ll review it and make suggestions. Let’s all celebrate ourselves for being the stars we are! Don’t forget to connect with ME on LinkedIn.
Before coming to blogging, I had a fairly successful career as a journalist—a food writer and assistant editor for a hyper-local magazine in Boulder, Colorado. No, it wasn’t exactly hard-hitting journalism, but I did get to play out my His Girl Friday fantasies (without Cary Grant or the fabulous hats, sadly), and I learned a lot about how to convey information concisely, how to write quickly, and how to plan and use an editorial calendar.
Turns out, those were all fantastic skills that I took with me when I left the magazine for building a successful blog that supports a small business.
But let’s step back for a second.
Why do I need an editorial calendar?
Every newspaper, magazine—and yes, major blog—that you read has an editorial calendar. It can be simple or very complex, but it’s basically just a tool to help you plan and keep track of your content.
Your blog is the nexus of your social media strategy, so you need to have a great plan for what you’re going to blog about so that you can translate that into a great plan for marketing your business and selling your stuff. If you want to use your blog to help turn your readers into raving fans and customers, you’ve got to have a PLAN for how you’re going to achieve that.
Use the 5 Ws to build your editorial calendar.
What you can steal from journalists here are the 5 Ws—who, what, when,where, why, and how. That’s like Journalism 101 for covering a story. (In fact, you probably learned that writing reports back in grade school.)
But it’s also Blog Editorial Calendar 101. You have to be able to answer the five Ws for your blog and all the posts you plan to write if you want your blog to be an effective marketing and selling tool for your business.
When I build an editorial calendar, I like to do it in a spreadsheet, with a column for each of these categories:
Who are you writing for? Who is your ideal reader? (Here’s a hint: your ideal reader is the one who converts into a customer!) If you only have one ideal reader profile, you probably don’t need a column for this, but if you have more than one, be sure you know which reader each post will appeal to.
What are you going to write about? This is where you answer that age-old question that plagues writers everywhere. But if you’ve got a bigger overall plan, it shouldn’t be too hard to answer.
When are you going to write each post? In the most basic sense, this is the calendar part of the editorial calendar. But it also refers to that bigger plan that takes into account your sales cycles, your product launches, discounts and coupons, guest blogs, and the like. Start with the stuff that’s already written in your calendar (a product launch, for example, or a holiday you want to promote for) and work backwards.
Where are you going to promote it? Derek Halpern over at Social Triggers says that writing the blog post is only 20 percent of the work, and promoting it is the other 80 percent. If you’re not thinking about where you’re going to promote your work, you’re wasting a lot of your effort.
Why are you writing this post? You shouldn’t write anything unless you can answer this question, because the answer tells you where each post fits into your overall blog strategy.
Thinking about each of these components will help you plan to make your blog work as hard for your business as you do!
And if you’re thinking right now, “But what about creativity! What about inspiration! I can’t work with every little blog post planned out like that!”—don’t fret!
The editorial calendar is just a tool. You’re still the boss. If inspiration strikes and something new comes up that you want to write about it, go for it! Your editorial calendar is a living document, that changes as your business needs do.
When the inspiration is flowing, flow with it. When it’s not, your calendar is your backup plan.
Got questions about this? I’d love to answer them in the comments!
Lacy Boggs is a Featured Speaker in the Heart Centered Business Bootcamp. Hear Lacy’s interview, and 20 other experts, talk about how you can take YOUR business to the next level in 2014. CLICK HERE for more information.
Lacy Boggs has been telling stories since she first learned to talk, and knew from childhood that she would turn her lifelong love of writing into a career. In 2011, she gave up her 60-hour-per-week job as a food writer and magazine editor to become a full-time mom and part-time work at home freelancer, and knew she had to figure out how to tell her story. After growing her personal food blog more than 800 percent in a single year, Lacy realized she could help other small business owners do the same and launched Ghostblogger.co—a service to help small business owners build their business with a brilliant blog. Lacy lives like a foodie in gorgeous Colorado with her husband and daughter.
“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” ~Carl Sandburg
As an entrepreneur who connects with most of her clients online, I am presented with a multitude of choices daily when it comes to how I spend my time.
Will I focus on direct outreach today and send emails to follow up on referrals? Create new programs? Nurture my community through social media? Write informative articles for my blog or for other sites? Deepen my training through courses? Seek speaking and opportunities to share my message with a live audience?
Or will I clean up my house? Get into my yoga studio? Go on a bike ride? Take my dogs on a hike? Spend a date day with my man?
And on and on and on!
Most of us choose the entrepreneurial lifestyle for the freedom it brings us, but with this freedom also comes an opportunity for overwhelm and misguided action out of alignment with our values and bigger goals if we aren’t conscious and strategic about how we spend our time.
So how do we get more conscious and more strategic?
The first step is to take an honest look at “what is” by getting clarity around how we’re already spending our time. I like to do this by spending a week putting everything on the calendar as I go – even if it’s after the fact. Think of it as your schedule and diary rolled into one.
For example, if I checked emails from 10 AM-11 AM, got sucked into the social media vortex from 11 AM-12 PM, made lunch/ate it/did the dishes from 12 PM-1 PM, coached a client 1 PM-2 PM, replied to blog comments from 2 PM-3 PM, tweaked elements on my website 3 PM-4 PM, rode my bike to make deposits at the bank from 4 PM-5 PM, stopped by the grocery store for a few necessities 5 PM-6 PM, then finished editing a blog post from 6 PM-8 PM – I would put ALL of these events in my calendar (I’m a big fan of Google calendars, but the best calendar is the one you use – so use what works for you!).
Once I’ve done this for a week, I start to get a clear picture of how many hours I’m actually spending on each area of my business and life, and from there, I can comb through asking these questions:
Am I being as efficient as I can with the tasks I’ve taken on?
Have I invested in the time to organize myself so all processes run more smoothly?
Have I carved out space to strategically grow into what’s next, ensuring I’m not only working in my business but also on my business?
Once I have clarity and have brought awareness to “what is,” I can start to focus on those areas that need my attention the most…and then make changes as necessary to sort out the rest.
Play with this – what someone else might consider a “time waster” might be an integral part of your process! That said, you might be wasting time in ways you don’t realize…
One way that we can waste time is by spending it doing tasks that might be better suited for someone else.
Gay Hendricks speaks about this in his book “The Big Leap” when he breaks down the different “Zones” that we can spend our time in; the Zone of Incompetence, Zone of Competence, Zone of Excellence, and Zone of Genius.
The idea is this – there are certain things that we’re simply not that good at and that we have no desire to learn – this is our Zone of Incompetence. These are areas where it’s best to delegate or hire, or else we run the risk of wasting our time and true talents (aka our Zone of Genius).
Often times we get tripped up here, especially those of us bootstrapping our businesses, as our ego says “well I could figure this out!” Then we spend so much time and energy “figuring it out” that we get off track with our real goals and desires.
There is a fine line with this of course, and your intuition is always your best guide in choosing what to pursue and what to release; a challenge can certainly be worthwhile if it really lights you up.
Finally, it’s good to be aware of how we can devalue our own time, either by letting others waste it or just not honoring what we’re worth; we have to own our worth, starting with our time.
We aren’t victims of time thieves, though we may have let things slide unknowingly; however once we realize where our time – and energy – are being compromised, we have the choice to lovingly speak up and reset those boundaries.
If you don’t value your time, who will?
This doesn’t mean that we don’t give – giving is key to abundance and manifestation, not to mention a fulfilling life – but we do so consciously and with pure intention, rather than out of guilt or because we’ve caught a case of the shoulds.
This is really the fun part because once you cure the shoulds, you realize that there are no “rules” when it comes to how you spend your time – it’s YOUR time after all! For example, when I walk my dogs in the morning, I love to slow down – just a bit – and literally stop and smell the roses (my neighbor’s roses that is – as gardening is currently in my Zone of Incompetence, our roses aren’t doing too well!).
When you value your own time, you inspire and empower others to tap into their own resourcefulness. Enforcing the “sacred yes and sacred no” by honoring your own time can be an act of extreme self-care and one you have access to in the only REAL time there is: right now in this moment.
I would love to hear from you: Where have you been wasting your own time or where have you allowed others to waste it for you? And what steps will you take in your own life to bring yourself back into alignment?
If you’re having trouble hearing your own intuitive nudges around how you really want to spend your time, I invite you to book a complimentary 15 minute Discovery Call with me so that I can guide you to reawaken your intuition and hear it more clearly in all your choices in life.
Sabrina Bolin is a Featured Speaker in the Heart Centered Business Bootcamp. Hear Sabrina’s interview, and 20 other experts, talk about how you can take YOUR business to the next level in 2014. CLICK HERE for more information.
Sabrina Bolin is an energy healer and intuitive coach, compassionately guiding her clients to learn to work with their fear and overwhelm, get their energy unstuck, and awaken their intuition so that they feel more guided and take more inspired action in their lives.
You can connect with her virtually at www.SabrinaBolin.com, or find her investing her time wisely at www.facebook.com/MyMiBoSo and www.twitter.com/MyMiBoSo.
When was the last time you looked at it? REALLY looked at it?
LinkedIn brings more traffic to my website when I pay even the minimum attention to it than any other Social Media site I hang out on.
Hands down.
For some reason, when LinkedIn started to become popular, it was thought to be an exclusive place to only connect with people you really know. I can’t imagine why that is! Yes, it’s personal. Your LinkedIn profile is about YOU, not necessarily about your biz. It’s about you and all of your Rockstar talents, a place to share all of your personal accomplishments. It’s business oriented though! Why are we connecting with crazy people on Facebook, but locking down our LinkedIn profiles? I don’t get it.
So, tip number one, make your profile fully visible to everyone. If you think you can convince me why you shouldn’t, go ahead and try in the comments below. 🙂
This is a biggie, so share this with your friends! CLICK TO TWEET
OK now that your profile is visible, it’s time to get rid of the shame.
It doesn’t take much, really.
You need a businessy picture of yourself. No kids, no pets. A headshot of sorts.
Double check your email and website addresses. Be sure they’re what you want to portray. Get rid of the me@hotmail.com.
Make sure you connect Twitter if you use it. Currently, there is no direct Facebook integration.
Plump it up! Talk about yourself like you’re talking to me.
That’s it! That should make you confident enough to start to share it.
Tip number two – take care of the basics and get rid of LinkedIn shame
Now, it’s time to start connecting. The more connections you have, the better LinkedIn will work for you. You’ll be searchable by everyone connected to you and THEIR connections, so the more connections, the better chance you have of coming up in a search.
Groups are a great way to increase connections. Join groups relevant to your industry or your interests, and be active in the groups. Ask questions, answer questions. Start your OWN group! You’ll see a pop in your number of connections pretty quickly.
Tip number three – join groups and be active in them to increase connections
LinkedIn is growing exponentially. You need a LinkedIn Makeover if:
You want more Sales
You own a business
You’re looking for a job
You’re looking to hire
You run a bake sale
You’re about to graduate college
You’re busy, and want serious return on your time investment
You like making money in your business
You want more Sales (worth repeating)
If you’re not paying attention to your LinkedIn page, you’re losing business opportunities. It’s free to use, so use it wisely and leverage off of the exponential growth!
LinkedIn gives you a warm contact, for potential sales, jobs, or partnerships. When you meet someone that you want to stay connected to, sometimes it’s just plain creepy to send them a Facebook invite. LinkedIn, not so. It’s perfectly acceptable to request a LinkedIn connection to people you meet at trade shows, after sales calls, after connecting at your kids soccer game. AND, now you have a way to keep in touch that isn’t intrusive or pushy.
Here’s the hard part. We sometimes have a hard time showing off our Rockstar talents and abilities. LinkedIn is not the place for modesty, it’s the place to claim your expert status, loud and proud. If you need someone to help with that, I’m happy to be of service. Set up a free Business Boost call and we’ll jump start your profile together.
Tip number four – get someone to help you claim your expertise loud and proud
So you have homework!
Make your profile visible.
Tweak your profile
Join a group
Get some help
Tip number five, connect with ME! I love my LinkedIn connections. www.linkedin.com/in/karenyankovich/ (notice how clean and pretty my link is? What does your link look like?)
If you want a quick review with tips for YOUR LinkedIn profile, connect with me and comment below with a link to your profile. I’ll give you some feedback on my initial impressions for a quick boost to your profile.
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