Cash flow is the life blood of any successful business, and the downfall of any failing one.
Yet, because many contribution-minded healers and coaches have absorbed the societal belief that service and wealth don’t mix, the topic of cash flow is often treated like the proverbial elephant in the middle of the room - taboo to talk about.
I’m not going to ask you to send me your tax returns (we’ll leave a little mystery in our relationship, shall we?), but I am going to ask you to stand up and take one step forward if your cash flow is NOT meeting your expectations at the moment.
OK, now that that’s out in the open, we can do something about it.
Here’s the deal - Your cash flow is a reflection of your relationship with money. And as my own business mentor likes to say: Money loves to be paid attention to. And it will get our attention one way or the other!
So if your cash flow isn’t doing what you want it to (in other words, increasing), the good news is it’s a wake up call for you to start paying some loving attention to your income streams and your business choices.
To help you prime your cash flow pump, here are 3 of my best tips:
I don’t think there’s anything quite as frustrating for a service-based business owner as not being able to reach the people you’re meant to serve.
And there’s nothing quite as thrilling as when you create a heartfelt connection so they totally get who you are and how you can help.
That’s what an authentic brand is all about.
When you add the influence of age-old archetypes to the mix, it causes your brand to explode with power and sincerity.
In my “Branding with Soul” Virtual Workshop, we use 12 primary archetypes to give clarity, focus and individuality to your brand identity. Watch this short video to learn about “The Humanitarian” and see if it might be the power behind your brand!
Branding With Soul Live, Virtual Workshop
“A Quick & Simple Way You Can Create an Authentic, Magnetizing Brand That Effortlessly Attracts a Steady Stream of Your Ideal, High Paying Clients”
Imagine how simple -and profitable- your marketing would be if you had a rich, authentic, money-making brand that instantly conveys what you’re truly about AND the valuable results you deliver. . .
There’s no doubt that the work healers and coaches do transforms lives. So why are so many of them caught in what seems like a hamster-wheel situation – working hard but not really moving ahead, financially or spiritually?
This unhappy situation certainly isn’t due to lack of passion or creativity. The culprit is almost always those twin demons: self doubt and perfectionism. Because you ARE so passionate about helping your clients, you worry whether you’re good enough or offering enough. And that keeps you stuck in the “creation and development” phase far too long.
Attracting more clients and more money into your business isn’t a matter of working harder or waiting until “it’s all perfect.” It’s got everything to do with knowing the RIGHT actions to take to clarify who and how you serve.
The first step is a mindset piece. It’s knowing that all is well, always, and the Universe has your back. (I know you already believe that – now you just need to consistently make decisions from that place.)
When you really embrace this attitude, right away you see that it’s not possible for you to be anything less than perfect, right now, just as you are. There’s no such thing as mistakes; only opportunities for learning.
Then comes the fun stuff. You get to take your passion and creativity and turn them into client-transforming programs, products and services.
To help you with the “how to” nuts and bolts, here’s a simple checklist of what you need to do to generate clients and cash flow. . .quickly, easily and elegantly:
Marketing an unbranded business is like asking potential clients to find a diamond in a pile of cut glass.The jewel is there, just lost in the crowd.
Creating a “business identity” and standing out so that potential clients can see what you have to offer goes way beyond designing a pretty logo.
Archetypes –those universal, mythic characters we all can relate to because they symbolize our core human desires and evoke deep emotions- provide a highly creative yet structured way to create a rich, authentic brand that’s a perfect fit for YOU.
Watch this short video to learn about “The Alchemist,” one of the 12 Archetypes in the Branding with ArchetypesTM system.
Branding With Soul Live, Virtual Workshop
“A Quick & Simple Way You Can Create an Authentic, Magnetizing Brand That Effortlessly Attracts a Steady Stream of Your Ideal, High Paying Clients”
Imagine how simple -and profitable- your marketing would be if you had a rich, authentic, money-making brand that instantly conveys what you’re truly about AND the valuable results you deliver. . .
Whew! As you may know, I just finished hosting a 3-day “Passionate Purpose, Inspired Income” live workshop here in Tucson.
(You can see pictures here, thanks to Schelli Whitehouse. And marketing photographer Lindsay Miller was there too and created a wonderful album for my Facebook, but I must confess I can’t figure out how to find them! =-()
I’ll be honest - a lot (you have no idea!) goes into pulling off a successful event. Planning the content, coordinating the hotel negotiations and contract, handling the marketing, designing the handouts, dealing with last minute cancellations. . .the list goes on.
But it’s totally worth it, in my opinion, on both an energetic and a financial scale. It was monumentally gratifying to hear about (and see) the transformations and breakthroughs experienced by the courageous women at my workshop. And to know I was instrumental in supporting them in getting their passionate message out in a bigger way is the passion behind my own business.
If you like the idea of leading an event, let me offer a suggestion - One way to reduce the amount of effort it takes to pull it off is to get started with a “virtual event,” which is basically a condensed-delivery, multi-speaker format. The beauty is that there are no name tags, hotel contracts, or travel logistics to worry about.
Virtual Events are one of Leesa Barnes’ specialty. As a matter of fact, I’m going to be one of the speakers at her “Virtual Event Boom” next week. (You can check out the details here.)
(Full Disclosure Alert – Yes, this is an affiliate link and I will get a “thank you” commission if you purchase using that link. If you prefer, you can also read the details here, which includes a non-tracked order link. I’ll leave it up to you. . . =-))
Leesa has put together a truly comprehensive and impressive list of speakers, geared toward helping you plan, produce and profit from virtual events (by doing them the right way!). Which is why I so readily agreed when she asked me to present on the topic of “Launch Secrets for Heart-Based Marketers.”
It all starts next Monday, May 10. If you think you might like to host your own virtual event at some point, I would recommend exploring what Leesa’s put together to see if it’s the right resource for you.
(And leave a comment below telling me which “Passionate Purpose” photo is your favorite, ‘kay?)
The smart service-based entrepreneur is always looking for ways to increase the sales of their programs, products and services.
No, not because they’re greedy. It’s because they know clients can’t experience breakthroughs and transformation until they get off the fence and make the purchase.
One of the simplest ways to remove the barrier to buying and increase sales is to offer a guarantee.
When it comes to offering a guarantee, however, most service-based business owners say “No way! I can’t control what the client is going to do, so how can I guarantee my program or service?” They’re afraid too many clients will take advantage of it and they’ll lose money.
It’s important to keep your eye on the big picture. The value of a guarantee lies in giving potential clients peace of mind, making it easy for them to say yes to your offer. Backed by a strong guarantee, the number of sales you make is invariably greater than if you had no guarantee at all. So even if you do get a small number of returns (and that’s really the exception, not the rule), you’ll still come out ahead.
To get you going, here are three simple tips to help you craft guarantees that cause your sales to soar.
Growing a successful business, and all the attendant marketing and business-building tasks involved, isn’t meant to be done alone.
Yet when clients aren’t appearing, income is not flowing, and joy has left the building, the default perspective most women take seems to be, “I’ll just knuckle under and do more. I’ll deny myself support, mentoring and encouragement because it would be selfish or weak to ask for help. Gosh darn it, I should be able to do this on my own!”
As women, we often think we should muscle through any struggles –business or otherwise- that come up. To my way of thinking, that’s the female equivalent of refusing to ask for directions. (And we all hate when a man does that, right?)
It would appear the Universe’s idea of fun was to put us in separate bodies and minds, so we think we’re meant to experience life on our own.
But have you noticed? Our ability to expand, leap and soar doesn’t happen when we muscle through. It only happens when we connect – with Spirit, with our own inner voice, with each other.
That’s true in personal relationships, and it’s true in your business too.
What’s at stake in trying to do it alone is, really, nothing less than your ability to reach more people, impact more lives and truly fulfill the purpose you were put here to do.
Here are some simple ideas on how to foster the connection that will make your business flourish. . .
1) You can begin connecting more with Spirit by giving yourself the gift of nature. Go out for a walk today, even if it’s just around the block. Better yet, put it in your calendar as an everyday thing.
2) You can begin connecting more with your inner voice by getting curious and asking your heart, “What do you want for me now?” and just listening to what your intuition says (even if it doesn’t “make sense”).
3) You can begin connecting more with others by actively looking for experiences and events that get you out of your regular environment and let you mingle with like-spirited women. (They’ll benefit from your encouragement as much as you’ll benefit from theirs.)
The more connection you create, the more success you’ll attract in your business. And the more success you attract in your business, the more lives you’ll be touching. Clients, income, joy - it’s all one big, happy spiral!
Inspired, heart-centered entrepreneurs like us are often kept dizzy and overwhelmed by our own creativity.It’s a case of too many choices, too little time.
With all the projects, tasks and activities involved in marketing and growing a fun, profitable business, it’s all too easy to find yourself worn out at the end of the day without having many tangible results (like income) to show for it.
As I hear from clients all the time, that usually means money is going out faster than it’s coming in.We can’t have that!
The antidote to this troublesome situation is knowing which projects and activities to pursue and which to ignore (or put on hold).
Not all business endeavors are created equal.And you simply can’t follow through on all of them.It’s imperative that you have a way to sort through the abundance of ideas and possibilities to determine which ones are worth your time, attention and money.
One of the first things I did with client Marlene Clay (DivorcedHappilyEverAfter.com) when she came for a private 2-day business-building retreat last month was help her create her “Return on Resources” filter.
It’s a quick and easy method for sorting through the options and zeroing in on the most profitable, productive ones. She was so delighted with the freedom and confidence it gave her in making decisions about her business projects that she asked if we could create a ROR Filter for her money decisions as well. =-)
Your ROR Filter:
Keeps you grounded in practical action
Let’s you avoid time- and money-sucking disasters
Is unique, flexible and grows with you and your business
And just before lunch on Day 1 of my upcoming “Passionate Purpose, Inspired Income” workshop, I’ll teach you the same powerfully simple decision-making technique.
I have no doubt you’ll love the ease and speed with which you make effective business decisions once you’ve got your personal Return On Resources Filter to support you.
This simple technique will provide immediate relief from overwhelm and put you in position to greatly increase your money-making capacity without working any harder. You’re not doing more, you’re just doing it differently.
Then you’re free to allow your creativity to run wild, knowing you’ve got a surefire way to choose just the right ideas to develop.
Having finally torn myself away from the glamour of waiting tables, I’ve morphed into the Grand Poohbah of Crackerjack Marketing and Online Strategy. I’ve spent the last 4 years learning the hard-won secrets to attracting high quality leads with your online marketing.
