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You’re new to your business. Maybe you’ve never run your own business before and you don’t know what to do next?

It seems like there’s so much to do every day and just not enough time to do it and it can be so confusing.

I speak to so many women who are just STUCK and before they know it, another week, another month or even another year has gone by with no change, no growth and no results.

Here’s 3 Reasons why you might be STUCK:

1. You don’t have a plan to follow that you have confidence in to grow your business
2. You ‘re confused about what you should be doing next or how to do it
3. You don’t have clear direction, so you’re indecisive and procrastinate a lot

So here’s how to get unstuck and make progress every day towards your Big Idea:

Define Your Next ‘Exciting’ Logical Step

Your Next ‘Exciting’ Logical Step is like the next ‘mini-milestone’ in your business. It may take 2 or 3 months to achieve so it keeps you tuned in and focused every day. Its always the next most important thing that HAS to be acheived, to move you towards your Big Idea (your dream outcome).

For example, some of the Next Logical Steps of my clients are:

– for a client who is developing a new coaching program – their very first pilot model client (to test the program on)
– for a client new to business – their first paying client
– for a client wanting to leave their full time job – $1000 per week of sales in their business
– for a client looking to go to the next level in their business – their first $2000 week.
– for a client introducing a new service into their business – 5 bookings a week
– for a client ready to scale – putting on their first employee.

TIP: It’s important to differentiate your NELS from a task eg a task is to get a new website, a NELS is to achieve 4 sales a month.

How is being clear on my Next ‘Exciting’ Logical Step going to help me?

It programs your mind to the outcome you want most – what we think about, we achieve
You are clear on what has to be done
It provides you with focus and motivation every single day
It stops you from chasing bright shiny things
It makes decision making easy – no more indecision
No more procrastination because you know what your business needs you to do

So what’s the NELS in your business?

Write it down in your diary every day, and ensure that there is at least one task scheduled that is moving you towards your NELS. (More is better!)

‘Do one important thing a day that moves you towards your Next Exciting Logical Step, and you’ll see change in a week, results in a month, and be amazed at where you are in 12 months’ time’

Starting your own business was all about getting more freedom, more flexibility more family time and FUN for You!

But some days are tough and sometimes it just doesn’t feel like you’re ever going to get there.

It can all get a bit overwhelming, and we know that if we don’t fix this, we’ll never get the freedom and choices that we wanted for our lifestyle, from our business.

So to fix this firstly, we must ban the word busy! Busy is being a goldfish in a bowl and going around in circles doing the same things every day.

To stay focused you need to get out of the goldfish bowl and be productive every day – sounds simple, but so many of us struggle with this. Its about getting completely organised.
Here’s 3 steps to go from ‘busy busy busy’ to focused and productive every day:

1. Take a really good look at your to do list – what tasks are actually moving you towards your Next Exciting Logical Step? If you’re filling your day with other tasks, you’re just being busy for the sake of it. So get real about prioritizing what you do.

2. Set up a productive day by ‘scheduling’. Schedule is often the missing link to take you from busy to productive. Schedule your Next ‘Exciting’ Logical Step tasks, along with your important business operations activities, you-time and family time.

3. Stick to your schedule! If your day often gets taken up by things that go wrong, schedule space into your day to sort them out. Better still, fix them with a process or a person, so they don’t go wrong again.

Here’s what Mandy had to say recently:

‘It’s nice knowing that the time I spent working on my business today was actually productive instead of thinking that I didn’t get anywhere, even though I spent all day working. I thought working with Fiona I’d be busier, but actually now I’m getting the RIGHT things done.’
Mandy K, Owner Mandy Lee Photography

When you’re focused and productive you’ll be able to easily ignore the distractions and you’ll see results and progress and see results every day.

‘ We overestimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what we can do in a year’

You’re new to your business and sometimes when you get to the end of the week, you’ve worked so hard but you just don’t feel like you’re making any progress at all?

Because of this, it can be hard to stay motivated and sometimes it feels a bit like you’re a goldfish in a bowl – going round in circles blowing a lot of bubbles but getting nowhere.

There’s a very powerful premise within TEWAY for Women that is the very foundation of staying motivated every day to do what the business needs you to do …… and that is ‘your emotional attachment to your Big Idea’.

I find that often women haven’t even stopped to think about what they really want. They’ve spent years and decades looking after everyone else around them but never given themselves permission to actually ask ‘what do I really want my life to look like?’

Others have a knowing – they know what they want but have no idea on how to achieve it or even worse, don’t believe that they could ever have it.

Get Clear on Your Big Idea

A Big Idea is the most exciting outcome you can possibly imagine for your life. The life that you know, inside you, is what you really want.

It’s about being able to design a life where you’re doing what you love and what makes you happy every day.

How do I get clear on my Big Idea?

Start to dream, start to listen to that quiet voice inside you that knows exactly what you want but you may have been ignoring for years, letting ‘life’ get in the way.

Write down your ideas – connecting your mind to your pen instead of having vague thoughts racing through your mind from time to time, is so powerful. Bring your Big Idea to life by writing it down and going back and adding to it regularly.

The clearer it is, the more exciting it gets.

Design a life you love and then do one thing a day to move towards your Big Idea, and one day you’ll look back and go WOW!

How is a Big Idea going to help you right now?

When you’re clear and emotionally attached to your Big Idea you have:
Clarity
Motivation every day
Drive

….. and it keeps your mojo high so you power through your day and do what the business needs you to do.

It’s also the beacon that calls you back when things get tough and you have those moments of ‘why am I doing this?’

When you’re clear on the Big Idea for You, you are driven every day, decision making becomes easier, and you stay focused and don’t get distracted by bright shiny things.

If you’re not excited by your Big Idea, it’s not big enough!

It’s all about numbers.

I speak to women who bury their heads in the sand when it comes to this.
They tell me ‘oh my accountant has the numbers’ or ‘I have to check the computer’.
Ouch!

Who’s in control of your business – your accountant, your computer or YOU?

Not knowing your numbers can be a mistake for business and often results in failure. That means the end to your dream of financial security, flexibility and choices in your life. That means going back to a job and we know that’s just not an option.
So if you want to know what to do in your business every day, know your numbers.

When you know and OWN your Critical Growth Numbers you:

• know exactly where your business is now, and will be in the future
• you can identify the gaps and take action now
• you know exactly what the business needs you to do to grow

So knowing our numbers is like having a ‘roadmap’ for your business.

I want you to be totally awesome at knowing your Critical GROWTH Numbers. The numbers that tell you what you need to do every day to get more clients, more cashflow, and be a successful business owner.

Here’s 3 ways to know and OWN your Critical Growth Numbers:

1. What is your sales target each week?

Be clear on the level of sales that you want and break it down from yearly to quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily. It’s amazing how your mindset shifts and you see opportunities every day when you know your numbers.

2. How many clients do you need to meet those numbers each week?

What products/services will you sell, how many, how many leads do you need to get a new client?

3. Measure and monitor every day.

Record your numbers every day. See them every day not hidden away on your computer. Record actuals plus projected income and you’ll see exactly where you are now, and where you’ll be at the end of the month (or even the quarter if your business has a long sales funnel).

When you know and own your critical growth numbers you’ll feel in control of the business again, you’ll know exactly where you are heading, and you know what the business needs you to do each day.

‘If you don’t know and OWN your Critical Growth Numbers, you don’t intend to win’

When I first start working with client’s I often hear them say ‘My Marketing’s not working’.

They’re just not getting enough leads or sales – it feels like you’re on a feast or famine when it comes to cashflow.

It seems like your message is being ignored and is just not getting the traction you want. Things can start getting tough fast and you don’t know what to do next.

There’s so much information out there on what to do and what not to do, that it gets all too confusing.

If you’re new to your business and you feel like this is happening to you, there are usually 3 main reasons why your marketing isn’t working:

1. No clear Message
2. Not enough Marketing Methods working
3. Not confident with what to say when Selling (no sales process)

But today I’m going to talk about Message.

There’s three parts to having a clearly defined message for your business that makes sure your marketing works. Without a super clear message, you’re wasting time and money on your marketing.

1. YOUR IDEAL CLIENT MESSAGE – who do you help?

Are you vague about your niche, or trying to sell everything to everyone?
If so, your prospects will be confused or they won’t even know you exist because you’re not being specific enough.

Your marketing message must to be clear – some say, clear enough for an 8 year old to understand ……. (eg think ‘Toys R Us’ or ‘Coffee Club’ – pretty clear?

So you need to know the biggest problems of your Ideal Client, the outcomes they most want, and what they want fixed right now and are willing to pay for?
When you can communicate through your message that you understand them, you’re listening and you can solve their problem and deliver the outcome, you have a clear ‘Ideal Client’ message.

2. HOW YOUR BUSINESS SOLVES THE PROBLEM – how do you help?

You know how to fix the problems of your Ideal Client but in your message you now need to clearly communicate the ‘benefits’ of your product or service.

Why would your Ideal Client choose you? What’s unique about your product or service/

And I don’t mean ‘price, quality or service’. They are a given. They have to exist for you to be in business and aren’t enough to have you stand out from your competition.

When you can show your Ideal Client that you understand their problems and can show them why you are the best choice for them, they’ll buy.

You do this by defining your Unique Point of Difference for your business.

3. YOUR MESSAGE BANK – putting it all together

When you have a clear Ideal Client Message, and a Unique Point of Difference Message you can now put them together and develop a ‘Message Bank’ for your business. This is where you have several different messages set up to use in all of your marketing methods
Eg facebook posts, facebook ads, website, business card, when networking, emails, blogs etc

TIP: If your marketing’s not working, get clearer with your message. Its not them its YOU – your communication isn’t cutting through – go back and redo 1-3.

‘If you know your ideal client’s problem better than they know it
themselves,
they’ll believe you have the solution they need’

When I first start working with client’s I often hear them say ‘My Marketing’s not working’.

And they’re stuck. Stuck because they’ve run out of ideas to get more leads so they can pay the bills, pay themselves and know they’re heading towards the financial freedom that they started the business for.

There are usually 3 main reasons why your marketing isn’t working:

1. No clear Message
2. Not enough Marketing Methods working
3. Not confident with what to say when Selling (no sales process)

But today I’m going to talk about Marketing Methods.

There’s 3 things that business owners get wrong when starting their business and doing marketing and trying to get cashflow consistency:

1. NOT ENOUGH MARKETING METHODS

Simply, they don’t have enough ways of getting leads or clients.

People start off with the usual ways – website, business card, facebook page – and think that they are all they need and the clients will come rushing in.

Very soon, they find out this isn’t the case.

Its ok for businesses who are more established to have tested, measured and refined their marketing methods and can have the luxury of relying on one or a few methods to get the leads they need to meet their sales.

But this isn’t the case for businesses either starting up or getting to breakeven in the early stages. You need to be ‘everywhere’ and build awareness for your business fast. You need to be building know like and trust among your potential prospects and the best way to do this is to have lots of methods all working – like having layers to your marketing to get as many leads as possible and to then measure and determine which are going to work best for you.

2. NO MARKETING PLAN

Often when you hear the words ‘Marketing Plan’ you cringe because you don’t have the slightest idea what to do to get one.

Having a Marketing Plan is essential for your business, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. At TEWAY for Women our clients use a 1 Page Marketing Planner and that tells them everything they need to know to get the leads they want for their business.

Its about knowing how to test, measure and refine many marketing methods, know exactly which methods are working, what the budget is, what the return is, how many leads you got from each method, total sales and average sale.

It becomes your ‘system’ that you use for getting leads in your business and many of these methods in your system can end up being automated or delegated once you have them working in your system.

3. THE 20% FACTOR

Often business owners get caught in what I call the ‘tradie trap’ – they are too busy doing the work and they don’t have time to grow the business.

This is like some tradies – they are really good at what they do and just want to do the work. Even accountants and lawyers can fall into the tradie trap and its because sales and marketing is not their strength. So doing the work is easier.

But we know that if we aren’t putting in at least 20% of our time into growing the business, we won’t have any ‘work’ to do.

So in scheduling a productive day, its essential that your ‘A’ tasks, are tasks that are helping you work ON the business instead of IN the business. 20% of your time minimum, until you get more clients, can hire staff or outsource help and then spend more of your time in sales and marketing.

‘Are you doing it, doing it, doing it…. or growing it, growing it, growing it!’

This can be a huge issue for women who have gone from career to business owner simply because they’ve never learnt how to sell properly.

They get stuck because they get into a sales conversation but just don’t know what to say and end up too many prospects either by talking too much, getting tongue-tied or not knowing how to deal with objections.

You’ve never done it before so I get it and I want to make it easier for you.

Sales is a ‘system’.

Once you have developed a system for your business that works, then its just a matter of following that system and improving on it each time.

It can then become something you teach someone else – only when you have it working, delivering the results you want and you know it yourself (don’t outsource sales unless you have a big budget to pay someone who has proven results in sales).

You are the best sales person in your business and believe me I’ve had people argue with me that they don’t want to do it. Well if you can’t sell your product/service how do you expect someone else to? You are passionate about it, you are driven to get the results far more than any paid employee is.

When you overcome your fear of selling, have a system that works you are in control of your business and your financial future.

There’s 3 things that you must have in order to have a smooth sales system and have the confidence to close the deal:

1. BUILD KNOW/LIKE/TRUST

People buy ‘you’. They will speak to you or read about you and develop trust in what you can do. This is the first stage of the selling process, and if you don’t have a way to develop the know/like/trust as part of your sales process, you won’t get the sales that you want.

How can you do this – its knowing what to say in a conversation when you first meet someone, out networking or talking to a lead for the first time. If you’re an online business its building trust through your story and social proof eg testimonials.

2. FIND THE NEED

People buy with emotion and justify with logic.

So in order to find ‘alignment’ between what someone wants and your product or service, you must find the real ‘need’. This means getting to the emotion of the buyer and understanding your Ideal Client’s problems better than they understand them themselves. (We talked about this a little in the Ideal Client Message email).

When you can find the need of your Ideal Client, can demonstrate that you can solve their problem with your product or service and deal with their possible objections throughout the process you will make more sales.

3. DEVELOP A COMPELLING OFFER

Everyone wants to feel like they have scored a great deal.

So do you have a few ‘compelling offers’ with your product/service to provide added perceived value so that its such a great deal they can’t pass it by.

This doesn’t need to be a discount (or if it is, it’s added on so you preserve your margins). But it must be perceived value to your Ideal Client.

What do they want most? What will they respond to? What will be a great deal in their eyes? Even provide a couple of options so that they can choose the one that holds the most perceived value to them.

This can also be in the form of an impending event – eg buy before prices go up, end of financial year, which encourages action.

‘Nothing happens ‘til someone sells something’

Referrals are the easiest way to make sales.

They come from Raving Fans.

Raving fans are your sales team. They are your clients who you have wowed with your awesome client experience and they are just bursting to tell other people all about you.

So getting more referrals is really about getting more Raving Fans.

So how do you create raving fans?

By having an ‘awesome client experience’ process in your business.

That is at every step of the experience with you, your client receives the best service, the best attention, the best follow up and the best outcome that your product/service provides.

68% of clients leave your business because they think you don’t care

So how do you show your customers you care?

Map out your process – from first phone call or email to AFTER the product or service is completed. What are you doing to ‘wow’ your clients? What are you doing to stay in touch? How do you follow up? What do you do if something goes wrong?
Add in the steps that show you care – go the extra mile – do what other providers don’t or won’t do.
You can even have a ‘mystery shopper’ in your business to test out the client experience processes that you have and give you some feedback.
When you have an ‘awesome client experience’ in your business you will create raving fans and they will bring you more clients.
Isn’t that a great idea?

In the journey of an Entrepreneur, there are several stages to progress through in pursuit of their Big Idea.

If the business owner doesn’t grow, the business won’t grow so change is a must.  Some business owners struggle with change – to their own detriment.  The business will stay the same and the owner will become increasingly frustrated at where they are, and wondering why they haven’t progressed.

So what do you need to learn to be the business owner who has a business that works without them? By identifying these stages, we endeavor to bring to light the phases required to get the results that you want and need.

1. BUILDING THE BIG IDEA – When you have a BIG IDEA you build the emotional connection to the outcomes that you really want from your business and life.  As the emotional connection strengthens through becoming clearer and clearer on your BIG IDEA, your drive increases. When you are DRIVEN, progress is automatic.  You have CLARITY.
2. NEXT LOGICAL STEP – From your BIG IDEA, you can identify your NEXT LOGICAL STEP.  This is a ‘mini-milestone’ in your business and is the next thing you must accomplish to enable you to move towards your Big Idea.    When you know your Next Logical step you can organise your daily activity to achieve it.  You have DIRECTION.
3. PRODUCTIVE EVERY DAY – THIS IS THE PHASE THAT STARTS TO PRODUCE THE RESULTS – This starts with getting ORGANISED so that you are productive every day.  If you are caught in ‘busy’, you’re probably not being productive which means progress towards your Next Logical Step is slow.   This is where the majority of small business owners spend their time and do not get the results from their business they want.  Are you doing what the BUSINESS requires or just what you feel like doing?
4. NOTHING HAPPENS UNTIL SOMEONE SELLS SOMETHING – is obviously the most important thing a business owner can focus on to move forward but so many business owners will not even make the effort to organise their day to be productive enough that they are doing sales activity every day and lots of it.  Here also requires a move towards delegating/employing so that operational tasks are done by someone else – this can be a big move for some and take time.
5. This is the longest stage for BUSINESS OWNERS to move through, depending on their enthusiasm for change and learning, drive and their discipline  If they are driven by their BIG IDEA and are disciplined to do what the business requires to get to where they want to be, they move through it quickly.  If they are not driven or disciplined, they can take a lot longer.  Some never move through this phase and merely ‘own a job’.
6. SALES MOMENTUM – this is where the sales system becomes ‘bigger’ than the business owner. What this means is the sales activity is gaining momentum and drives the activity of the business owner (not the other way around).  There are so many prospects, appointments, follow ups, new client processing and operations to do, the business owner can’t help but do what the business requires and be productive.
7. CASHFLOW HAPPY – from the steps above, cashflow increases and there are choices.  The business owner can truly step up to entrepreneurial thinking – systemizing, replication and new ideas to build the business can be the focus.  We can see the end goal, the business is starting to work without you and you move towards it with more drive and clarity.
8. REPLICATION – Entrepreneurs hate doing the work, but they WILL do the work until they have someone else to do it. This is where replication occurs. The business owner will replace themselves in each department of the business in order to spend more time bringing in the business, while other carefully recruited and well trained team members do the work.

The TEWAY Definitition of a TRUE ENTREPRENEUR, is a business owner

who has built a business that will work without them!

For more information contact Fiona:
0414 744417
[email protected]
www.tewayforwomen.com.au
facebook: tewayforwomen

It is such an amazing journey we are on – LIFE. That’s if we ‘think’ about it that way.

The study of mindset is never complete.  There is so much to discover and the, the better it gets, the better it gets.   Yet, on a daily basis, and in business, the power of the mind can be so underutilised.

One thing that never ceases to inspire me when working with clients, is seeing ideas come to life.  Thoughts that become ideas, that become plans, that are actioned and become reality.

I had one such experience recently.  12 months ago, as a part of a client working on replacing themselves eventually in the operations of their business, we discussed finding a ‘superstar’ to fulfil a key role in the business that currently an owner was fulfilling.   It is essential, that for the business to work without this client, he finds someone to train up in the integral role which he currently fills.

So we had a talk about it, jotted down some of the key attributes the person should have, and what possible tasks would be undertaken.   There was no hurry, it was not a priority project but just something that we know would have to happen in order for the owner to step out of the Operations of the business.

It was left on the list and each consultation, we reviewed any progress.  Within a couple of months, they had found 3 possible candidates that, without advertising, they had on the radar.  Within months, through a process of meetings, discussions and trials, at our consultation last week my client announced that they had ‘contracted’ their superstar!  Less than 12 months later, when back then it had seemed almost ‘impossible’ to find that perfect person.

It was amazing to think back at that day, when the thought became an idea, instead of dwelling on the impossible it was added to the possible, and slowly step by step it had been achieved.

This can also be applied to your mindset when something goes wrong.  We had a minor setback at TEWAY recently.  When you think about this it is so easy to let your mind focus on all the negatives – this is just my luck, I’m never going to get to the next level, now I won’t be able to have this, its going to set me back, I’ve worked so hard for nothing.  Sound familiar?  We can so easily disappear into a whirlpool of despair.

But instead, I kept my mind focussed on ‘what is the lesson in this’, what can I do better next time?, what do I have to do to move forward.  And most importantly,  ‘focus your mind on the outcome you WANT’.

Think about exactly how you want the situation to turn out This immediately puts your mind into a thought pattern of finding a better way.  This allows you to start to come up with ideas and then take a step forward in a positive direction towards the outcome you want.  By doing this, you are moving forward not sinking into the depths of despair where your only thoughts are doom and gloom.

What a difference it makes!  Give your mind something positive to work with, not the negatives. It can take practice but once you master this your life and business will never be the same.

You’ll be amazed and astounded as to where you and your business will be in 5 years time, if you apply this process consistently to move forward with your business.

For more information contact Fiona:
0414 744417
[email protected]
www.tewayforwomen.com.au
facebook: tewayforwomen