It happens. The new premium client you were counting on falls through. You have a streak of client’s saying “no,” over and over again. The event you were sure would fill doesn’t, and that last prospect just disappeared without even doing you the courtesy of simply saying “no thank you.”

“Don’t despair,” your friends & family might say. But it’s tough, isn’t it? The voice of fear and doubt can sometimes get so loud it drowns everything else out. You might even feel so discouraged you wonder if it isn’t time to just “throw in the towel” and go get a j-o-b.  Read more...

Most entrepreneurs know intellectually that an investment in business is different than an expense. But I’ve seen many of them evaluate an investment as though it were an expense.

It’s perfectly understandable, because most of us have been programmed since childhood to regard all money going out as an expense. It’s simply a subconscious habit.

Be very honest with yourself. What is the first thought you have when an opportunity comes up to invest in your business?

Is it “Can I afford it?” But here’s the critical question: What criteria are you using to evaluate whether or not you can afford it?  Are you looking at your bank account and your financial situation?  Read more...

Do you agonize over decisions, procrastinate, or leave them hanging out indefinitely? Do you tend to make the “safe” choices, rather than take a risk? Do you second guess your decisions once you’ve made them?

If so, you could be sabotaging the growth of your business.

Savvy entrepreneurs know that the ability to make effective decisions quickly and then move forward is even more important than always making the “right” decision.

In this first article of a 2 part series on decision making, we’ll look at the most common obstacles to clarity when it comes to making business decisions: fear and doubt. Once fear and doubt have been conquered, in part 2 we’ll look at 7 ways to make business decisions quickly and effectively.  Read more...

Previously, I talked about how to manage the voice of fear and doubt so it didn’t get in your way of making effective decisions.

Now that fear and doubt are no longer running the show, let’s look at 7 effective ways to make a business decision quickly and effectively:

1.  Use your intuition. 
Intuition is the most critical factor in decision making. Always use your intuition. If it’s not clear, use one of these other techniques I’m about to share, and then check in with your intuition again.  Read more...

Like many people, at the dinner table on Thanksgiving you may think of being grateful for family and friends, and for the abundance of food on the table. It’s a wonderful tradition!

But there are many ways to expand on the power of gratitude which you may not have considered: In your business, for example. The first cool way to express gratitude to build your business is using the principle of focus.

Whatever you focus on, you get more of.  Read more...

With the economy slowly coming back to life, there are still many who need to watch the business budget as well as the household budget. Knowing what’s important to spend money on, and what’s not, is key to thriving in a recovery economy.

There’s another aspect to staying financially healthy also. Whether you call it the law of attraction or sub-conscious programming, panicking and hanging on to every penny only slows down the flow of money coming in even more. I’ve seen it happen with others, and I’ve experienced it firsthand in the past myself.  Read more...

Whether or not you should offer a guarantee is a great question, and even among the most successful coaches, opinions differ. Ultimately, it’s a question only you can answer. What I will do here is give you the pros, the cons, and the details, so you can make an informed decision.

There are different types of guarantees. In coaching, a “value” or “satisfaction” type of guarantee is usually the most appropriate. Essentially this means “I guarantee you’ll be completely satisfied with this program or . . .”  Read more...

How many times have you made a resolution to change something, for the New Year or any other time, and then you didn’t stick to it?

Yeah, me too. More than once, I’ll admit. When your focus is on strengthening a weakness, it can be an uphill battle. Still, as entrepreneurs we must continue to work on ourselves if we want to build our businesses.

There’s just no way around it. Business growth always goes hand-in-hand with personal growth. So if you want to take your business to the next level, first you need to take yourself to the next level, and then the business follows.  Read more...

One of the challenges of a coaching or similar type of service business, is the potential client is being asked to take a “leap of faith” that they will see the results they desire.

Yes, they know you’re an expert in what you do, and they may know others have achieved results from working with you. But they still don’t know for certain that they will get the results they want. That’s where the leap of faith comes in.

What if you could reduce or even eliminate that leap of faith? How might it be easier for clients to commit to working with you?  Read more...

Ah, the holidays: Great food, loving family, presents, and many tempting distractions for your clients. For clients, it’s tough to continue coaching through the holiday season. There are many other things that tend to take priority.

Then, often it just seems as though there’s too much in the way, or it’s not as important any longer to continue on in January.

For most of my 10 years as a life coach, I bowed to the wisdom of Thomas Leonard, the founder of coaching, who originated the idea of requiring a minimum 3 month contract for coaching clients.  Read more...