1.  Speak with Confidence: Starting right now, eliminate every wishy-washy word from your vocabulary. No more saying ‘might,’ ‘probably,’ ‘maybe,’ ‘seems,’ or any other word that sounds like you don’t know. If you don’t know, then say so. These words also soften the strength of your pitch without adding anything. Eliminate them immediately and you’ll see the difference.

2. Use the Customer’s Words: When you sit down with customers, they’re going to tell you what they want and what they are looking for. Instead of giving them your usual pitch, use their words within your pitch. This means listen to the terms they use and repeat them. You’ll be answering their needs specifically and it shows you’re attentive as well. Plus, you’ll be meeting customers on their terms, not yours, which makes them feel better about the sale.

3. Diversify Your Communications Portfolio: Most salespeople grew up making phone calls and doing in-person contacts. In this day, people use all sorts of different media platforms on the Web and through other means to reach and maintain contact with customers. Learn to use these low-cost tools as one of many ways to reach new customers and maintain contact with old ones.

4. Set Yourself Up as an Authority: You may already be working hard as a salesperson, but part of doing your job is positioning yourself to be a trustworthy resource for customers to come to. Write articles for websites and other sources to demonstrate your knowledge of business and to give to customers as an example of your acumen.

5. Stay Current: Of course, be aware of the changes in your business, but also stay conscious of the changes in your customers’ business as well. Remember to also keep up on the personal lives of your customers, sending them well wishes throughout the year and whenever they see big successes as well. It’ll show you’re not just about sales, but an interested person as well, who is well worth keeping in contact with.

Any questions of if you would like to chat contact me through Scapes at http://www.scapes.ca

• It’s Time to Reconnect
• “You can lose just as much money being as happy as hell”
• Were you Born in a Barn
• Find Your Comfort Zone & Get Your Message Out!
• Email Marketing, It’s like adding an Army of Employees

I have noticed as business is picking up I have had less time to commit to producing new articles for all my Bootstrapping Friends. Well I decided that I will share the video’s that I have created for my local clients with you guys as well. A lot of the information in them is just as important for my readers that are here as well.

It also does not matter where in the world you are my company would be able to help you with any of the concepts that I talk about.

• What the Hell is Social Networking?
• 5 Stellar Sales Tips To Push You To the Top of Your Field
• 10 Ways to Improve Workflow
• Marketing Campaigns for Under $100
• Monday Marketing Tip: Underpromise and Overdeliver

One place to really make this happen is with your diet. It might seem odd…can diet improve my business? The answer is a definitive yes. For most, work is where we eat poorly, because we’re always on the run and in a hurry. We just simply don’t have time to make a good meal happen. After considering the next few paragraphs, you may start to treat your diet like you would a client.

Firstly, there are many different foods which can improve not only your energy, but also your ability to think and make decisions. No, this isn’t coffee. It’s extra supplements such as vitamin E and fish oil. These nutrients, found naturally in many foods, have been demonstrated to increase thinking ability. You can easily find these foods around as many restaurants allow you to substitute beef or pork for fish in many their dishes.

On that point, avoid any fatty foods. Even if you are in the best shape of your life, a fatty meal will slow you down because your body has to process it. This mean you work slower, you think slower, and you are simply less motivated. You may still feel into your work, but you’ll be working at a decreased rate compared to how you might work had you had a lighter meal.

The same goes for the beverages you drink. Many drinks give you a short burst of energy, but they’ll make you crash later. Sodas and similar drinks provide you with sugar for energy, but many of these sugars are hard for your body to work with, so you’ll end up spending more energy in order to digest them. Instead drink water or other natural fruit juices. Tea is a great alternative to coffee that can still wake you up in the morning, but isn’t as harmful; especially compared to espresso drinks.

Generally speaking, your body is an investment as well. Just like you would invest in worker safety and appropriate training, take the time to do so with your diet. Just like your business in general, what you put in is what you get out. Your body in this sense is a tool to make your business run at its optimum rate. With a poor diet, you may be able to work, but you’ll be doing a worse job comparatively.

And hey, you may end up looking and feeling better in life in general as well.

• Email Marketing, It’s like adding an Army of Employees
• How to Write a Business Proposal
• Better your business with customer feedback
• Find Your Comfort Zone & Get Your Message Out!
• 5 Stellar Sales Tips To Push You To the Top of Your Field

All business proposals need to meet some criteria before sending them off to anybody. Firstly, be original. Copy-pasted form letters impress people as much as junk mail through the mailbox. If you want your recipient to give you the time of day, extend them the same courtesy. Write your proposal, make it individual and tailored to them and their needs, and be as frank and honest as possible. Don’t try bullshitting, as this will more often than not make you look like a complete idiot. At the same time be confident and straightforward, and don’t try pandering to their egos or filling valuable writing space with aimless platitudes. Make your point, make it clearly and concisely, and sign off with a simple “Yours Sincerely/Truly/Faithfully,”

However, this does not mean that your proposal should be dull and boring. Let your personality show through to a point—the occasional joke or anecdote is often appreciated and helps remind the recipient that you are an actual person and not some automaton paid to hammer words on to a keyboard and not say a damn thing. Don’t ever be informal, but feel free every now and again to prove that you are actually a real person.

Keep your language jargon-free and as simple as possible. Avoid acronyms if at all possible—nothing is worse than reading a business proposal that looks like something you expect to find in the top-secret drawer at the Pentagon. Read it through three or four times, run it through a spellchecker, get someone else to proof it, and then read it yourself one last time for good measure. It is impossible to stress the importance of good writing in any proposal. Clearly set out the aims, goals and needs of your proposal, in a format that makes sense. There are hundreds of business proposal templates floating around on the Internet, so don’t be afraid to research styles and layouts.

Lastly, always keep the reader in mind. Stress why they should be part of this grand plan you have envisioned, and what the advantages are to themselves or the company of going along with your madcap little scheme. At the end of the day this entire endeavor is for their benefit, so do not forget that fact while you are putting your proposal together.

• Email Marketing, It’s like adding an Army of Employees
• Can Diet Improve My Business?
• Well, I Would Hope So!
• Site Flipping: New business avenue or fly by night profession?
• Better your business with customer feedback

Here is Part 1 of the books that always keep me challenged and pushing forward in my life and business even while wandering in my robe.

Trust your gut, the research is done and proven!

The Kolbe Concept and Kathy Kolbe’s work are both mind bending and life altering. These three books are a bit older now but they make no less of an impact now then they did when they were released.

When I was still working in a corporate environment doing marketing for a recruiting and coaching company I was introduced to the Kolbe A index. A test that validates our instincts and studies the Conative part of our brain. Kolbe Wisdom says that if we are free to be ourselves and faced with a task each of us will use a path of least resistance perfectly matched for ourselves to get to an outcome.

When I took the Kolbe A index and got my results it was one of the most liberating days of my entire life and gave permission to be who I am. I have long been branded on the ADD and ADHD scale but I and many other entrepreneurs will be happy to know that Kathy’s work attacks that the whole notion of this head on.

The impact of this work has been so great that I headed to Phoenix a few years ago to become a Kolbe Certified Consultant so I would be able to share this knowledge and coach people and businesses about it’s impact. So shameless plug time, if you have any questions about Kolbe don’t hesitate to contact me.

I have a lot more to say on the subject but I will do it in an upcoming series of articles, in the mean time if your are on twitter you need to be following @kathykolbe. At our growth seminar we were bugging Kolbe Corp that they need to be doing more in social media and now we have Kathy addicted to Twitter. Her tweets are always informative and will help to shed light on the tool.

Powered by Instinct: 5 Rules for Trusting Your Guts is a simple read done much like a conversation between two people. It might be to informal and lacking a bit of meat for some readers but it can be consumed in a few stress free hours.

The Conative Connection: Uncovering the Link Between Who You Are and How You Perform is Kathy’s first book and goes into a lot of the research, It was written in the 90’s so some of the research has changed but it is still very valuable information.

Pure Instinct: Business’ Untapped Resource This book goes into a lot of detail for how the Kolbe tools are used in a business group setting. I would suggest that you leave this one until you have a better understanding of the concept or if you like to read deep into a subject.

The “Secret” but built for Business without all the “When I wish Upon a Star” and still sit on my ass all this free money will come to me.

When I was on the road to getting the hell out of the corporate world and was looking for guidance for how I could take my small side evening business and make it more then just a hobby I got caught up in the whole “The Secret”  movie explosion.

Do I regret it, not a chance. I credit myself with taking the time to study and listen to what the teachers from the movie were actually saying. In my opinion that 90 min movie will go down as one of the best pieces of marketing ever. Most of all it opened a dialogue to make it acceptable to say things like you are a business person who meditates.

If you take the time to look at the other coaching the teachers do you will understand that the Law of Attraction is only one law and a starting point. During the movie John Assaraf was the person in the movie that resonated most with me, I think because he came to it from a business perspective. I was on a conference call with him and his OneCoach partner Murray Smith when he said we all need to remember the next most important universal law, The Law of “GOYA” or GET OFF YOUR ASS. If you just sit on your couch and ask the universe to give you everything eventually they will come and take your house from around you and your seat out from under you.

From that I joined the OneCoach’s Business Mastery Program that taught me how to put the right things in the right order to create a successful business.

John and Murray took the process they were teaching clients with great success and published The Answer: Grow Any Business, Achieve Financial Freedom, and Live an Extraordinary Life It is a great read and provides a very good framework to help make sure as a business owner you doing the highest income producing activities that are right for your specific business.

I will be back with part two of my book list very soon. I also want to hear about your great reads and resources. I am an avid business, marketing and personal development  reader so I am always on the look out for new concepts.

Again here are the books I talked about in this post:

Powered by Instinct: 5 Rules for Trusting Your Guts by Kathy Kolbe
The Conative Connection:  by Kathy Kolbe
Pure Instinct: Business’ Untapped Resource by Kathy Kolbe
and The Answer by John Assaraf and Murray Smith

• Building on strengths or fixing weaknesses?
• Late Payments Can Be a Good thing in a Slow Economy
• It’s Time to Reconnect
• “You can lose just as much money being as happy as hell”
• Doing and Knowing What You Love

It happens to everyone: you’re sitting at your desk, staring into the distance, or out the window, silently kicking yourself because you know you should be working, but it’s just not happening. Every little distraction seems to be much more interesting than what you’re meant to be doing, yet turning your attention to the work at hand is easier said than done. This is even further accentuated when you’re working for a small company, starting your own business, or work from home.

Creating the right work environment is a low-cost but effective way of improving and maximizing productivity; it‚Äôs about making your business work for you. Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur or have been working from home for a while, following these simple tips will help bootstrap your way to success.

1. Create a Comfortable Environment

Given that space can be a problem for a lot of people, deciding where to put your workstation can be difficult. It may feel natural to place your desk facing the wall or in a corner, but this can make you feel boxed in. Instead, position your desk so the outside is visible, but don’t face it directly into the window, have it at right angles so you’re not blocking the natural light, and won’t be easily distracted.

If the room lacks abundant natural light, paint the walls a light/neutral color, and try to set the lighting to the most natural level you can achieve. The temperature of the room is important, too. There’s no ideal set temperature; have what works best for you. Just keep in mind that if it’s too hot you’ll feel sleepy; too cold will make it hard to not focus on anything but the chill factor.

2. Invest in a Good Chair

Image: Ergomonic Rescue

If there’s one thing guaranteed to help boost your business, it’s a good comfortable work chair. Dodgy chairs often lead to dodgy backs, making working effectively almost impossible. It doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune, it just means putting a bit of thought into it. Hard wooden dining table chairs, or flimsy fold-down chairs are rarely nice to sit on for a dinner party, never mind a whole day. Make sure you get one that’s adjustable, with lumbar support. And remember, what’s right for one person may not be right for another, so test a few out before you buy. Check out how your seat should be positioned too, good desk ergonomics are equally as important, to prevent stresses and strains on the body.

3. Make the Most of Your Workstation

Having your desk, chair and computer equipment at the correct height and layout for your body means you can prevent future posture problems, and improve your overall well-being, which will increase current and future work production. If you’re on the phone a lot, invest in a headset to avoid straining your neck; it will also free up your hands so you can do other things.

Cluttered Desk: Not Good

Image via: Dotloose

A cluttered desk or workstation makes it harder to find things and stay organized. Ensure all paperwork is filed within a reasonable time frame, i.e., weekly, but is still accessible, leaving you space to work.

Tidy Desk: Good

Image: midnightglory

4. Get in the Right Mindset

If you’re working from home, always have a shower first thing in the morning and have a set time to be at your desk. Try to steer clear of old track suit bottoms and holey T-shirts while you’re working. The comfort factor is tempting but dressing like you’re set for a day on the sofa instead of in the office will surely affect how you work.

One of the hardest parts of working at home is being surrounded by all of your home comforts. Try to walk into your office and metaphorically close the door to your home life.
Once you enter your office space, you should be in work-mode. Don’t worry about the breakfast dishes, the shopping or the washing. You wouldn’t be doing it if you worked in an office so why do it at home?

5. Put on Your Business Hat

Focus on your business acumen when at your workstation. Treat every email, phone call and chance client encounter/handshake with the same attention. They may be the building blocks of important future work connections.

6. Structure Your Day

Having a start, middle and finish to your day helps you focus for longer. It’s important to plan the day, too, for example, going through emails first thing in the morning, or working out the best time of day to do cold calls etc. But don’t spend too long on emails. Set yourself a time limit in the morning and then check them just once again in the afternoon. Too many people get waylaid by answering time-consuming emails that aren’t important. And, make a pact with yourself to never check time-draining social sites like Facebook during work hours. Yes, you.

7. Make a List

Image: Jayel Aheram

Have a to-do list, so you can check off each thing you need to do. This can be done as often (daily/weekly) as necessary; whatever works for you. Write the list in a diary and tick them off as you go or enter it into a project management database. Seeing them ticked off at the end of the day gives a sense of achievement, which in turn keeps you motivated.

8. Set Goals and Have Rewards

Having short- and long-term goals promotes accomplishment and helps you work towards achieving your aims, no matter how small or complex. What do you want to achieve? Sit down and create a list of what you want from your business, and where you want to be in X amount of weeks/months/years. You need to have something to look forward to once you have reached these milestones. Give yourself a pat on the back. Go out for a meal, theatre, drink etc. Do something that you enjoy.

9. Stand Out From the Crowd

Investigate how others in your profession are doing what you do. Know your competition! With that knowledge, develop an edge that makes you different from others, and more marketable. What are your best points? Promote these when selling yourself to potential clients. Use past experience for examples. If you’re starting afresh, tailor past experiences that may not necessarily be in your current line of work to suit the kind of work you are now promoting.

10. Maximize Your Image

Image: Ian Britton
It can be harder to make your business look professional when you’re starting out or working from home. To counteract this, meet clients in cafes, restaurants or at their place of work. Dress to impress. You don’t need to break the bank to do this, but try and wear attire that you think suits the people you are meeting with.

11. Utilize Your Software

There are so many tools within the standard computer programs that can help you save time but maximise productivity. For example, use the calendar function within your email and you‚Äôll get automatic email reminders of recorded events or meetings. It’s also a good idea to set up templates for emails you send regularly, or set up rules to filter certain mails into set folders. If you don’t already use them, set up macros (a set of actions you can use to automate tasks ‚ in certain programs you use frequently). They can be huge timesavers; even the simplest macros can benefit you immensely. Ask your friends or family for assistance, or take a course to help you improve.

12. Log Your Hours

If you’re a freelancer and are working for a few different companies it’s important to keep track of the hours you’re working for each one, and log the time. Not only do you have all your working hours documented so you can see how you’re spending your time, it gives your employer a bit of reassurance that even though you’re working from home, you’re still organized and reliable.

13. Stretch, Drink Lots of Fluids and Take Regular Breaks

Image: Lex in the City
This may seem obvious, but a lot of people don’t realise how important it is to follow these simple work rules. Stretching relaxes your muscles and boosts your energy. Drinking fluids, especially water, increases your brain activity. And taking a short break, even for a few seconds, rests your body from the rigidity of sitting in front of the computer screen. It’s especially important to look away, even for a few seconds, to rest your eyes. Take productive breaks that refresh you enough to stay focused on your work. And, always take a lunch break away from the desk. This should apply whether you’re working from home or in an office. On the whole, people are much more productive after a break away from their work space. Use the time to fit in some of your exercises, which will help to invigorate you for the afternoon ahead. And try to lay off the lunchtime booze, too.

14. Combat Loneliness

If you ask most home workers what they miss the most about working in an office, their answer will more than likely be, the people. We humans are a funny bunch, when we’re around people we want to be in our own space, when we have it, we crave human interaction. To avoid feeling isolated, make sure you meet up with people for lunch or an after work drink a couple of times a week, or use your lunch hour to make social calls.

15. Ignore the Weather

Image: sameold2008

It’s always incredibly tempting to take some sneaky time off when it’s hot and sunny outside. Well, who would know? The answer: you the next day when you find you’re way behind in your work and are having a mild panic attack because you know it will never be done in time. This means you stay up late to finish what you need to, your wonderfully-thought out timetable has gone out the window, and you end up cranky for the rest of the week because you still haven’t caught up on the sleep you missed. Don’t do it, it’s not worth it.

Sources: 1, 2, 3

About The Author

Fran is a banker and a freelance writer, currently living in London and freelance writing for an Australian price comparison site where you can easily compare credit cards online. She grew up in New Zealand; the Land of the Long White Cloud and many, many sheep. Ten years ago she left farm life to build a career in investment banking, in the financial capital of the world. She has worked for numerous big name banks, and is currently with JP Morgan. She loves writing and finance, so combining the two is a dream come true.

• Find Your Comfort Zone & Get Your Message Out!
• Build Visibility for your Start-up through Word of Mouth Marketing
• Books all Small Business Owners Should be Reading
• Successful Networking Tips
• Who Do You Know?

Always, always, always have a slush fund—a portion of your budget unallocated to deal with major problems or expenses as they come up. No matter how well-planned the budget, if John from accounts somehow loses $50,000, or Mary the receptionist gets pregnant and requires maternity cover, or a virus crashes and wipes your server and causes all your computers to start displaying the lyrics to REM’s Bad Day, you’re going to be very, very thankful for every cent not allocated. Always plan for the worst, and if nothing goes catastrophically wrong then anything not spent from the slush fund can either go towards next year’s budget or a damn good Christmas party.

Learn to trim expenses wherever possible. Keep a weather eye on stock levels, employee overtime, charged expenses and company credit cards. Try and negotiate deals on rent every time the contract is up for renewal. Remember that if you can lower the expenses on the budget, you’ll have much more of a safety net inside your slush fund for that inevitable server meltdown.

Keep a close eye on the inflow of income, as this can also affect the slush fund and expenses. If you start to make more than you budgeted for, don’t clap your hands with glee and laugh all the way to the bank—put some of it into the slush fund or any other strained area of the budget.

Similarly, never let a month go by where you do not keep an eye on your budget, comparing it to monthly income and expenditures. Make it the same date every month, preferably some time around the 25th to give yourself enough time to start making changes before the next calendar month comes in. Check your cash flow, costs and potential liabilities with a fine-tooth comb, and when you’re done get somebody else to look at it for you. If you can snag an accountant to help out, even better.

Lastly, do not get downhearted if, at some point in the year, you realize your budget is completely messed up and you’re going to overspend this month. You need to remember that budget projections are a best guess only and nothing more—overspend is practically unavoidable in today’s uncertain economic climate. Face one simple truth—chances are that you will miss your estimates. Of course you try to avoid it, but if (when) it doesn’t make you the worst businessman ever or a dunce with no financial acumen. Just pick yourself up, dust yourself down, and look for ways that you can get the budget back on track next month—firing John from accounts for losing that $50,000 may be a good place to start.

Other Articles that will be of interest:

Better your business with customer feedback

Well I would think so

Why Should I Buy

• 5 Stellar Sales Tips To Push You To the Top of Your Field
• Building on strengths or fixing weaknesses?
• Books all Small Business Owners Should be Reading
• It’s Time to Reconnect
• Investing in Yourself Is not Selfish

Guerrilla Teeth

What a great idea this one is, it really hits the message home in my opinion. After being a bit disgusted you can’t help but smile at this one. I am going to look to see if I can find some statistics on how the response was for the company.

Playful Playboy

This one feeds most boy’s imagination, some girl’s ego and for the rest it will generate conversation. This is a guerrilla campaign that could be used for both traditional and viral marketing for many years to come. You can get a lot of traction out of this one.

Virgin Virgin Virgin

I have had a lifelong fascination with everything Virgin. Richard Branson’s marketing and PR stunts are the best in the world. I bow down to “The Master of Branding”.

This one gave me a bit of trouble when I first saw it. I see it for it’s brilliance but have a problem with using historical monuments for commercial advertisements. I would like to hear your thoughts on this?

Maybe I am just being sensitive with this one!

Pothole Application. Does it cross the line.

As you all know I am big fan of pushing the limits of creativity and how to get your message out to the masses but when we get to a point when we endanger public safety that is where the line has to be drawn. With the adhesives and quality of the graphics we can create now something like this could cause accidents, injury and possibly death. I am pretty sure that is not the legacy that the company wants for there marketing.

That is it for this time, if you have any campaigns that you would like to see me feature in this series of posts,  let me know.

• Happy Bonza Bottler Day, oh and Happy New Year.
• Marketing Campaigns for Under $100
• Guerrilla Marketing Fun for a Friday
• More Kick A$$ Guerrilla Marketing Promotions Part 2
• Guerrilla Bah-Bah LED Sheep

When you make an advertising claim, don’t think about it in terms of coming out of your mouth; instead, think of it in terms of it entering your prospect’s ears.

When you do this, you will realize how ridiculous, non-compelling, boring and flat-out stupid much of the advertising you see and hear sounds.

What we’re trying to accomplish here is simple; we are going to discuss a common sense evaluation you can use to judge whether or not your ads, ads you’re spending GOOD money on, are any good.

Wouldn’t you like to know if what you’re writing and spending your advertising budget on is any good–before you actually spend the money?

The first evaluation you need to use is pretty simple.  It is also, however, the one most likely to be failed.  It is called, simply…

Well, I Would Hope So!

Whenever you say anything in your advertising or marketing, ask yourself if the prospect will immediately respond to what you’ve said with: “Well, I would hope so!”

To illustrate this; write on a piece of paper why a prospect would favor your business over the competition.

Then use the “Well I Would Hope So” evaluation and see if the answers hold weight.

Let me give you an idea by giving you some of the answers from other industries. A huge printing company gave as their number one reason to choose them over the other sixteen zillion other printers: “We help the non-professional print buyer understand the various options available.” Here’s what you should say to that kind of claim: Well I would hope so! You’re a printer! Isn’t that what you do? See how ridiculous that answer sounds?

An insurance agency claims in their advertising that “they’ll be there for you when you have a claim.” Well, I would hope so! What else would they say?

See how this works? Just read any headline or any claim out of one of your advertisements and then see if it spawns this response: Well, I would hope so!

These usual, lazy communicator claims,  are like your barber telling you that your hair will be shorter after it’s cut, or the gas station telling you you’ll have more gas after you fill the tank.

Always, always, always use this important evaluation question whenever you make any claim.

Go ahead and take this test right now.

Answer the question: “why would anyone choose you over your competitors?”

Then honestly evaluate your answer against the “Well, I would hope so!” evaluation.

If you can’t come up with the answer instantly and articulate it well, you can bet that your customers don’t know why either.

• How to Write a Business Proposal
• Why Should I Buy?
• Site Flipping: New business avenue or fly by night profession?
• Find Your Comfort Zone & Get Your Message Out!
• 5 Stellar Sales Tips To Push You To the Top of Your Field

In essence, bootstrapping is building your business with little to no start up funds. I’m sure we’ve all been there or are currently in a place to want to grow your freelance business but do not have the funds to flourish like you would want. Below I will outline ten steps to bootstrapping your freelance career that will definitely get you going on the right path.

1. Study Your Market – This might seem like a no-brainer but most people skip this entirely and find out weeks or months down the road that they’ve missed out on a chance to learn ahead of time if their market is going to work or not. Why spend your time and money building a product or service in a market where it’s not needed or wanted? You also need to study the habits of your potential clients/customers. What are they into right now? Where do you normally see them or is there a place you know you can find them? These are key elements in your market studies. Don’t be lazy; take your time and make sure you’ve got a solid outline here.
2. Study Your Competition – This is one thing I made sure of when I started my blog design business. Looking at what your potential competition is doing right can let you know what you should be doing. Alternately, finding cracks in their marketing or their business in general can really give you a heads up on how to make your business stand out. Use key points from your competition and build on it to be one step ahead of your competition.
3. Outline Your Plans – This is by no means supposed to be a business plan in the sense of sitting down and writing 200 pages on what you’re going to do, how much money you’ll be making 10 years from now and so on. This should be a simple paragraph or two at most that outlines the following: the purpose of your marketing, how you’ll achieve this purpose, your target market, the marketing weapons you’ll use, your niche and your position and what you stand for, the identity of your business and your budget which should be displayed as a percentage of your projected gross revenues.
4. Get A Website – If you’re an on-line business or a business that functions solely off-line, it doesn’t matter. You need a website. In my Small Business Blogging article, I mentioned how on Duct Tape Marketing they discussed and posted an audio tape of an interview they did with a company selling Fishing Lures who used the power of the web to jump leaps and bounds ahead of their competition. The owner credits the website to changing the way people find out about his business. It’s such a powerful statement, I had to mention it again here.
5. Get Promotional Materials – You’ve got your marketing plan together right? I mean, it was step #3 so I hope you do! Now you’ve got to gather the promotional materials it calls for. Anything from business cards to flyer’s, t-shirts and web banners. These are your weapons and without them you will never win the fight.
6. Call Call Call – If you’re selling a product, calling potential customers is the perfect way to find out if they’re interested. You don’t need to sell anything on the first call (or maybe you will) but getting your voice out there and making yourself accessible to the potential customers is desperately needed. Estimate around 100 calls per day because out of those 100, a seasoned bootstrapper who knows how to sell should make 10 sales.
7. Email Email Email – So you’ve got a business that functions on-line? Well, make sure you email around 100 people per day. It is not that hard. If you’re targeting a specific service, (for this example we’ll use my blog design company) you can go to Google and type in “Fishing Blogs”. Replace the word fishing with any other word and you’ve got an infinite list of blog owners you can email about designs or redesigns. It’s that simple.
8. Delegate – So you’ve got the point now that you’re a selling machine but you can’t find the time needed to create your products or deliver your services properly? Pass the selling aspects of your business along to someone else. DO NOT do this until you’ve become a selling machine yourself because if you can’t sell your product, how can someone else?
9. Expand – Anything from office space to employees. This goes hand in hand with Delegate at #8 but is a vital aspect of bootstrapping your business. You’ve got to know when it’s time to expand. You can’t be a one man/woman show forever. You can’t work out of a 6×6 space in a spare bedroom forever. Give yourself room to breathe and your business will flourish.
10. Reward Yourself – So you’ve been working your fingers to the bone for almost a year now? Give yourself time to relax, spend a little bit on “you” and not your business. Go ahead, you deserve it!

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