One Coach

When you hear the term “clutter,” you probably think of your overflowing kitchen cabinets or all the junk sitting around in your garage. Clutter in any area of your life is certainly draining and overwhelming – both mentally and physically.

What about the clutter in your business? Is it negatively affecting your productivity and growth? Multiple studies have confirmed that having physical clutter leads to mental restlessness and roadblocks, anxiety, and a lack of focus on personal and professional priorities. This year when you start your spring cleaning, don’t just clean around the clutter in your life – clear it out!

These tips will help you get started clearing out the clutter in your business, your home, and anywhere else that you may have accumulated it.

1. Schedule time to focus on clearing clutter, and establish time goals, not just task goals. For example, if you decide to clean out your file cabinets on Tuesday morning but it’s really an all-day job, you’re only setting yourself up for failure. Instead, set a goal to work on the file cabinets from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and get as much as possible done in that time. That way, once the time is up, you’ll have met your goal even if the task itself is not entirely completed. If you finish that project before your time goal is up, you can start another! If you set time aside each day to work on your projects, you’ll have everything cleared out before you know it!
2. Make a decision. Pick up each item and decide if it is something you need to keep. If the answer is “yes,” put it immediately in its permanent place. You may also find that you need a pile for items you plan to keep but you don’t currently have a “home” for. You can find a place for these items once you’ve cleared out some space.
3. Divide and conquer. If you decide it isn’t something you need to keep, place it into one of four discard piles.
   Trash – Hopefully this will become the largest pile!
   Donations – If an item is still usable, you may want to consider donating it to charity. An added perk of clearing out your clutter is that the donations you make are tax deductible. Plus, you’re helping others that are less fortunate, and you’re “going green” by recycling your unwanted items.
   For sale – Anything you might want to sell at consignment – or even in an online auction like Ebay or Craigslist.
   Decide later – Things you cannot decide whether to toss or keep – this pile should be small, as you don’t want to simply move your clutter around!
4. Time to get rid of the discard piles.
   Trash – Immediately take these items out to the garbage.
   Donations – Call your favorite charity and make an appointment for a pickup, or set aside a time to deliver the items You may want to make this trip once you’ve finished cleaning out several areas.
   For sale – As soon as you are able, list your stuff on the online auction site, place an ad in the local newspaper, or take your stuff to a consignment shop.
   Decide later – Look back through this pile and try to divide as much of it as possible. If you still can’t decide on any items, place them in a box somewhere out of the way. One month later, if you haven’t needed any of the items in this box, you probably don’t need it!
5. Once you’ve gotten rid of all the excess items, it’s time to think about organization and storage. It doesn’t make any sense to go out and buy more storage containers before you’ve de-cluttered. Once all the clutter has been removed, you’ll have a much better idea of what storage and organization items you need – so now it’s time to go get them!
6. It’ll get worse before it gets better. When you start to clean out a drawer or a pile of papers and you begin to divide the items, things will become more spread out and appear to be worse than when you started. Don’t mistake this temporary mess for a lack of progress… just keep going until you’ve gone through it all and made decisions about what to keep and where to keep it. It will be much better once you’re done!
7. If you’re having a hard time getting motivated, reward yourself for your accomplishments. Once you’ve cleaned out every drawer in your desk, go get that massage you’ve been putting off. Plan in advance the treats you will earn as you reach your clutter-clearing milestones. This will help you stay motivated to stick with the process until it is done. Just remember – don’t add to the original problem by choosing rewards that create more clutter!

Complete clutter clearing is not usually an overnight process – it takes time and focus, but it is well worth it! Once you’ve cleared the physical clutter in your life, you’ll release a great deal of mental clutter along with it.

Have electronic clutter to deal with, as well? We’ll be sharing some tips on clearing that out very soon!

Do you have some great clutter clearing tips of your own? We want to hear them! Also, once you start this process, let us know how it’s going! Leave your comments below!

When establishing your fees, you have to consider two things:

1. What you need to charge for your products or services, and
2. What customers are willing to pay for them.

You, as a small-business owner, try to keep your fees as steady as possible, however, if gas, shipping, health care, food and many other costs go up, you most definitely also need to raise your fees if you want to stay in the market.

It is understandable that you raise your fees, everyone does; you just have to ensure you communicate it appropriately so that your customers accept it without any complaints.

Here are 9 secrets to do just that:

1. Don’t maintain lower fees because of fear
   Try to identify if you are making excuses based on fear or limiting beliefs for not raising your fees.  For example: “If I raise my fees, customers will find a cheaper provider” or “My services are not worth so much.”
2. Have clarity about where your minimum profit point is
   You should never lose with a sale.  In fact, instead of thinking in terms of what you need to earn, think in terms of what you wish and deserve to earn.
3. Center your fees on the worth of the benefits and results that your products or services offer your customers
   If you are good at solving someone’s problem, and if that problem is worth solving, he or she will be very pleased to pay the right price for your help.  A business coach, for example, helps small business owners make more profit with their businesses, and this is very valuable to them, thus, the coach’s fees are based on this value.
4. Establish your fees in accordance with your level of expertise
   The more experience you have, the higher the fees you can charge.
5. Research the competition
   How much are others charging?  Do they offer the same as you?  Do they have the same level of experience?
6. Identify if your products or services are commodities
   This is, if these are equal to what others are selling.  For example, if you sell a 32-inch Sony TV, it is the same TV your competition is selling, thus, it is difficult to differentiate if not by price.  But if what you offer is unique, and you possess a special set of skills and experience, you will be able to charge more.  In fact, in these cases, if you charge too little, you can scare the good customers away.
7. Decide if you will raise your fees for everyone or just new customers
   You can start by raising your fees for new customers; however, at some point, the fees you charge your current customers will have to go up too.
8. Go for the 80/20 equation
   Identify the 20% of your customers who give you the lowest profit and raise the fees they pay you.  Remember you are in business to make a profit, and unprofitable customers are not an advantage.
9. Call or write to announce your new fees to your current customers
   It is important to let your customers know in advance that you will be raising your fees, so write them a caring letter or call them personally to announce the fact.

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don’t forget to mention www.onecoach.com as the original source).

Often when businesses face a change in direction, they look to a business consulting company for help. Finding a consultant who can honestly deliver that help with knowledge, efficiency and integrity can be a challenge. If you think your business could benefit from the help of a consultant, here are some things to consider when interviewing potential candidates.

First and foremost, a consultant must be able to listen. If a person can’t take the time to listen to what you have to say, it is highly unlikely they will ever understand your needs and objectives well enough to help you. Unfortunately, there are consultants out there who talk the talk but fail to hear what others have to say.

A management consultant should offer you a service, not a product. You are searching for help with problems within your business and you need someone who will work to solve those problems, meet the needs of the assignment, foster morale, or help plan new agendas. Be wary of someone who wants only to sell you this program, or that book, or this software. While all of these are great resources to have, a consultant must also provide guidance and teaching first.

Be wary of a consultant who boasts that “I can turn your company around” or some such exclamation. A consultant’s job is to empower your management and employees to implement change, make wise choices and design a plan to reach goals in the future. A wise consultant will help you to recognize how the company got to where it is and demonstrate how to make the right choices to accelerate improvement.

Obviously you will want to work with a consultant who has had plenty of diversified experience. A big caveat here is to avoid the temptation to search out a consultant with experience only in your industry.  In order to be truly effective a consultant must be able to offer a wide range of approaches to problem solving that can only come from having worked in many different situations.

When your business is failing, the last thing you or your employees need is someone telling you what a mess you’ve made of things or point out all the wrong choices you’ve made.  If a consultant starts out telling you things like, “boy, have you been doing things the wrong way” or is very patronizing, saying things like, “let me tell you how it should have been done,” you should definitely end the interview then and there.

Last but not least, a potential consultant will come to you with an open mind, waiting until all of your concerns and issues have been presented before offering any advice at all.  If a consultant appears to arrive at your door with a readymade, cookie cutter, one size fits all attitude to improvement, that is not the consultant you want!

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don’t forget to mention www.OneCoach.com as the original source).

This is the fourth and final part in a series of posts excerpted from a conference call between OneCoach CEO John Assaraf and Jill Lublin, CEO of Promising Promotion and author of  “Guerrilla Publicity” and “Networking Magic.” See the first post in this series here.

Networking is a great way to generate publicity and build a business. Yet, many business owners are reluctant to even attempt it.

They don’t know how to do it. They don’t know where to do it. They don’t know what to say, or they’re just plain shy.

You may not have much experience “working a room” at networking events. But the reality is, if you have a great message and can clearly state who you are and how you support people, you can network effectively.

To boost your networking results, try the following:

• Develop a compelling sound bite. Your sound bite is what you use to introduce yourself to people. The secret is to focus on the other person rather than you. Specifically, your sound bite should focus on the other person’s problem and your solution for them. Use your sound bite with everyone you meet.

• Establish a networking goal. Most people go into networking events without a clear idea of what they want to accomplish. (Hint: it’s not to eat the free buffet or make new friends.) Set a goal for what you want to accomplish that will benefit your business and/or your publicity efforts, and stay focused on that goal throughout the event.

• Have a specific request. When you meet people, make a request of them. Your request should consist of an introduction, a contact or some action that, if accomplished, will move you up to the next rung on the ladder of success. For example, suppose you want to meet a certain TV producer. Your request might be, “Who do you know that could put me in touch with this producer?” Limit your request to something that you need within the next 30 days. This gives people a sense of urgency and focuses their thinking on how they can help you.

• Ask how you can help. Before making your request, ask people you meet what they need in the next 30 days. Then ask, “How can I help you?” People will be amazed when you ask, because most networkers are only looking out for themselves. When people see you are sincere in your desire to help, they will fall over themselves trying to help you.

• Keep your contacts handy. You’d look silly carrying around a circular Rolodex. But with Blackberries, PDAs, Treos and the like, it’s easy to keep your important contacts close at hand. When somebody needs a hair stylist or small business banker, share your contacts willingly.

To get the best results from a networking event, shift your mindset from “What can I get out of this?” to “What can I give to whoever I meet?” Put your focus on serving others rather than on seeing what you can get.

The best networkers love to give. Go into the event with the mindset of “How can I help?” and “Who can I help?” When you’re clear about your support for others, it will come back to you many times over.

Members of the OneCoach Business Coaching program have unlimited access to hundreds of interviews like this one — see OneCoach.com to learn more about building your business fast.

These days anyone can have a blog, from high-school students to grandmothers who gush about their grandchildren. But if you’re using your blog to connect to others in your field, to contribute useful knowledge, share your expertise, and ultimately promote your business and services, you have to do things that high-school students and grandmothers don’t take the time to do. These things could boost your blog’s traffic and give your business more exposure than you ever thought possible.

1. Get a Personal Domain Name
Your business will definitely seem more professional and serious if your blog’s URL doesn’t end with blogspot.com or wordpress.com. It is extremely affordable (only $8 a year!) to get your own domain name. It makes even more sense for a business if you compare this expense to traditional marketing costs.

2. Always Include Related Posts
Consider that with one visit, someone may actually end up seeing 2, 3, or 4 more articles. And might even end up finding an article they enjoyed more than the one that brought them to the blog in the first place. You can show related posts in two ways: a) reference previous articles with links included directly within the body of the text, or b) use a plugin to automatically generate them.

3. Hint at Upcoming Content
Post great, valuable contributions, then promise Part 2. Develop a series of in-depth related articles for one really great topic. Or simply give them a taste, a teaser of which fascinating aspect of the industry you’ll cover next. Make the reader feel that if they don’t subscribe, they’ll be missing out on something.

4. Exchange Guest Posts
Contact a blogger from within your industry and offer to contribute valuable insights, with of course, the offer to reciprocate. Think about it. You can have a guest blogger (a writer/author/specialist with a serious, professional rep is always the best, or at least someone with some experience in the industry) and make an appearance in another’s blog to not only share your interesting contributions, but also direct readers back to your own blog.

5. Interact with Your Readers
Read and reply to comments. Try to get to know your audience. After a while you may see the same names keep popping up, so acknowledge them, thank them for their remarks, and tell them you appreciate them. More importantly, answer their questions. You may even dedicate a few posts to frequently asked questions/doubts. Soon you’ll develop a loyal following.

6. Comment on Your Readers’ Blogs
This will give your blog more credit and a more serious standing in the community, as people get the idea that you’re not the superstar of the blogging universe, and you take the time to read and find out what others are saying about the topics you cover.

7. Start a Web 2.0 Marketing Campaign for Your Blog
The main goal of any marketing campaign is to spread the word, create a buzz and get people talking about your blog. There are social networking sites where you can promote your blog. Among the most popular today are Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, just to name a few.

8. Offer a Print Version of Your Posts
Although most people read content directly from their computer screen, it’s always a great idea to give users the option to print your articles. Those that appreciate this will surely keep returning to your blog.

9. Encourage Readers to Subscribe Via E-mail
Naturally, you can have people subscribe to your RSS Feed, but e-mail subscriptions are all the more effective. Your loyal readers will be able to receive word about your latest post, the moment it’s posted, directly sent to their inbox. It’s a great way to remind them about your blog and keep them coming back for more.

10. Do not Restrict Access
Do not, in any way, shape, or form, set obstacles for your readers, like requiring them to log on before leaving comments. This will only discourage them, and they´ll never come back to your blog.

The importance of having a loyal following cannot be overstated. Loyal readers will not only come back for more of what they like, but will also spread the word about what you’re doing and what valuable contributions, guidance, insights, you offer to the community. Can you think of a better way to promote your services?

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This week’s feature article is based on a portion of the OneCoach Expert Interview with Laura Stack, author of “Leave the Office Earlier.”

How many items are on your to-do list? And how many of those will you actually cross off today?

Time management and planning are foundational to personal productivity, yet many people don’t approach each day with a plan, and as a result end up wasting valuable time in a reactive mode. Others at least have a to-do list, but typically attack the easy items first, which means the important items don’t get done very fast!

Of course, one of the big enemies of personal productivity today is e-mail. The constant flow of e-mail alerts during the day can destroy your concentration and cause you to flit from one project or crisis to the next. But you do not have to work in this state of e-mail-induced ADD.

Let’s face it, most e-mails are not that important. And almost none require you to drop everything. Set the expectation that you will respond within 24 hours, then live up to that standard. You can do this by setting a time to look at your e-mail twice a day, say every four hours. But first you have to break the e-mail addiction, and the key to that is to turn off all the alerts.

If you’re using Outlook, go into your Tools, go to Options, E-mail Options and then Advanced E-mail Options. Where it says “When new items arrive in my Inbox” you’ll find four boxes that are checked. This is the default that Microsoft sets, but do you really need all those bells and whistles every time an e-mail arrives? Be fearless and uncheck all four. Your e-mail will still flow in as always, but it won’t be demanding your instant attention.

The next step is to be disciplined about looking at your e-mail for a half hour or so twice a day, and ruthlessly applying the six Ds of e-mail management:

Discard it. This one’s easy. Make a snap decision and hit the delete key.

Delegate it. Can someone else handle it? Does it belong to another department? Forward it with a quick note, and then move it to a personal folder (see below for more on personal folders).

Do it. If you can handle it in three minutes, do it and be done with it. You won’t have to come back and mentally process it again, which is a victory.

Date it. This is for e-mails that you need to reply to, but can’t right now. Many people get stuck here, but there’s a simple remedy if you know your software. In Outlook, for instance, you can automatically convert an e-mail to a to-do item. There’s a “Move to Folder” button. It sits up by the printer key and the X key and it looks like a piece of paper going into a folder. So you click “Move to Folder,” then “Task,” you put in a start date, save and close. It takes it right out of your inbox, and puts it into your tasks, and it appears on your calendar on the day you want to handle that. So your task pad becomes a mini to-do list.

Drawer. For personal e-mails or things that don’t require any action but you don’t want to delete, use the same “Move to Folder” technique and simply move the message out of your in-box and over to another folder.

Deter. This is for the stuff that makes you ask “Why am I getting this?” So take the step of adding the sender to your blocked senders list, or unsubscribe, or set up a rule that says anytime something comes from this address, it’s going into the trash or some specific folder.

There you have it – a simple system for defeating the tyranny of e-mail and taking back your personal productivity. Try it, you’ll be surprised at how much more focused you will be, and how much more you’ll get done.

This is the third in a series of posts excerpted from a conference call between OneCoach CEO John Assaraf and Jill Lublin, CEO of Promising Promotion and author of “Guerrilla Publicity” and “Networking Magic.” See the first post in this series here.

What exactly is guerrilla publicity?

According to Lublin, who wrote the book on it, guerrilla publicity is a collection of simple, easy-to-follow techniques that help you create the credibility and visibility your business needs. Most cost next to nothing, and don’t require an advanced degree in marketing or PR to implement.

To practice guerrilla publicity, start with the basics.

First, understand that you don’t do publicity for sales. You do publicity for the ongoing visibility and credibility, and those are the only two reasons you do it.

Next, have a good story to tell. You don’t need big name recognition in order to create publicity, but you do need a message that resonates with people. Once you have the message, then you can create a strategy around getting and keeping it in the public eye.

To get started:

• Start local. Become a star in your own backyard first. Then leverage your publicity efforts on a nationwide, basis. Even if you start with the smallest local newspaper, it’s still publicity. Start where you can and go from there.

• Be bold. A friend of Lublin’s had written a book, but despite her best efforts could not land a publisher. The friend staked out a busy street corner and stood there with a big sign that said, “Author seeks publisher.” This bold move landed her a full-time editing position at a major national magazine. Eighteen months later her book was published.

• Experiment. Publicity is a little bit like throwing spaghetti at the wall — you have to throw it and see what sticks. Try different techniques and see what sticks for you.

• Share your secrets.  Don’t be afraid to tell your secrets to the media. When you give away juicy tidbits — the things people want to know but nobody talks about because they’re a secret — people will call you. They’ll have no clue how to do what you do, and they will call you.

• Identify your gift. Identify a problem, or problems, in the world that you have the talent, ability and skills to help people solve. Then focus on doing what you do best and taking that message to the public.

• Use everything you’ve got. Don’t be afraid to use gender, religion, nationality, ethnicity, background or other affiliations to get publicity. Whatever you have, there’s a media source for it.

Crafting a compelling message is as simple as 1-2-3: “Here’s the problem, here’s our expertise, here are some things you can do to resolve the problem.” Put your message out there and keep putting it out, and good things will happen.

Guerrilla publicity is like farming. You have to plant some seeds, take care of the soil and then watch it grow. However, don’t expect huge results immediately. Consistency and persistency are the keys to success.

Next up in this series: Networking for publicity.

Members of the OneCoach Business Coaching program have unlimited access to hundreds of interviews like this one — see OneCoach.com to learn more about building your business fast.

Are you looking ahead and setting goals for 2010? Here are a few quick tips that your business can use to flourish in the New Year:

1. Find out who your ideal client is and make sure you’re marketing to them.

For any business to succeed, knowing your ideal target market is an absolute must have. Who are the ideal people to purchase your products and services? Why do they want to come to you instead of your competition? Which group of people would you love to work with? Take some time to interview some of your top clients to create an “ideal client profile” and adjust your marketing so that it will speak to them and their wants and needs.

2. Find the time to work on your business, not in it.

When was the last time you evaluated your business operations? Are you too busy dealing with customers, answering phones, creating invoices and running your company? Acquire the necessary infrastructure so that you won’t have to rely on yourself to do everything. Get help in the areas where you don’t excel so that you can spend more time on the things you’re good at. The goal is to have your business perform well without you so that you can spend time on the things that will make your business move forward and grow. Create a model that will ensure things get done right from top to bottom.

3. Create a long-term plan.

What is it that you want from your business? Where do you want your business to be next month? In a year? In five years? Set step by step goals that are achievable. For example, figure out how many sales you must have in order to meet your revenue goals. That way you know what to aim for. Find out what is working and what isn’t and make sure you’re spending time daily to reach toward your goals. Find the right people to help you get the proper strategies in place and keep you accountable. This will help you avoid mistakes and prevent having to rebound from any major setbacks later.

4. Build strong social media channels.

Every business should have a strong presence in social media. It’s not going away. For example, a few months ago Facebook was close to 300,000,000 users. It’s now accounting for more than 70% of the entire Internet population. What’s more is that social media will significantly increase in 2010. Your clients are out there. Whether you’re a dog trainer or a business consulting, it’s very important to start engaging with your target market online.

5. Seek help.

We know that running your business can be difficult and growing your business is even harder. You’ve put all your time and energy into your business and you’ve sacrificed time for yourself and with your family. That’s why at OneCoach, we help our clients take the right steps, in the right order to grow their businesses. We’re committed to helping you achieve your business goals and to live the life you’ve always wanted. If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, we’re here to help. Click here to learn more about our Business Coaching programs that are specifically designed to help your unique business succeed.

Is this the year that you and your business will grow to extraordinary levels? That’s up to you.

After redesigning over 100 websites I now have a pretty good idea about the most common web design mistakes.

If your site is making some of these mistakes, fix them now! Otherwise, you are leaving money on the table every single day.

1. Bad Layout
Your navigation and layout have to be simple, obvious, and intuitive. If you expect your visitors to figure out how to get to where they want to go, prepare for them to leave. Don’t make them think, make it obvious for them. Forget about “cool” navigation. Make it simple and elegant.

2. Slow Websites
Keep your website light so it loads fast. There is nothing more annoying than those “Loading… 1%” messages. People don’t want to wait. Studies show that if a website takes more than 8 seconds to load, 21% of your visitors will leave and if it takes more than 20 seconds to load, 43% of your visitors will be gone! This is a tragedy. There are ways to achieve excellent designs that are also very light.

3. Bad Colors Choice
Most web designers are not professional graphic designers. They never learned what colors work well together and most importantly, what different colors mean. Make sure your website uses the right colors for your market and it is not hard on your visitors’ eyes.

4. Bad Music Selection
In most cases I am against music at all. I am talking about music that auto-plays (background music). A lot of people will visit your website from work and they don’t want annoying music popping up. Music also makes websites slow to load. If you decide that you want to have music on your website, choose the right one for your audience.

5. Under Construction Pages
What is the purpose of “Coming Soon” pages? This looks really unprofessional. Just don’t have them at all! Who wants to read an “Under Construction” message? If you want to generate curiosity about a section that you will be adding soon, have some teaser copy and possibly a list-building box: “Sign Up to Be Notified When We Release this Feature”.

6. Information is Hard to Find
This happens very often with your phone number and email address. Let’s say you own a restaurant. Most people visit your website to get your phone number and make a reservation. Put your number at the very top and make it huge!

7. Ads on Commercial Websites
If your website is supported by advertising, displaying ads is your business. But if your main stream of income is not advertising, get rid of ads. They look really unprofessional and they make you look needy.

8. Low-Resolution Images
There is nothing that makes me angrier than web designers who use low-resolution images. They look terrible! There are ways to optimize images so they are both light and visually appealing.

9. Splash Screens
Don’t waste your visitors’ time. They are on your website to learn about your company and services, not to see how talented your graphic designer is and the cool animations he can do for you. Don’t force them to take an extra step. They want information. Give it to them.

10. Passive Marketing
Your website is an excellent opportunity to tell prospects why your company is better than the competition, why they should buy from you, and ask them to take action. Be proactive.

Always make sure that your website is properly serving your potential and existing clients!

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