People seem to have a love-hate relationship with Facebook. They love the contact and community and hate the time it takes. They love meeting new people but hate the sudden technical changes.

This morning when Facebook rolled out it’s newest change to the friend’s page wall, there were a mix of comments.

Some people threatened to leave, others complained about the sidebar ticker. People don’t like change, even if it might be good. Most of us are not technically minded and we want it to be easy. Every time it changes it means we have to learn something new.

Attitude is the very most important quality in running a business. Everyday I have to deal with challenging situations and the attitude I have greatly influences the outcome and my own process.

Your attitude is the one thing you have total control over. No one can take that away from you.

Question. Do you use Facebook primarily for your business?  Are your clients or potential clients on Facebook? If this answer is yes to both then read on.

Here are a few points to help you align your attitude about the changes.

•  Your business page is where you need to focus most of your attention. Put out valuable tips and updates for your fans.

•  Your updates are the best when they create conversation, ask questions and empathize with how people are feeling.

•  Use your friend page for business as well and go with the flow of changes. Model a positive attitude to people.

•  Re-share your business page updates to your friend’s page every so often as this increases the chance of people seeing it.

•  Post positive comments and likes on other people’s posts as this also puts forth a supportive attitude.

•  Figure  out how the changes work and share and help others who are grumbling.

I love facebook. The community is amazing, the contacts and relationships have helped me to grow my business and the instant communication is phenomenal. Change is hard but this is part of being an entrepreneur and business owner.

Just breath and flow with it.
What helps you to be able to do this? How do you keep your attitude positive?

Read more on Attitude

Keep your Focus on Growing your Business

You need more money coming in. If your business is fairly new, you know it’s normal to not have huge sales at the beginning but it is still really hard! You still need to pay your rent, loan payments, buy food and all the set up costs.

If you’ve been in business a bit longer it can be even more discouraging because you think you “should,” be doing better by now so you start feeling like a failure. The stress can be overwhelming!

Does this sound like you? You have a great service and feel confident about helping people with your skills, but you need more people to help.

It was the same for me. I remember being discouraged and comparing myself to other people who appeared more successful. I assumed they had tons of customers and I didn’t know why I didn’t. Asking that question is the first step. Here is what I learned and now my sales are consistent. I hope these steps will also help you.

1. Move past your negative self-talk as that will just zap your energy and keeps you stuck like a rat in a maze. Feelings of failure will just etch way at your self-worth. It won’t help you solve the problem. Let go of shame and get help.

2. Decide to find out what is not working and why. There is always a reason and it can take a new pair of eyes to help you see past your own blind spots.

The tendency is to make more poor decisions and keep doing the same things that aren’t working. If they aren’t working, doing  them more doesn’t make it better. It just means you spend a lot of energy without a positive return.

3. Learn how marketing and sales are inter-related. When you follow a strong marketing plan, people begin to trust you and see you as an expert. They will self-select to work with you and tell their friends. Most people skip these steps and lunge right into trying to convince people, because of their own financial stress and not understanding the system. It doesn’t work. Figure out what is holding you back.

Your momentum and excitement at first will bring you some business, but it won’t last the long haul without staying focused on a strategy based on a sound marketing plan.

4. Listen to your customers or clients. The backbone of your marketing plan is based on knowing your niche customers intimately. What makes them tick and what is their problem they need help with. What benefits do they want and why.

The home page of your website needs to be all about these people and what they want. Make sure your home page is written in plain language, non-technical as most people are being driven by their emotional need.

5. Help people make the decision to hire you. Focus on the benefits they want and help them to see how receiving the benefits will make a significant difference to them. If they are hesitant then ask what that’s about.

Most people are stopped by either money, time or trust. They don’t want to spend the money or think they don’t have it. If they hire you they need to see the return on their investment and it’s up to you to help them see how that will work. Timing is always important and people will make time for something if they see it is being very important.

If you are offering a service, people need to trust that you can help them. You develop trust via your marketing process, listening and giving value.

Remember- just because you are a skilled professional and an expert at what you do, doesn’t mean you are an expert at running your business.

These five steps are essential and help and focus. It will be worth it in the long run when you begin to see your sales increase. Which of these five steps are you already doing and which ones do you need help with? Ask a question and I am happy to respond.

You’ve done all the right things; figured out your core marketing message, built an awesome website, put together  great products and services  and the money is coming in, but just not enough of it.

You know there’s is a big shift that needs to happen to grow your business to the next level. This is when it’s time to have a strategic planning session and  figure out the next steps.

However, it feels hard and as though you are up against a big wall and not sure how to get over it.

You may have an inkling that you need to get out of your comfort zone and do something completely different.

This could seem like a big risk. Why is that?

That wall you’ve hit against is the combination of your feelings, beliefs and actions.

Example:  Your feelings might be fear or self-doubt. It is terrifying to do something new or different that that involves investing money and time. Your emotions say, “What if it doesn’t work? What if I screw up again?”

Your beliefs come from experience or modeling.  Example:  ”It is better to not take risks. Be conservative. You’re not smart enough.” It is hard to change your inner mind-set.

Your actions are your habits, ways you are used to acting. You have developed routines and  modes of operating that you are comfortable with, but may not be serving you or your business.

Are you willing to let go and do things a different way?

These three parts of you overlap and can take a strong hold. Take a few minutes and visualize the change you want to see in your business.  Write out a list of your feelings, beliefs and actions that emerge when you think about taking the risk to support this goal.

Once you have this insight you can choose to make decisions from a more aware place.

What feelings, beliefs or actions are stopping you? I would love to hear your comments below.