You help people everyday. You know you make a difference in their lives. You love that good feeling you have when you provide quality service. But sometimes things feel out of control and you are the one who needs help. Your client flow has slowed to a trickle and you don’t know what to do!

Why keep struggling in your business when the helping hand is there? All you have to do is grab it.  There is an easy to follow formula for developing a steady stream of new clients, people who want your help and are ready to take your hand.  What goes around comes around.

Service providers often have trouble getting help themselves. Why? Here are a few thinking errors.

1. I can figure it out myself. You know your clients benefit when they get your professional help. It’s no different for you. Why struggle alone when you can shift and learn faster with support.

2. It’s too expensive. “I can’t afford it,” is a deadly phrase for a business owner. There needs to be priorities for sure, but getting help in your business is an investment and will pay for itself.

3. I tried once before and it didn’t work so this will likely be the same. This is a discouraging attitude. It could be that was a wrong match, the wrong timing. Who knows but don’t give up on yourself. Successful entrepreneurs get help over and over.

4. I don’t have time. All business owners are overly busy, however the stress from not having enough clients eats up time and energy as well. It’s all about prioritizing and making the time to work on your business.

5. Things aren’t that bad. It could be that you are in denial of how bad it is. If you are struggling, stressed and worried about money, you need help. Why suffer if you don’t have to.

Whether you assist people with their websites, bookkeeping, health, finances or business,  you can be a model for them as someone who gets professional help when needed. There are 7 easy steps to putting together a marketing plan that will end your struggles so you will be able to continue to provide excellent service to a steady  stream of new clients. Does that sound good?

You didn’t begin a business in order to learn about how to struggle. You deserve to be happy and in fact joyful about your work. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to take a day off and feel relaxed?

You  want more clients. In fact you need more clients in order to keep things going, pay the mortgage and hopefully have the abundant lifestyle you want and so deserve.

Marketing. You know what that is. It’s what you need to do to get yourself out there so people will notice you. However, marketing is also one of those activities that, if you do it poorly, it can have a negative response and be almost worse than doing none at all.

A marketing plan actually takes you through a process so you can consciously and strategically know what to do and how to do it, in order to get really good results.  It’s a system.

A good example that comes to  mind. You’ve all bought a piece of furniture that comes in pieces in a flat box with directions written by a tech person from China. If you were Chinese, the directions might make sense, but translated into English and written by someone who is not thinking about who you are and what you need, they  don’t work and you get totally frustrated. At least I do!

Those directions are a plan for assembling a table. If they are written with me in mind and with a clear message, I’ll feel supported and be able to build my table. I  might even buy other products by this company because I know I can trust the service.

So- a  Marketing plan helps you to develop directions to connect with your potential clients with them in mind. It’s easy to do and when it’s done right it works and will bring scads of clients through your door.  There are seven easy steps and when you follow them accurately your potential clients will feel heard and they will want to work with you. Check out my 7-Steps to an Impeccable Marketing Plan to see the steps.

My vulnerable area is my organizational systems. I put things away and forget where I put them. I file papers and then go to look and they are not there.

It is very frustrating because it breaks up my work flow, causes anxiety and disrupts creativity.

Wikipedia says, “An Achilles’ heel is a fatal weakness in spite of overall strength, that can actually or potentially lead to downfall. ”

Okay- to be kind to myself, the issue is much more in control than it was a year ago. I hired an organizer to help me look at the paper flow in my office. I put in new systems and now things do work well  when I focus.

The big word is “Control.”  Good systems and organization equal control. Without control you can’t grow your business past a certain point. You need to be able to handle more information, more files easily and quickly.

Some people love organizing and they would rather do that than eat ice cream or take a nap. Not me.  Having to stop everything and “organize” makes me sigh heavy,  as I would rather be doing creative things.  I haven’t yet figured out how to make organizing be creative but I know it’s possible.  What I do know is that when everything is neat and the systems are working, it feels good and  I like being in my office.

Here are a few tips I have learned. Maybe you organizational people can add a few more.

1. Get a large white board and put it on your wall where you can see it from your desk. Use it for to-do lists, reminders, etc.  Erase things when they are completed as it will give you a good feeling

2. Determine 4-5 categories that work for  your business.  Every paper needs to fit into one of these categories. Mine are marketing, products, money, customer service and research and development. I have five rows of paper trays and everything goes into it’s correct area. This has really worked for me.

3. Clean your office on the same day every week. I have chosen Sundays. I tidy up and it feels good to get ready for the week.

4. Keep a running list of tasks that someone else could do. Eventually you’ll have enough to hire an assistant and your job description will be done!

5. Develop strategies to overcome obstacles that get in your way. No matter how big the mountain there is always a way over the top.

This week I had the unfortunate experience of my MacBook mail program biting the dust. It was frustrating and time consuming dealing with this issue.

However there is always a positive side of every difficult situation.

I met a wonderful new Mac technician named Gene who I spent the day with as he slowly repaired my computer. During that time we chatted about one of my favorite topics, business and marketing.

He commented that for the first time in seven years in business, his sales are way down. I asked him how he markets himself and he admitted that he always had a steady flow of customers so marketing wasn’t important.

He was guilty of the number one cardinal thinking error in business, “I’m doing well, so I’ll keep doing well without needing to do marketing.”

Wrong! Look at Pepsi Cola and how much they advertise and market themselves. They never quit and in fact they look for new and cutting edge tactics.

Here are a few truisms about marketing, regardless if you are a computer techie or selling soda pop.

1. Never quit marketing.

2. Keep assessing who are your target clients and what motivates them.

3. Look for new and creative ways to reach those people.

4. Give away something of value in order to build the relationship.

5. Go where they are as well as inviting them to come to you.

Have you ever gone into your favorite shop and they have moved around all the departments and displays?  It gives a fresh new look even if the merchandise is the same.

So change your website regularly, re-arrange your office, put out new materials. Gene suggested he might send out postcards to his data base announcing a new product line.  Nice idea but  those kind of postcards get dropped in the recycling bin almost immediately.  It’s a waste of postage.

It’s only worthwhile to mail a postcard if there is a call to action that makes people hang it on their fridge; a free seminar, open house etc. You have to think like your potential customers and imagine what they will do. Make sure you learn about the seven steps to an impeccable marketing plan and get help so you will follow it!

Like most entrepreneurs I always have more to do than I have time to get it all done.  There’s always an invisible priority list in my brain and I end up doing all ‘those’ things first in between appointments.

The thing about appointments is that they take way longer than just the time of the meeting so it can feel like the day gets sucked up with even one appointment away from my office.

I’m sure many of you know exactly what I’m talking about. Like yesterday, I met two people at a cafe at 1:30. It was an excellent meeting and I left the location at 3:45 and then stopped at the grocery store on the way back. When I arrived at my home office,  I checked my messages and e-mails and before I knew it the work day was over.

Another day with important stuff that didn’t get done. The solution: Schedule days with no appointments. Zero.  Today is one of those days.  It feels like my energy field is huge and expansive. I have managed to complete tasks that should have been done 30 days ago. it feels great.  I do one day per week like this. One day each week with no appointments.

The challenge is to stick to your commitment. It requires you to draw a line through that day in your book because otherwise, you’ll see the blank space and think you can fill it up. Try it and let me know how it feels.