For most solo-business owners, when you first start your business you find yourself focused on how to find enough clients and enough money coming in.  The idea that you might get so busy that you would need help sounds like a dream!

In fact, this issue throws most solo-business owners into a tail spin. As your business grows, you become busier and often unprepared.

•  The work piles up and you begin working more and more hours.
•  Some things fall through the cracks and don’t get done or you forget to do them.
•  Your office becomes an organizational nightmare.

If this sounds familiar you are needing to develop new systems to support your growth.  I’ve worked with many clients who unconsciously keep themselves small in order to stay in control. It is not uncommon for people to feel that:

•  No one else can do the work as well as they can.
• They have no time to train someone else.
• They don’t have the money to pay someone else.
• There are no written systems – it’s all in their head.
• They feel unsure how to manage someone else.

If you can relate to the above lists then you need to make a big change in your business structure in order to pave the way for your business to grow.

Here are a few suggestions.

1.  Isolate one or two jobs that you would like to be able to give to someone else.
2. Begin to keep a running list of all the tasks associated with this job.
3. Notice how much time you spend on these tasks each week.  Add those times to your list.
4. Look for someone who you can hire for just a few hours per week to do this one job.
5. Look at this as a learning in how to manage someone.
6. Hire an intern who is willing to work in exchange for your help. Your intern can also learn about management in the process.

When you change your focus from, ” I can’t,” to “I must find a way,” the opportunities will appear and you will make time to grow your business, not just run it.

Do you want your potential clients to stay on your website, sign-up for your newsletter and  maybe even call you?  Of course you do  because your website is your most important marketing tool.

Most of us know this and almost every business has a website these days.  However, most websites I look at miss the mark completely in one huge area. They fail to build empathy with their potential clients.

What exactly does this mean?  One definition on Wikepedia says “To empathize means to share, to experience the feelings of another person.” When a person feels empathy from you, they feel that you get it and you understand them. If you feel that someone really understands you, you are much more likely to trust, that they can also help you.

The very first thing on your website needs to be about your client and how they are feeling about their own situation.  Talking about you or your services doesn’t build empathy in any way shape or form.

Have a look at your website from the eyes of your clients and their issues and their needs. If someone has a back ache, they don’t necessarily need a massage. They do need relief from pain and hope that they can stay pain free. They want to feel good.

If someone is stressed about their debts, they don’t need your financial advice. What they do need is a feeling of hope and to be free from financial stress. This formula is true for whatever your service or product, whether you are selling vacuum cleaners or acupuncture.

If you aren’t sure how to do this get some help, because this one tweak on your website will transform your whole business and your potential clients will stay on  your site longer and are more likely to get involved.

Have a quick look at my website and notice the headline and the first sentence. Does it speak to you? Notice it doesn’t say anything about me or what I offer. Look at your own website and see if you are hitting the mark or whether you need to adjust your content. Contact me if you need help.

Social networking sites have, almost overnight, pushed into my daily activities, and suddenly I am spending hours and hours online doing all kinds of stuff that is supposedly helping my business.

It has all made sense to me and I have even created diagrams that teach people how it all works as a marketing tool. However I always get asked, “Does this really work?” Great question.

In this past week, I have had two new clients sign on to work with me who found me online. One person read one of my E-zine articles; How to overcome mental blocks. The other read an article I wrote on Silver Vixens; Women who begin businesses after age 55.

In both cases, I had never met or spoken to either of these people. They both read my article, liked it and went to my website and from there they contacted me wanting help with their business. I  am still in a “Wow,” mode. This really does work, however you need to have  certain things in place:

1. Have a well thought out marketing plan.

2. You must have a strategy that makes sense.

3. A website that correctly markets your business.

Without these three things in  place  you will spend hours online and get nowhere. Sound familiar? If you are going to spend all that time online, why not make sure you are getting results! Do the three things above and it will be worth it.

This blog is all about “true confessions.”  Hopefully I will also model how to gracefully admit a mistake and grow stronger because of it!

I’ve been working on my new book for the past two years. It’s done now, however writing it was the easy part. Finding the right title and book cover was the hard part. I struggled with the title for months and months. I had three book title parties, did flip charts,  thought about it in my sleep and finally I just picked a title because I needed to move on.  I had a cover made by a wonderful graphic artist, Dave Sparks. I put it up on my website and then,  it didn’t feel right.  I knew it deep down, but didn’t want to admit it because it was done!!

Then Bonnie from Silver Vixens,  offered feedback and I listened. Her feedback rang true and it all fell into place. My title was there all the time and I just didn’t see it.  I was afraid to tell Dave that the cover was wrong because he worked so hard on it. Good cover but not for my book!

Dave was great and helped me create a new cover. Here it is. I love it and love the title and the book hasn’t changed. It is still really good! It will be out in February but you can buy it now and save some money.

Clear Your Focus, Grow Your Business
7 Simple steps to empower your business and bring YOU money and freedom

I learned that it is ok to make a mistake and fix it. People understand, and it’s all part of the process of being a small business owner. I teach people about this, but that’s way easier than doing it myself! Please leave comments. I’d love to hear if this has ever happened to you.

Last  weekend, I was in Eugene, Oregon visiting family and I went to the wonderful  Holiday Market, filled with very high quality handmade pottery, fiber art, jewelry, woodwork, glass art and more.  Excellent artists and  a lovely event.

When I first arrived I spied a booth that had some stunning earrings that caught my eye. I loved them immediately. Since I was just visiting for the weekend and with my husband who isn’t much of a shopper,  I asked for her card, thinking I might look on her website and buy later. Earrings for me are like shoes for some “girls.” I love gorgeous earrings.

So I asked for her card and she said she wasn’t even sure she had any cards. She finally dug around and found one. She handed it to me,  and I was surprised to see that it was very homemade, poor quality and not a very professional presentation. I would have expected any artist to have an attractive. artsy card. It immediately made me wonder if she was a fly by night business.

Next, I noticed there was no website on her card. When asked, she admitted that she in fact, didn’t have one. I didn’t hide my surprise, and handed her the card back, as the only reason I wanted it was for her web address. I told her I loved her work and wandered off.

Her last mistake was in letting me walk away.  I wanted her to stop me  but she didn’t ask me for my contact information. If  she had done so she could have contacted me later when she got her website up, or sent me an e-mail, anything rather than let a potential customer just walk away. I didn’t feel important to her.

She was like many, many talented people who begin to make a business out of their art or skill. They focus entirely on their products and miss the boat on marketing. You don’t need customers to create beautiful art, but without customers you won’t have a business.

A successful entrepreneur knows to focus on marketing as much as products, learns the correct strategies to connect with their potential customers and follows a marketing plan that allows their business to grow and flourish. Don’t make the same mistake she did!