Automated database mailing lists

I’m just about to take the train down south to the Lake District, to take part in a one day seminar. A working trip, I plan to use the time on the train to write plenty of articles for my next lot of newsletters.

One of the advantages of having an automated database from where I send out to my mailing list is that I can do this kind of thing in advance. This frees up my time for other things.  For instance, I can’t get on the web on this particular train, so I am free from what sometimes can feel like the ‘tyranny of the internet’!  But I can use the time for more creative things.  If you haven’t investigated an automated mailing list yet, then check out www.1shoppingcart.com, www.constantcontact.com or www.aweber.com, all of which have been recommended.

In this world of immediate communication, this is going to become more and more important!  So have a look and sign up for a free trial if they’re offered in a month when you commit to yourself to really explore that system, and make it work for you. If your database is anything over a couple of hundred, I’d say its worthwhile.

Following up enquiries

I’ve signed up to Drayton Bird’s 51 marketing tips (see www.draytonbird.co.uk).  His site was recommended to me by a good friend, also in marketing.

I’ve just read tip no 5, and it’s about how you spend your time on getting new clients. Mostly people put a lot of effort into attracting new clients ‘cold’ – ie posters, fliers, adverts etc.  And not so much effort into following up with someone who enquires  - and yet why not???

It is these people, who effectively have said, ‘Hi, I’m interested’ who need to have more attention paid to them, not less!

And as I was reading this tip, I realised I had done this with someone the other day. He had emailed me after listening to a teleclass, saying he really liked the content.  I emailed back saying thank you and that I’d visited his website, and thought it was great, and if I could ever help him, to let me know.

A couple of weeks passed, and another email arrived from him, this time wondering if the next ‘Develop Your Business’ Coaching Circle would be right for him or not. I emailed again giving my opinion, but invited him to book a free half hour slot to discuss his needs properly.

At the agreed time, he didn’t ring.  I followed up again, and eventually we did have our dicussion.   The end result of that was that he decided to sign up as an individual client, and is now focusing and getting results quicker than before.

When I look at this process in the light of what Drayton Bird was saying, I realise that I persisted on following the initial communication.  This client bought when the time was right for him – and one reason was because I kept letting him know I was interested in his business and seeing if we might work well together.  So I encourage you to follow up with every enquiry, no matter how ‘cool’ – as down the line they may easily turn into a very hot client!

Inspired action – what is it exactly?

If you know my work, you’ll have realised I often talk about taking inspired action, as opposed to motivated action.  Inspired action brings with it more ease, sense of purpose, joy and meaning.

The Findhorn Foundation are organising a week long conference on this theme; if you are at all attracted by the idea of inspiration being the factor behind your actions, then visit http://www.findhorn.org/programmes/programme375.php for more info.

What value do you place on your services?

This morning after singing practice, I was asked by a colleague if I could mend his backpack for him.

‘Could you mend it for me?  I’m willing to pay at least a fiver’, he said.

‘No, no’, I replied, ‘don’t worry, it’ll only take me ten minutes or so’.

‘No, no’ he also replied, ‘it’s worth at least that much to me, it’s been irritating me for so long now’.

Fortunately at this point a glimmer of light went off in my brain, and I told him I’d think about it. And think about it I did, as I walked back through the woods before starting work.

What I said was a great  example of what not to do when valuing your services!  He did not have the tools, equipment, knowledge or experience to do something which to me, who had all the sewing kit needed, and the knowledge and experience, was very easy. But to him it was a big problem.  Hence getting the problem solved was worth a lot to him, while to me it would take just five or ten minutes of my time.

And this is why valuing what you provide is so important. The prospective client coming for your service wants and needs what you can offer – because they don’t have the tools, equipment, knowledge or experience, and you do. That is going to be worth a lot to them, even though it might be just second nature to you (as I was treating this bit of sewing).

So I invite you today to contemplate what you are offering to people, and how valuable it is to them, and consider adjusting your prices (upwards!) if you even have a faint sniff of thinking you are undervaluing what you do.

Stating what you want

Here’s what can happen when you start to focus on something you want more of: the opposite sometimes happens.  I’m sure you’ve had this experience!

The other day I was focusing on one of my goals happening, and understanding that the essence of that goal at this time was me feeling more confident in my abilities.  That night I was to give a speech at the local Toastmasters Club, about which I felt quite confident and was looking forward to doing.

When the time for the speech came though, I was preceded by a new member to the organisation, who proceeded to give a very impassioned and well-constructed speech about being a blonde-haired, blue-eyed European woman who had chosen to become a Muslim. Dressed in a long gown and the hajib, she made a compelling sight.

This threw me – in just a couple of minutes, I had to walk up and give my speech (ironically entitled ‘You are what you think’!).  My previously confident foundations had been wobbled, and I wasn’t aware enough to rise and speak in the moment about what had happened, which might have been one way round it. Instead, I gave my planned speech, but I was not authentic in the moment, nor as passionate or engaged as I usually am.  In short, my body was up there speaking, but I was not inhabiting it.

So I finished and now had the perfect conditions to ‘become what I was thinking’. How ironic!   I noticed how envious I was, how critical I was being of her (all projections from me of course) and it wasn’t until I got to bed a couple of hours later that I began to make some progress on being kind and loving towards myself and her, instead of beating myself up.

I learnt that this is how contrast works.  State you are wanting one thing, and sometimes the apparent opposite, the contrast,  turns up. I see this as a test of my desire – whether to give up the desire or to continue with being committed to it, regardless.  In the end I was able to thank this person and situation for giving me the gift of clarifying my desire for more confidence, for pointing out that it’s important to be the best me I can be, not someone else, and for showing how the confidence I had experienced in the earlier part of the evening had been built on shaky ground.  Whew!  A bit of a journey, but I got there in the end.

Making up your mind

“The agent, the producer, the investors; consultants, lenders, stockholders; customers, clients, fans; friends, lovers, support systems…  they have nothing to do with dreams coming true.

They’re simply summoned after someone’s “made up their mind” to the degree that it’s followed by unending action.

You see, dreams actually come true (or not), long before they can be seen in time and space.”

This is this week’s message, received each Monday, from www.tut.com, and how true it is!  Making up your mind is the same as deciding what you want; setting a goal; having a vision; or making a declaration to the Universe about what you want to attract.  They’re all the same thing, and ALL need to be followed up by action.  The more you act in accordance with what you say you want, the more your dream comes true.  Think about it; if you decide you want something and then you direct your thoughts to support you in that desire, and behave in line with the needs of that desire (eg making phone calls, setting up systems, promoting yourself and your business) then you are creating the conditions for that dream to come true much more easily than if you do nothing.

So what do you want for this week, and how will your thoughts and behaviour line up to help create that happening?

How to do inspired actions

I was awake and not feeling like doing anything.

But this morning I had some hours spare alone in the house, and I had planned to focus on my new product, The RichThinking Way, and to lay out a plan for the next lot of articles for the coming year.

But I didn’t want to get out of bed, let alone switch on the computer. Thoughts of inspired actions wandered around in my mind; I knew that I needed to be in an inspired place to do both of these things.  Hum.  What to do.

Well, I know that I like to think I am in complete control of my life, even though I have lots of evidence to the contrary, and the only way through this situation where I was feeling distinctly unmotivated, let alone inspired, was to just do what I fancied and if I never got around to doing either of these things, well, just to trust they would get completed some other time.  So I had a bath – my way of pampering myself.  I read my novel in the bath.  Another way of pampering.  And a couple of paragraphs in the novel inspired me (yes, that word) to think of 50 things I was grateful for in my life right now.

I’m quite practiced at using this tool now, and though when I first started doing it 50 things seemed like a lot, now I can usually rattle them off.   Why do I do it? Because it changes my energy every single time. So now I’m lying in the bath feeling good again, and glad that I’d remembered to feel grateful and was willing to do this little exercise.

Then I realised that the best way to compile my list of articles for the year was to start it now, and add to it over the week as titles and topics come to me.  Now I felt inspired to get out and go to my desk to start!

And that’s what I’m about to do now – but I wanted to share this first, because this is rich thinking in action.  This is what it looks like on a daily, hourly and even by the minute basis.  How do you think richly in your days, hours and minutes?

Listening to inner guidance – or not!

Last night I posted a question on a soul business forum I belong to  (www.prosperityportal.com).  It was about the difference between 3 tools we had been recently been given.

Someone replied and it was a revelation to me. Not because they told me the difference, but because they said why they used one of the tools and what they found it most useful for. That was helpful – but far more helpful was her next sentence, which said:

‘I haven’t used the other tools because I haven’t felt drawn to using them’

and a light bulb went off in my head!  Why?  Because I realised that I had fallen into the trap I can easily get into which is thinking that if I only do everything right according to the ‘expert’, then the method will work for me and I will get whatever it is I’m wanting. But I never do everything ‘right’  – and so in this way of thinking, what I want doesn’t ever come fully as expected!

Conclusion: listen to and trust my own inner guidance to show me what is important for ME to take action on, rather than give my power over to someone else.

Gift from the dolphins

I see from my last blog post that it is over a month since I posted – I have been on holiday and to my sister’s wedding, both of which were wonderful! The most wonderful thing though was sailing around the Western Isles of Scotland.  We were only on the 50 foot ketch for 3 nights, but it was the most fantastic weather – clear blue skies, hot sun, a light breeze, and stunning scenery.

Hopping from island to island, anchoring off the beaches and enjoying the breeze as we sailed along was all wonderful – but not as wonderful as bumping into a pod of dolphins on the way back!  About 30 of them, including two little babies, they were clearly having fun as they played around the yacht.  If I never see another dolphin in my life, it won;t matter because this was such an intense experience.  We felt so blessed.
Anyway, now I’m back and focusing on getting my new website up and running, so look out for more posts here.

How your prices tell the world who you are

I have just finished recording a great webinar with Siobhan Guthrie of ClientAttractingSecrets.com, who interviewed me on this very topic.  I met Siobhan at a marketing conference way back in May, and we agreed then to support each other in our businesses, as her market is very similar to mine, in that she is has a kinesiology school in Ireland, as well as her CAS business.

She’s running an excellent webinar series entitled the 6 STEPPs Masterclasses to overcoming confusion, overwhelm, lack of clarity or confidence in attracting more clients to your holistic practice.  Here’s the content of the classes – as you can see it starts very soon, so if you think you’re interested, sign up right away at http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1047910

Mon 14 September:
STEPP 1: All about Them. The groundwork. Who you should be working with

Tues 15 September:
STEPP 2: All about You. The Solutions. The Crucial step to understanding what you offer

Thurs 17 September:
STEPP 3: Pricing and Mindset. Feeling great about your fee – Guest Presenter Jane Rogers

Tues 22 September:
STEPP 4: Websites – Get Your website working for You – Guest Presenter Mary McNeil

Thurs 24 September:
STEPP 5: Getting your message out there. Advertising, Brochures. List Building

Tues 29 September:
STEPP 6: Getting more clients to make an appointment. The essential elements to getting clients to call you and why some don’t!

So if you think you could benefit from any or all of these classes, I can really recommend Siobhan. Visit her site now at  http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1047910 and learn more.

Jane