I was recently working with a client who was a real go-getter, very serious about being in business for herself, and marketing only to a more affluent clientele. She wanted to increase her reach into that market online. And she was considering adding article marketing to her mix.
At this stage in her business, she was already doing quite well. She was close to making 6 figures and charging 5 times as much as her counterparts - and getting it easily. But she wasn't satisfied. She really wanted to break the $100k mark before the third anniversary of her business, which was coming up in just a few months.
When she asked me, "What is the quickest, most cost-effective way to regularly market articles?" and then told me she planned to do this work herself, I stopped her.
"You know, just because you can do this task, doesn't mean you should..."
She was quiet for a moment before asking me to elaborate.
"I know your writing is high quality and of high value to your market, and I definitely think you should be getting that content out there, to the appropriate places that will bring you the highest return-on-investment for your efforts. But I don't think you should be doing this yourself. It's not a good use of your time or your energy. What do you think?"
After a bit more discussion, she agreed to hire someone to do this for her.
As you read this, did you think of perhaps one task that you routinely do (or that falls by the wayside because you can never just get to it) that you know is 'below your pay grade' and yet you continue to waste time and energy on it (even if that time and energy is just thinking about how you're NOT getting it done?)?
This concept was (still is, from time to time) difficult for me to grasp when my own coach shone a light on it for me. But since I've tried to be aware of how much effort I really need to put into a task to get the result I want, it's opened up space for things to flow more effortlessly and more quickly than ever.
Here are four ways you can do less and still grow in your business:
1. Email
Do you spend more time than necessary responding to emails? Do you write two paragraphs when a two-sentence response would suffice? Do you respond to emails that actually don't require a response? Do you check email every 5 minutes (come on, fess up!)? What if you didn't do any of these things and still had a handle on your inbox? You can - just follow Tina's system to Escape from Email Hell (see Alicia Recommends).
2. Blog
Are you writing blog posts that are long? Maybe it even feels cumbersome to try to write a post the length of an article. Don't - keep them short and pithy. Make sure your keywords are in the content and it doesn't matter how long your posts are to the search engines - and your readers will probably appreciate shorter posts as well. Better yet, turn your weekly ezine articles into blog posts to save even more time and energy.
3. Website
Are you constantly updating your website? Does it really need to be revamped so often? More to the point, is this something you have to do yourself? No. Most virtual assistants can make website updates for you at a much lower cost to your time and energy than you doing it yourself.
4. Customer/Client Relations
Who responds to questions and comments from your clients and customers? Are you processing refunds, working out payment glitches, resending download links, answering the same questions about your programs over and over, or any other task that could easily be passed off to a capable assistant? You can quickly and easily train someone to respond to these inquiries in your voice by having them shadow you via blind-copying them on each email you send out. Then reverse the process and voila - another time and energy drain has been removed from your shoulders.
If you've been a client of mine, it's very likely you've heard one of my mantras, "Done is better than perfect." I usually follow that with, "And it's never going to be all done." So choose to cause yourself less stress and DO LESS. Experiment with this and see how much more productive you'll actually be. Think of just one thing that you could do the easy way instead of the hard way, or delegate to an assistant, or better yet, take off your 'must-do' list altogether.
The Blackberry Mobile phone seems to everywhere these days. Better known in the US as the ?crackberry? this modern day marvel is keeping people connected all over the world. I was watching television over the weekend (taking a well deserved period of ?time out? and as one does on a lazy Sunday afternoons) when I found myself watching exactly the sort of mindless TV they show on Sunday afternoons for people with no hobbies - Ahem. And so it was that I found myself watching rapper Snoop Doggs reality TV show ?Snoop Doggs Fatherhood? on Sky One. As I was drip fed the sort of banal TV that really makes you wonder what the world is coming too, I found myself somewhat interested to note that our Mr. Dogg (?) is actually the happy owner of a new Blackberry Curve, for it was in almost every single shot. Being involved in promoting the Business uses of the Blackberry, I was mildly interested to see that over the course of the show Mr. Dogg (?) would be constantly cuss?ing and email his ?little homies? almost nonstop thanks to the technological marvel that the Blackberry is. Then having taken his entire family to Germany for the MTV awards (where he was presenting) Snoop later used his Blackberry's built in GPS Navigation System to locate a fried chicken outlet (apparently German Sausages & Sauerkraut aren't to his particular families taste) . When not emailing his manager he was texting on the QWERTY keyboard and utilising the ?push? email technology to command control on his considerable empire (I note he is also Executive Producer).
Bored of this I channel surfed until I found ?E the Entertainment Channel? where I settled on a documentary about the car crash life style of B grade starlet Lindsey Lohan. I hadn't been watching for more than a minute, when there before me was Miss Lohan (looking decidedly worse for wear after a night out on the town) yapping away on her very own Blackberry!
What was this? I thought! Has Hollywood been taken by storm? Is anyone and everyone now using Blackberry?
So it was that I determined to channel hop until I came across another elusive Blackberry being featured in use by as star. It only took 23 Channels and a ham sandwich later before I stumbled upon a doctor texting in ?Casualty? on his Blackberry Pearl.
Aha! It is a Blackberry veritable invasion of our airwaves!
It really shouldn't come as a great surprise that the Glitteratti have finally caught on to what the Business world has now known for the last 9 months? The Blackberry is as addictive as Sunday afternoon junk TV! No seriously.
The Blackberry phone is truly an amazing kit of Business kit. Basically it is a pocket PC. Phone sized and convenient enough to put in your pocket - with it's large QWERTY keypad, the Blackberry is responsible for the longest texts ever written. This is mainly due to the fact that it's just so darn easy to type on a Blackberry. No predictive text or tapping the same button three times just to get the letter ?E?. The Blackberry key pad is a joy to use. Blackberry's unique push email system allows you to receive email on the road and then a veritable smorgasbord of third party software solutions allows for some great Business Software Solutions. Things such as remote database access and GPS and Satellite Navigation. Checkout the UK's largest Mobile Solutions Provider www.BusinessMobiles.com to learn more.
Both Alicia Forest & Jeff Spires are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Alicia Forest has sinced written about articles on various topics from Internet Marketing, Marketing and Internet Marketing. Alicia M Forest, MBA, Multiple Streams Queen & CoachT, founder of and creator of 21 Easy & Essential Steps to Online Success SystemT, teaches profess. Alicia Forest's top article generates over 14800 views. to your Favourites.
Jeff Spires has sinced written about articles on various topics from Network Marketing, RSS and Adwords. MAKE FREE INTERNATIONAL CALLS WITH YOUR BLACKBERRY MOBILE Call Internationally using your Inclusive minut. Jeff Spires's top article generates over 60500 views. to your Favourites.