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Client Development

Should You Start Your Own Internet Business?

February 26, 2010 By Cara Lumen

by Cara Lumen

question-350A lot of us are at a crossroad.  We look around and see that retirement is no longer an option.  We’re older and are not certain how long we can stay in the work force or we may already be out of it.  What do you do when you are no longer a viable candidate for working for someone else?  You start your own internet business, of course!

Should I start my own business?

That depends.  Are you passionate about something that will make a difference in the lives of others?  Then yes, absolutely.  Are you willing to learn a lot of new stuff?  Are you ready to be flexible and adventurous and open to new places where you might fit in?  Then come on in, the water’s fine.  

How do I begin?

Look deeply at your passion, that desire you’ve held in your heart all your life, and see where it is needed.  For instance, my passion is about organizing and teaching and the people I help are older like me, who are spiritually oriented, want to be in service to others and don’t know where to start.  I’ve learned where to start and how to continue to build a business so my coaching business is about helping people build a successful internet business from their inside out.  

What do you love to do?  What knowledge do you have that will benefit others?  What population do you want to serve? What is your passion?  What excites you so much that you want to rush out and share it with others?

That’s your new line of work.

OK I have my idea, now what
?

Probably the fastest way is to team up with a business coach who can help you sort out your ideas, who knows the path before you and can guide you on your journey one step at a time.  You can also start reading.  Michael Port’s Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling is a great foundation. (I’m one of his Certified Book Yourself Solid Coaches)  My own How to Create Your Own Magnetic Marketing Plan has a lot of exploratory exercises in it to help you focus your direction.  Romanus Walter’s Kick Start Your Business, Four Powerful Steps to Get What You Want Out of Your Life and Busienss opened some insights for me.  And Roy Spence’s It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For: Why Every Extraordinary Business Is Driven by Purpose,  Seth Godin’s Lynchpin, Are you Indispensible,  will also get you thinking.  Go online and find people in your field and read their blogs and go to their free telecourses and take some classes in what you don’t know.  Expect to spend some time because a great part of this journey is about self-discovery – who you want to serve and what you want to offer – and why.

What do I need?

Not much if it’s an internet business.  I help my clients develop a web presence with a five things – a web host, a URL a shopping cart, a merchant account and my content and business coaching  We can go from ground zero to the moon – given time. Hiring a business development coach is an investment in focused, rapid progress and results.  There are many levels of business success you can achieve.  It depends on you, your vision, and your commitment.

What do you offer?

The first page of a web presence I work with is the services page. What exactly do you want to offer, to whom do you offer it and what do you charge?  Sometimes that’s easy to figure out, sometimes it takes some exploration. We work on your who-and-do-what statement so you can express clearly the benefits you offer others and the target audience you serve.  This is a clarity that keeps on coming.  

What do you know?

The beautiful thing about the internet is the freedom we now have to teach what we know.  Ebooks, telecourses, radio shows, articles, blogs, are all signature information products that will help you build your reputation as an expert and bring you passive income.  You can make money from what you already know!

Again, there are how-to-books out there to study.  I have home study courses on Article Magnetism, How to Create Articles that attract How to Write a Magnetic How To Book and I’ve set up short, targeted, signature product coaching packages   to teach you to create a particular type of information product. Once you have your web presence and your services in place you will want to create some signature products.

How do I attract people?

It’s like any other social situation, you like them and they like you back.  Sure, there are people out there selling and pushing people to buy things.  That’s not my way.  You are out to build a community, a community of people you want to serve, people who need what you have to offer.  You want to invite them to come into your community and receive the value you have to offer – that will be in your opt in offer, your emagazine, your blog, any of the free value-laden offerings you make and of course your services and products.  And over time they will trust you, like you, come to you and refer you.  It’s all about being an inspiriting, passionate, helpful, over-delivering person.

What can I earn?

That depends.  Some people are better at that part than others.  You might just fill such a strong current need that you are catapulted into success. You might find someone to develop a collaborative partnership with.  You might create an information product that is greatly needed by the people you serve.  You might be offering a service so needed that you can barely keep up.  Or you may simply take it one step at a time and see where it takes you.  Finding you niche can take time.  You need to look around at what people are asking you to do and see if it’s something you want to provide.  I just read about a young man who has a bicycle review site that makes him tons of money.  Bicycling is his passion and his business organically grew from that.  Where is your passion?  Follow it.

The independence of owning your own business is empowering

I’m a service professional.  I help people realize their dreams and move out into the world to touch the hearts of others.  What a great way to spend my life!

When you decide to start your own business you take your future into you own hands and that is very exciting. You can take it any direction you want.  You can use any of the skills and talents you have.  You can do the parts you want and farm out the rest.  When you find your sweet spot you will love every minute of your day and everything you do will keep you passionately on purpose.

How does this sound to you?

What do you think?  Are you up for it?  Is it something you want to do?  If you decide to start your own internet business, plan to immerse yourself in the process of learning and doing and exploring what lies within you.  Don’t quit your day job if you have one until it is time.  If you don’t have a job then put in a lot of six and seven hour days.  Hire a coach, make some decisions, identify your passion, tone up your talents and get out there and make a difference in your world!

© 2010 Cara Lumen

 

 

Filed Under: Content Development Tagged With: Client Development, content development, merchant account, shopping cart, vision

How to Build a Successful Platform with Sharon Sayler

February 8, 2010 By Cara Lumen

Passionately On Purpose Radio with Cara Lumen, Your Idea Optimizer, who keeps you passionately on purpose while you make a difference in your world. As a Business Coach, Content Developer and Educator she talks about how to uncover your passion, define your purpose, identify your path, make money from what you already know and attract the people you are meant to serve. But most of all, she’ll help you believe you can!!!  Join her Mondays on www.blogtalkradio.com/passionatelyonpurpose

The Show

How to Build a Successful Platform with Sharon Sayler Your platform is all the ways you let people know what you do.  New author Sharon Sayler will join me to talk about how she built her platform for her new book What Your Body Says and How to Master It and how we can adapt those practices to promote our own business.

http://www.caralumen.com/radio/lumen_sayler_867583.mp3

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Filed Under: Podcasts Tagged With: Client Development, llist building, Marketing, passionately on purpose, platform building, podcast, Sharon Sayler

Is Your Ideal Client Big Enough For Your Vision?

January 11, 2010 By Cara Lumen

Passionately On Purpose Radio with Cara Lumen, Your Idea Optimizer, who keeps you passionately on purpose while you make a difference in your world. As a Business Coach, Content Developer and Educator she talks about how to uncover your passion, define your purpose, identify your path, make money from what you already know and attract the people you are meant to serve. But most of all, she’ll help you believe you can!!!  Join her Mondays on www.blogtalkradio.com/passionatelyonpurpose

This Show

You know what an ideal client is—the made-up description of the perfect person who would be drawn to your services and products. We write this description down with such thoroughness that we know where she lives, what her income is, what her level of education is, and what her problems are. We understand her needs and address them with our services, our products, and our approach. We write every word of copy to her. We create every product for her.However, what if the ideal client you are focusing on is not big enough for your vision?

 

http://www.caralumen.com/radio/lumen_846996.mp3

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Filed Under: Content Development, Podcasts Tagged With: business growth, Client Development, ideal client

How to Talk About What You Do So People Get it

November 30, 2009 By Cara Lumen

Passionately On Purpose Radio with Cara Lumen, Your Idea Optimizer, who keeps you passionately on purpose while you make a difference in your world. As a Business Coach, Content Developer and Educator she talks about how to uncover your passion, define your purpose, identify your path, make money from what you already know and attract the people you are meant to serve. But most of all, she’ll help you believe you can!!!  Join her Mondays on www.blogtalkradio.com/passionatelyonpurpose

This Show

If you can’t clearly explain to others what you do you won’t get them to work with you.  Learning to talk about your business is a benefit laden, what’s in it for them manner, is key to attracting the people you are meant to serve.

http://www.caralumen.com/radio/lumen_659358.mp3

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Filed Under: Podcasts Tagged With: Client Development, communication, content development

How to Identify the Red Flag Client

November 15, 2008 By Cara Lumen

by Cara Lumen

She was abusive, disrespectful, and bad-mouthed the person she had worked with before. How on earth did she get through the Red Velvet Rope Policy and how can you identify a red flag client before you start?

Define Your Red Velvet Rope Policy
You know those soft red velvet ropes that are lowered to let certain people in and keep others out. We each get to create our own red velvet rope policy to be certain we work with people we are meant to serve.
The client I described was not mine, it was a client of a friend of mine and my friend was in knots because even when she said she wanted to end the client relationship the woman cried which made my kind friend have a hard time sticking by her decision. And it was an example of how manipulative the woman was.
We talked about how she was not serving in the role of friend to this needy person. She needed to place herself in the role of a professional keeping a professional relationship with her clients. She needed to define and set boundaries for herself. She gets to make choices about how she wants to work with people and who she wants to work with.
Why you must do the choosing
Think of a client that you do not like to work with. Are you resentful? Do you drag your heels a bit when it’s time for her call? Will you be glad when the time agreement has expired? That’s not a good match. That’s certainly not your ideal client.
Now remember how great you feel when you love the client you are working with –  the great work you do –  the satisfaction you feel at your clients’ success. That’s why you must choose your clients carefully. So you can do your best work.
How you can spot the red flag clients
What intake structure can you put in place that will help you recognize a potentially poor relationship and never undertake it? Well, you need to have a really clear picture of your ideal client  – particularly the qualities you want to attract. Do you want to work with people just beginning in business, ones that have established themselves and are ready for a big next step, or a high end client that needs someone to help them keep a larger company on track? Do you want a person who is decisive or one who prefers to ask five of their friends for an opinion before making up their mind? Does your ideal client keep her agreements and exhibit innovative entrepreneurialism to solve their problems? Is your client capable of achieving success? Do they want it? Do they expect it? Will they accept success?
You need to create a few questions that you can ask in your initial conversation with a potential client that will let you know that this is a person you are meant to serve.
How much business/marketing knowledge do they have?
This is important because if a client is new to business they need to be very clear why they are in business and who they want to serve. They need to have a business plan and a marketing plan. If they haven’t done that you will need to help them through those steps. This is foundational work that needs to be in place and be continually reviewed. It is the holder of their vision and the design of their path. .
What do they have in place and what is working and what is not?
When I work with people on web page development I need to know what they have in place – opt in, shopping cart, web host, merchant account, blog, etc.
I need to know their vision.
And they need to know what is working and want is not. When they know where their strengths are it shows me they have set up measurable guidelines and continually monitor their progress.
How pro active are they?
Will this person do their homework, follow up on their agreements, and think up new ideas and possibilities? Those people are wonderfully exciting to work with. If they are really full of ideas will they allow you to help them focus and accomplish one step/project at a time? Will they take direction and do they value what you have to offer?
Listen to what they don’t say
It’s trickier to discover what their personality is like to work with.  Ask them about their relationships with other professionals and listen to what they do and don’t say. Are they kind, respectful, honest? Or disgruntled, and complaining? Ask some open questions and then just listen and you’ll get some good clues that will alert you to any potential red flags.
Make it ok to say “no”
Expect the best from everyone but listen to your intuition. Don’t take a client because they have a pulse and a pocketbook. If it doesn’t feel right see who else you can recommend, or simply say, “This isn’t something I can help you with.” If you are their last chance or they are under a last minute deadline that is a major red flag. That means no one else wants to work with them and they wait till the last minute to get things done. Don’t fall for their story. Your life and business is yours to design. You are the director who casts the play and directs the action. Cast the players in your business thoughtfully.
You are not meant to work with everyone. There are certain people that you are meant to serve and when you do you can help them achieve amazing results.

© 2008 Cara Lumen

Filed Under: Content Development Tagged With: business growth, choice, Client Development, clients, personal growth, Planning

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