vision

Does Your Business Need a Bigger Frame?

October 19, 2008 By Cara Lumen

I was holding my business back. I was staying comfortably within the framework I had designed. Sure, my business had grown from my original idea but my original idea wasn’t very big. And then someone handed me a larger frame and I had to think bigger….

I added a certification to my credentials – a certification that allows me to think bigger and play bigger. Actually, it demands that I do. And I m now fitting what I have been offering into the bigger business and expanding the service I offer.

I Started Out Too Small

I started from a very small place – both inside and outside. My web designer complained that her clients didn’t know what copy they wanted on their web pages and I said, "I can help with that." So I started positioning my business as a content developer – someone who helps focus services, clarifies navigation, and develops compelling copy for a web page. In the course of that I found myself continually coaching people in the foundational steps of marketing – helping them discover their target market, defining their benefits and features, creating tag lines, etc.

My next marketing step was to expand and offer the clients additional services. So I started coaching people in other marketing strategies and information product development.

And then it all changed. A new frame was offered and I jumped at it.

I’m now playing in a bigger vision – and it’s someone else’s. And oh, how that has made me grow!

You see, I’m now part of a bigger group and the founder of that group is really thinking big. And now I am too.

Thinking Big Widens Your Stance

What I was doing is now just a piece of what I now offer. You see, I’ve recently been certified by Michael Port to be one of his first Book Yourself Solid Coaches. And Michael is known for Thinking Big. So what happened is that all I was doing in the form of content and web development, and information product development is now a small piece of a coaching a system that helps people get booked solid. See how different that feels?

Expand Your Vision by Joining in Another’s Vision

My vision has been freed to expand because I am now a part of someone else’s bigger vision. Coaching the BYS system gives me a powerful method that has already been proven successful. I’m not saying you have to go out and get certified in anything. I am saying that you might want to consider looking around at the bigger players in your field and see how you might add to what you already offer. Place your business in a bigger frame.

My framework changed. I started thinking bigger.

My target market expanded. I raised my red velvet rope policy and upleveled the description of my ideal client

My web site got more focused. I was no longer promoting all the bits and pieces of the many things I do, it all came under one umbrella – the steps it takes to get yourself booked solid.

My pricing and packaging changed. I thought in terms of a 15 week program rather than the shorter segments I had been offering.

My branding changed. I could add credentials that identified me with a very large brand.

My expectations changed. I was coaching a system that was proven to bring success. I now expect even greater results with my clients.

My possibilities expanded. Having certified coaches is only part of Michael’s big vision but because I’m in on this next step, I have new opportunities I wouldn’t have had by myself. We’re offering online interactive coaching services that allows easy financial entry to the BYS program by adding levels of self-coaching, and e-mail coaching to 1:1 coaching. That opens up Michal’s work to everyone because the self-coaching can be done online very inexpensively. I will be able to serve people I couldn’t before.

My leveraged opportunities expanded. I want to train to teach the BYS program as a teleclass. I have the potential to expand into doing workshops with this work.

All of this is because I widened the framework that was holding my business.

What Else Can You Offer to Your Clients that Places You in a Larger Frame?

I had already been looking for how I could engage my clients longer. I looked at what services I could offer before they were ready for a web site. I looked for ways to continue helping them after they had received my web content development services. But it was the addition of this new skill set that exploded my vision into a new framework that took me way, way further than anything I had ever conceived of before.

Look outside the box. Look at what others are doing. See how what you are now offering fits into a bigger picture.

Vision from a larger framework and see what doors open. Think bigger, grow bigger be bigger. That’s what happens when you place your business in a bigger frame.

The Umpteenth Business Plan – Why You Can Never Do Too Many

November 18, 2007 By Cara Lumen

by Cara LumenI

just did my umpteenth Business Plan and discovered some new insights. Every time I go through the process I add a dimension that had not been there before. It’s like slowly peeling back layers to get to my core passion, my core involvement, and my exact place to be in service.

Let your niche find you

If you niche is too broad, no one will find you. We put great effort into selecting and defining a niche. At the beginning of creating a business you mentally and emotionally search for and find your perfect target audience. But in the long run, you don’t find your niche, your niche finds you.

Here’s how. Notice the times you are in service that you feel the most successful. You may have effortlessly written an e-book, or brilliantly coached a client through their process into a great “ah-ha.” What organically comes up in your process of serving that people are asking you to provide? It may be a new skill you discover, it may be a new need you must meet. Let the needs of your current clients and customers define what you offer. This is how a niche finds you. It is a combination of what you love to do and what people love to receive from you.

Be patient with yourself. The discovery of your perfect niche may develop over time. Just remain aware of what continues to show up in your business and your heart.

How long do you serve one customer?

One of the aspects I saw more clearly in creating this business plan was exactly how long I can serve one person. Do I coach them for 2 months, 6 months, 9 months? Then what happens? What do I have in place to continue to offer to those people I have worked with 1:1. If I don’t find something, I have to go find more clients. It’s much more economical to continue to build relationships with those who already know you and like what you are doing.

How long do you serve one customer and what can you do to extend that time?

How has your business changed?

I’m not the same person I was even a year ago. My business is not the same. My target audience has changed. That means my actions have to change. I need to reevaluate my products. I may have to revise or add to my services.

A huge shift came for me when I realized that basically I am a teacher. At the core of what I do is a love of learning and the joy of sharing it to others. That allowed me to make a business plan that schedules more teleclasses to be made into digital products. It allowed me to stop offering services that were pulling me off track. It helped me write stronger copy for my home page and my coaching pages.

And don’t forget to add passive income sources to your business plan. Create home study courses and e-books that can be purchased on line while you’re off doing something else.

Look for what your clients and customers need next and expand your business to accommodate them.

Who is your competition?

When the business plan asked me to list my competition I thought, “there is no such thing as competition, we are each unique.” But the form was asking me to find my uniqueness by looking at what other people in my field did, and write down what made me different, how I stood out, how my products and services were unique. It wanted me to identify what benefits I offered that others did not. With that information I can craft my copy and content to emphasize those unique benefits and appeal more to my target audience.

What makes you stand out from the crowd?

The Umpteenth Business Plan

Each time you complete a business plan it will elicit different answers based on where your awareness is at the time and what circumstances have come up in your business since the last time you wrote one. Sometimes, it’s as simple as finally being ready to hear or pay attention to one aspect that you were not ready for before. That new willingness will draw forth fresh responses from you.

A business plan also helps you expand your vision. Where do you want to be? What do you want your business to look like? How do you plan to get there? Some things in your business plan may not change, but each time you go through the process to complete one you with change your awareness, recommit to your vision and take a giant step forward.

Whether it’s your first, your fifth, or your umpteenth business plan, schedule time each year to see where you are and where you want to be. Then create and adjust for success.

The Case of the Curled Bark

September 4, 2007 By Cara Lumen

by Cara Lumen

It lay curled on the ground beside the tree it had served, beautiful even as it moved into uselessness. I noticed it on my walk and was drawn to pick it up; looking for the message it might hold for me.

It comes from a Crape Myrtle tree—a tree that blooms late in the summer and grows by adding beautiful flowers in shades of red on the tips of each branch, These flowers then become the branches for next year’s growth. It is also s a tree that gracefully lets go of the old.

The bark was on the ground because the tree had expanded and split if off. It has completed its work. I’m certain it had done its work well, protecting the inner tree, but it no longer fit. If it had stayed in place, the tree could not grow.

What do I have in place that is keeping me from growing? How have I expanded and what do I need to allow to split off? What no longer fits into my vision, my plan, my passion?

It was the message I sought.

I’ve had several opportunities lately to move backward—take up services I used to offer but have outgrown. That’s why the idea of doing them again held no appeal—I had outgrown them. I am in a different mind set. I have new skills I love to use more. I have new ideas I wasn’t to express. Why would I ever entertain the thought of moving backward?

Sometimes we are offered choices in order to fortify our determination to move forward.

What has changed for you? What are you willing to do? What activities and interactions bring you joy? But more importantly, what are you no longer willing to do? What needs to drop away, just as the bark has dropped from the tree it once served.

From moment to moment we are different. We gain new insights with every interaction. We find new adventures that excite us. And we cannot go on the new adventures unless we stop carrying the old stuff around. We cannot move forward as long as we are holding on to old beliefs and habits. We cannot grow without holding new expectations.

The Crape Myrtle tree adds new growth in the form of beautiful flowers, just as add new aspects to your life as you open up to new experiences. But in doing so, the tree outgrows its skin, its bark, and releases and discards what it no longer needs.

What do you need to release?