In a Service Business? Ten thing to do NOW

Recently I received a note from a new coach wanting to know how to get off to a good start...when I looked at what I shared I realized this would be good information for any person in a service business where the emphasis in on YOU! IF you are the business YOU are in trouble....here's why

In a service business, you cannot make money unless you are available. I have been coaching since end of 1999  and I quit due to burnout...it's all about you and you cannot make money with out you. YIKES.... You MUST change this to generating other streams of passive income or you will be exhausted, frustrated and will give up eventually. I can teach you about this and I highly recommend you do this.  Read the Secrets of the millionaire Mind and attend  a Millionaire Mind Intensive.  This has literally changed my LIFE.

2. Get yourself help as soon as possible whether you think you can afford/deserve it or not. I did NOT and started to DROWN. Now I know better. Hire yourself a Virtual assistant and or live- in-person assistant so that you can work on only that which you love and focus energies on marketing not paper pushing.  As you grow get a bookkeeper, a lawyer and a business manager.

For peace of mind resign NOW as the general manager of the universe. Some places to shop for a VA check out AssistU.com for Virtual Assistants also the IVVA Get creative, hire college students, interns, your neighbors' kid or a friend who needs a job right now while she looks for a new one.

Rule: Hire slowly. Interview carefully. Make sure it's a good fit. check out: www.collegehelpers.com, elance.com or guru.com

3. Network, network, network. Make yourself well-known. Join Ladies Who Launch and other organizations where your ideal clients are. Get out and meet people. Ask questions find out what they need and want. Build relationships. See how you can contribute to others. Get a simple website if you are not online, do that NOW. As you grow update and change. A website never stays static anyway (or shouldn't) so just get one up there for starters if you haven't. If you like to write a shortcut would be to get a blog. Oh and start building your email database.

4. Rule about what to be doing: If it's a Hell YES do it, if it's not it's  a Hell NO...so pass it, delegate it or dump it.

5. Rule about cash flow: Do not give up your day job until you have your cash flow in place or get another day job that is less demanding but gives you fuel to pay for all the pieces of parts of ensuring your success as a business. A service business such as coaching or massage is not just a calling it is also a Business with a capital B.  I kept my job as special event director at the Fashion Group during my 4 years of training at Coach U and beyond.

6. Make sure you have a coach to keep you in action and accountable. My coach Margit, is TOUGH and I love her for it.

7. Never-ever undersell yourself. Do not be afraid to name your price and get it. If you put yourself "on sale" or bargain with people you will attract people who you may not want to work with and kick yourself later for agreeing to accept less. Watch for this.  People who serve others have a tendency to undervalue themselves.  Avoid it. You have much to offer the world.

And another thing: I learned this from Kendall Summerhawk...Raise your prices from time to time, especially if it makes you uncomfortable. If you have spent years training, as I did,  for what you do and you have life or business experience that is of value, monetize it. Believe it or not your clients do expect to pay you. If you want, have a scholarship for a few clients who are deserving and cannot afford to pay you at the  moment when they get successful guess what happens?, I do this and it's great.

7. Ask for referrals and refer to others. This is an important revenue stream and way of creating your business community.

8. Ask for the business when someone calls you. Service people often leave this step out and wonder why they have no clients. ASK, "so when would you like to get started?"

9. Enjoy yourself and if you are not, STOP and regroup. I left coaching for 18 months to go work on the 2004 Democratic presidential camapign which really gave me a new perspective on life along the way I used my coaching skills for enrolling people.  After a stunning defeat, I joined the Ladies Who Launch Incubator in 2005 and began my coaching business again.
LWL gave me the uplifting and the  liftoff I needed in a very big way.

10. Here's my business plan: Simplify my life. Connect with others. Have more fun.
Have an audaciously fabulous day!

The Secrets of the Millionaire Mind and the Millionaire Mind Intensive changed my life. It will change yours especially if you are in a service business or a solo practitioner of any kind...

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind Book>>>get this!
http://www.secretsofthemillionairemind.com/a/joyful_deliciousness

The single most important step you take no matter WHAT service you offer is to keep learning about the business of business along with deeply understanding who you are from the inside out and who do you get to be when you are doing the work you love.
Come and see who I am at my website
http://www.NancyMindes.com/

The home for Audacious Ladies and the men they love

Comments

[Tawnya Sutherland, Founder of VAnetworking.com]

You are so right! Outsourcing to a VA, the areas of work that you don't want to do, will free
up your time to do what you do best in your business, MAKE MONEY! You can
easily find a VA by submitting a RFP at our Virtual Assistant Networking Association (VANA) at http://www.VAnetworking.com/RFP/ We are the portal for Virtual Assistants and not matter what type of VA you are looking for, you will be sure to find them here.

[Bill Dueease]

Successful people create successes on their own terms. They go to great lengths to know themselves, to become the worlds leading experts on themselves (Engaging the right life coach has proven to be the quickest, most accurate, and least costly path to becoming the worlds leading expert on oneself)

Once they know and understand themselves, they pursue their passions to reach excellence in what they love to do. They create and follow their own visions and create the conditions of success around them so they will achieve their own personal success goals. They also enjoy their journey, as they continue to achieve more and more intermediate success goals. But the key is they do it their way.

If you read what the millionaires are really saying in the book, they are virtually all saying they did it their own way. They really know themselves and followed their own path. That is why they are actually so diverse. They are all very different people who reached their own personal form of success their own unique way

[Natasha Gabriel]

Quite an interesting article!

[Sue Jenkins, Owner of Luckychair.com]

Great article, especially the tip on getting a company website online asap. Your website is like your personal calling card and can help you generate leads to your target audience, 24 hours a day, all over the world. For best results, hire a reputable web designer or web design company. Or, if you're more of an entrepreneur, get a good book (such as Web Design: The L-Line, The Express Line to Learning) or a Dreamweaver training DVD (such as Dreamweaver for Designers, by ClassOnDemand) and build your own website.