PAT ALTVATER Entrepreneurs That Activate Their Power of Choice Soar to Success Elite Experts Network AFP Marketing PatAltvater.com When we make a decision to change and begin to implement new strategies to move in the direction we want to go…say grow our business by using speaking as a marketing strategy, or even just create and implement a new prospecting plan…invariably along the way, things happen. Someone implies it can’t be done because they believe it won’t work, suddenly our motivation disappears when it’s time to take action, or our (unrealistic) expectations of immediate results don’t materialize. Then what happens? Most people STOP right in their tracks and turn their attention to something else. I call this coming face to face with the brick wall. It’s the point of choice. We can recognize this moment by our behaviors and emotions. For example, if we can’t bring ourselves to take actions that we intellectually know will move us forward, we can look within ourselves to identify, first, the emotion we are feeling, such as frustration, disappointment, insecurity, or others, and second, the belief behind it. For most people it’s some type of fear… fear of failure, rejection or even success. Once you begin to see the nature of your fear, it will lose its hold on you and you can activate your power of choice, to move through the fear and into action. That sounds so simple, right? It’s not always simple but at least with selfawareness, we can begin to push through our fears and soar to success. Wishing you a great month ahead. Enjoy the articles in this issue and be sure to take advantage of the links for further information.
Personal Growth Strategies SOAR to SUCCESS CONTENTS Magazine 04. 10. 24. 12. 16. 18. 14. 36. 38. 34. 32. 21. 31. 22. 26. 28. 40. 42. Core Business Strategies Business Acceleration Strategies Short on Revenue? Don’t Forget Your Warmest Leads By Jeanne DeWitt Keys to Being Mentally Tough By Pat Bennett Why “Sales Rep’s” Must Evolve into “Trusted Advisors” By Mark Roberts Open to Opportunity By Diane Helbig Accountability Drives Results By Megan Patton Ways to Make Flexible Scheduling Work for You By Lisa Ryan Where Is Your Print Newsletter? By Melanie Rembrandt The Problem with Wanting It All By Jack Klemeyer Instagram Story Ideas to Build Your Following By Holly Kile Why Outsource Accounting Services? By Tina Moe Book Recommendation Soar to Success With Speaking Podcast The First Step to Greater Leadership, SelfAwareness By Janet Kendall White Back to School By Heather Wiegering Doctors Investing in Real Estate By Karen Cupp Our Favorite Videos Our Contributors Cover Feature: Cover Feature: Jennifer Urwin Helps Speakers Soar to Success
Jennifer Urwin Helps Speakers Soar to Success Jennifer Urwin is the founder of Speakers Club Representation and The ClubCalendar, with a background as a speaker agent and lifelong small business owner, she has worked within the speaking industry for many years. their organization on a particular topic, together with speakers, who can fill that need. On a monthly basis she identifies over 200 events that need presenters that cover a variety of topics. Speakers can join her service, which in turn helps them grow their business and find the right speaking engagements. Every month she organizes events that bring associations, corporations and other groups, looking to bring in an outside speaker to address
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Feature Article “I put speakers directly into a relationship building opportunity with event planners, with a full detailed list of who they are, what’s their mission, who’s the right contact? What is their newest topic list, or hot topics that they’re looking for?” These relationships and speaking engagements are for opportunities six months to 13 months in advance of the actual meeting. It’s crucial that the pitch to planners be made during this timeframe. Over the years Jennifer has also learned that it is important for her to limit the number of speakers that she works with. “We maintain an exclusive speaker listing and limit it. We are more about providing a high-end service than we are about having a large number of speakers. We study every single event before we launch the new month to assure it is aimed at the right speaker for the right event, plus the dates are correct, before we release it.” To keep everyone on the same page, she created ‘The Club Calendar’ to keep speakers and events organized. Jennifer doesn’t require signed contracts from her clients. Her service is based on a monthly fee. During the summer months, when families want to take vacation time, subscriber numbers drop, but after Labor Day, speakers once again want to fill their calendars and her numbers increase accordingly.
“We work one-on-one and are extremely flexible. We can easily adjust to our client’s life changes. We talk with them and help them. We are a resource for speakers, as well. They can always call me with questions, plus we provide tutorials. It’s a one-on-one personal relationship.” One of the add-ons that comes with membership in The Club Calendar is Jennifer’s tutorial called The Anatomy of the Perfect Pitch. Many speakers send out a monthly newsletter, or engage in a marketing drip campaign that says the same thing to everyone. “We recommend that each speaker customize their marketing approach. Before they do any outreach, we provide them with the information to be more successful, such as their prospect’s mission, problem areas, who did they hire to speak last year, etc.? Using this information, the speaker can capture the attention of the reader of their email (or the person on the phone line) in the very first paragraph.” Jennifer also helps the speakers improve their presentation so that when they get a new gig, they actually deliver a worthwhile presentation, and that organization will want that speaker to come back for a future event. “It’s not always about a website, or speaker one sheet. Can you speak on stage, what is your ‘proof of performance?’ What is your opening promise statement and is it on topic? What can you do for them? What problem can you solve for your audience? What are the key takeaways?” Jennifer also recommends that any speaker create a short, three minutes, or less, video that shows who they are and what they can deliver to a prospective speaking engagement. “Clients want to get a vibe for that speaker’s style and presentation. The video can be snippets of prior speaking engagements, but it must be well edited and fit together nicely. Maybe pieces of a Q&A at the end of a talk, not just talking, talking, talking. Keep it interesting.”
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Feature Article The ClubCalendar is mostly associations looking for speakers, but it also has industry and corporation opportunities. Both Healthcare and Sales organizations are constantly seeking speakers to educate employees on leadership, customer engagement, plus with the new post-COVID business help teach salespeople to meet, build relationships and sell via the internet. The ClubCalendar provides three levels of involvement. depending on howmuch time and help the speaker would like to receive during each month. She suggests a new speaker come in at the first level, learn what is required and then move up as their business grows. “We try and keep it simple for our speakers. We provide tutorials and explain that they must spend the time, follow the links, learn the information and educate themselves to build a successful speaking business. If they whiz through it and don’t work it properly, they will not be successful. Nothing is easy.” Jennifer lived in Mexico for six years, but currently resides in Canada. Aside from
3 Keys to Soar to Success When Soar to Success asked Jennifer what three personality traits she found in most successful people, she said: 2 1 3 Fortune Rewards the Bold “Sometimes taking a big risk, or gamble really pays off big.” Hard Work Pays Off “If you put in the time and the work, it does pay off in the end.” Focus “If you find something you really want don’t get distracted. Stay focused on the end goal.” working with her speaking clients, she loves to travel. She recently moved to a property with four acres to be able to grow more of her own food and become more self-sufficient. She is a fun-loving person, with an active lifestyle, who enjoys being outdoors. Jennifer has worked in the speaking industry for several years and recognized that speakers need help finding engagements and to take control of their businesses. She also received an award from ‘Women Rocking the Web Issued by Women in Ecommerce.’ Our interview with Jennifer has many more tips for speakers. You can watch it on YouTube or listen on iTunes. To contact Jennifer and learn more about The ClubCalendar visit the website: www.theclubcalendar.net.
Short on Revenue? Don’t Forget Your Warmest Leads By Jeanne DeWitt Most MSP owners have a deep desire to grow their business, which is great. If you’re not growing, you’re dying. However, when marketing for new clients, they neglect marketing to their hottest leads – their current customers. We fell into this trap when we were an MSP. We saw new logos as the indicator of success and our revenue and profit rewarded us for this endeavor. We kept our clients happy, and our client turnover was next to zero. Obviously, we had a handle on client relations, right? Unfortunately, not. While our clients were happy, we were missing a massive opportunity to get our clients in an even better place with their technology which would also lead to more revenue and profit for us. We continued our marketing efforts for new clients but improved and increased our client technology reviews, communication, and sales material. These efforts immediately led to an increase in profit, client satisfaction, and we had more money to invest in our next phase of business – becoming a Cloud Service Provider. We consistently preach this lesson to our clients because of the massive impact it had on our business when we were an MSP. You must be marketing, but that doesn’t just mean marketing to new clients. So, what does it mean tomarket to your current clients?
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Business Acceleration Strategies 1. The consistent development and introduction of services that will provide real value to your clients 2. Build out client opportunity charts. Get in the habit of creating an outline of every client and every available service that would be useful to each client. Your goal is to “fill in all the gaps.” Make sure Cloud is on this list. While I may be biased in that recommendation, there are not many services that will have such a large benefit to your customer while also increasing your profit significantly. 3. A structured quarterly, semiannual, or annual network and security review. These are always jam packed with value. Both parties get on the same page and people are EXCITED to buy your recommendations. 4. Ensure you set up monthly reporting for computers, server ages, and health. This will consistently drive project and hardware revenue (if you focus in this area). 5. A monthly newsletter to keep them engaged with your business and your latest offerings and recommendations. 6. Schedule drop ins with your clients. Ensure to review the client opportunity chart so you can discuss these specific opportunities with your clients when you stop in. While this is not an exhaustive list, these are the activities that have the HIGHEST value to your clients and profit. Too many times we hear partners say they don’t consistently market, meet, and sell to their client base. You tell your team to clear out the low hanging fruit. Time to practice what you preach.
Why “Sales Rep’s” Must Evolve into “Trusted Advisors” Buyers have spoken, loudly in many cases…. they no longer want “sales reps” calling on them and sharing things the buyer could have found on your website. In a recent study 33% of buyers no longer want to work with salespeople. Why? Well to put it bluntly … because of sales reps behaving badly for so long and not delivering value. In a studywith buyers by Florida State, buyers shared only 6 Do you need your sales reps to become trusted advisors who sell based on value? Then this article is for you. Salespeople can strategically build their relationships with clients. With training and coaching sales reps can evolve into trusted business advisors. In every meeting I have with senior leaders of an organizations they share just how important relationships are in achieving their sales growth objectives. minutes were valuable to them in a one-hour meeting with a sales rep. 85% of buyer’s went on to share they expect a salesperson today to connect the dots between what they sell and how it impacts their bottom line. Sadly, less then 14% of salespeople have the skills to do this today. Buyers want and need trusted advisors, business consultants masquerading as salespeople. By Mark Allen Roberts
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Business Acceleration Strategies But sadly, less than 24%of salespeople have been trained how to move from sales rep to becoming a trusted advisor. What we often see are these common relationship levels… Acquaintance/ Vendor supplier- someone who supplies something, this is a transactional relationship. Peer- here the buyer sees the salesperson as knowledgeable about their product and or service, application, some market knowledge, and the buyer looks at the salesperson as a peer, partner if you will. Trusted advisor – here decision makers see salespeople as business consultants who can impact their business outcomes. They have the skills to have conversations that lead to revenue. They deliver industry insights; challenge the way their clients may be doing things and speak the language of business. Why train your sales reps and make them trusted advisors? 1. Their net profit by customer is higher 2. They uncover more opportunities 3. Their close rate is higher 4. They learn about new projects sooner than sales reps 5. They have more time with key decisionmakers 6. They are introduced to many leaders in the customer’s company 7. They discover new product and market opportunities 8. They often are given preferential treatment in large purchase decisions 9. They receive referrals to new customers 10. They are seen as part of their client’s team and not just a vendor If you would like your sales reps to evolve into trusted advisors, please contact my team and we can discuss our process and tools.
Ways to Make Flexible Scheduling Work for You By Lisa Ryan When it comes to work hours and workspace, chances are good that we are never going back to the “good ole days” of 2019. Flexible scheduling is no longer a “nice to have,” it’s an expectation. It’s essential that business leaders figure out how to adjust scheduling practices to keep up with employee expectations. For the most part, employees who have gotten used to working from home are not going to be crazy about going back to the same structured work schedule that they had before the pandemic. Company leaders have also now discovered that tasks that were strictly supposed to be done “in-house” could be successfully completed offsite. So how do you adapt a more flexible scheduling model? Here are three strategies to help: Establish a basic framework. Start with a schedule thatwill accommodate theminimal, or essential, shift coverage. As customer demand climbs, you can always make additional shifts available. You may want to implement core hours where everyone needs to be there but allow flexibility for the rest of the time.
Give early notice. Put out the schedule at least a week in advance, so employees can see what shifts are available. Communicate in real-time, or as close to real-time as possible and offer several response options – text, email, app, etc. It’s all about communication. As long as you keep the flow of information going, you can cover all the shifts needed. SOAR TO SUCCESS / Business Acceleration Strategies Let employees choose. Instead of assigning shifts, let your employees select the shifts they want. Let them request specific shifts or swap shifts when needed. When you give employees ownership of their schedule, you’ll create a more engaged team. Chances are good that you’ll also see fewer no-shows. You may also look at job sharing or part-time work to help fill in the gaps. Not only does flexible self-scheduling give employees more autonomy in their day, but it also enables supervisors to effectively manage their team members with a minimum amount of grumbling and complaining. Using flexibility in your scheduling can set your business apart from the competition, increase employee engagement and make your workplace much less stressful.
What you decide to attend, and how you show up, have a direct correlation to how many opportunities you realize. Too often we choose to skip an event because we aren’t interested in the topic, or we don’t think the other attendees are people we want to meet. This means we are missing out on opportunities we can’t even imagine. But what if you decided to explore more events? What if you attended more events with the sole Open To Opportunity By Diane Helbig goal of meeting new people? I submit you would find opportunities to collaborate, gain referrals, or gain business friends. All of these are valuable for your business. True story: Bonnie decided to attend a luncheon so she could support an organization and a longterm business colleague. The s peaker topic wasn’t of interest to her. So, it wasn’t a meeting
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Business Acceleration Strategies she would have considered going to if it hadn’t been for her desire to provide support. It turns out that she met two people who might be good for her business. Imagine if she had decided to forego the event! She would have missed out on those connections. Think about the events you decided to skip. Is there the possibility you missed out on connections? Possibly. Consider what you want to accomplish in your business. Then identify what you need to implement in order to achieve those results. Take a look backward to what has worked in the past. Follow the trail all the way back to the genesis to discover what worked for you. Then, repeat those activities. We don’t have to complicate the process. It really is as simple as repeating what works. When you do the research, you will find that networking has a direct impact on your results. You may be surprised to find there were events you really didn’t want to attend that turned out to be great. One mistake a lot of people make is thinking the only reason to attend an event is to find prospects. The truth is there are so many other people who could have value for your business. When we focus on prospects, we miss out on all of the opportunities to connect with the people who can have a positive impact on our success. Moreover, when we are in the mindset of looking for prospects, we telegraph that we are in sales mode. No one likes salespeople, so not only will we NOT find prospects, we will alienate everyone we come in contact with. Opportunities abound if we are open to seeing them. It requires that we shift our mindset and our expectations. The rewards are unlimited. So, give it a try. Attend that meeting you aren’t thrilled about. Stay open to just meeting people and learning about them. See what happens!
Inmyworkwithclients,oneof themajorthemes that I come across is the issue of accountability. So many people work hard on their business planning activities, set goals, have wonderful intentions…but something happens. Or, rather, something DOESN’T happen! All the planning in the world won’t move your business forward unless you are committed to taking the action steps you outlined for yourself. So often, especially at the beginning of a new year or new quarter or new business cycle, we spend lots of time planning. It is easy By Megan Patton Accountability Drives Results
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Business Acceleration Strategies to get stuck in too much input and not enough output! The magic is in the implementation. That is easier said than done! Many of us think we just need to be focused or be disciplined in order to “do” the work we said we would do to move our business forward. It is REALLY hard to do it yourself! Small and mid-sized business owners often lack the infrastructure that is present in larger companies. One of the downsides of a lack of infrastructure is a lack of accountability. If a business owner is the only executive on their team, they don’t have a peer group with whom they can share their goals, set accountability targets and share successes. If you find yourself in that situation, I strongly encourage you to seek an accountability partner. Perhaps you have a friend in a similar situation. Or a trusted business associate with whomyou can exchange frank andhonest ideas. Maybe you belong to a business association or amastermind group of similar sized businesses. Perhaps youmight bebetter off usingabusiness coach – someone who will be completely focused on you and your business and help you stay accountable to the goals you set for yourself, while providing valuable guidance and support along the way. The key is to find a solution that works for you. Give this some thought and make a list of 2 or 3 potential accountability partners. Ask them if they would be interested in joining together to be a support team for each other. Or reach out to a business coach and create a relationship to formalize that accountability. Being accountable for the KPIs and goals identified in your business plan is a key step in a successful implementation of your planning efforts. Results will follow.
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Book Recommendation STRATEGY SPRINTS 12Ways To Accelerate Growth for an Agile Business By Simon Severino The premise behind this book is that you can grow your revenue and scale your business without sacrificing your whole personal life. It’s all about working smarter, not longer. Strategy Sprints is written like a blueprint that when you follow, it will increase your effectiveness, grow your revenue and secure business resilience. I love books that you work while you read – doing a section at a time and that’s what is intended with Strategy Sprints. With plenty of practical tools and templates that work, you can use Strategy Sprints to transform your business. Using the “Sprints”method, agileexpert SimonSeverino shows you how to transform your business with 12 assignments or “sprints” that will make you more impactful as a business leader, grow your revenue and make your strategy execution rock. Through these tried and tested exercises, businesses blow the competition out of the water. Strategy Sprints will teach you to identify the bottlenecks that are weighing your business down, turn you and anyone in your team into a sales superstar and streamline processes so you spend timewhere itmatters. The outcomes you’ll master include: - developing a compelling vision - mapping out where you can make the most money - increasing your conversion rates to sales In my marketing agency, I follow a roadmap with my clients that starts with ensuring their foundation is solid…website, target market, social platforms, etc, before they move on to other more advanced marketing tactics. This book uses that same philosophy by classifying businesses using his Five Levels of Business Fitness and then taking the steps appropriate to the determined current level. I encourage you to read (work) this book – it’s bound to make a difference for you and your business. By Pat Altvater About Simon Severino Simon Severino helps business owners in SaaS and Services run their company more effectively which results in sales that soar. He created the Strategy Sprints® Method that doubles revenue in 90 days by getting owners out of the weeds. Simon is the CEO and founder of Strategy Sprints which is a global team of Certified Strategy Sprints® Coaches that help clients gainmarket share andwork in weekly sprints which results in fast execution. Severino is the author of Strategy Sprints and Habits of Success. He is also a Forbes Business Council Member, a contributor to Entrepreneur Magazine, and a member of Duke Corporate Education. Visit https://strategysprints.com for more information.
The First Step to Greater Leadership, Self-Awareness By Janet Kendall White I recently had the privilege of facilitating both Emotional Intelligence and Strength Finder workshops for groups of leaders. Prior to each of those workshops the participants had the opportunity to take assessments to learn more about themselves. I made the comment as I often do that as leaders any time we can be “sliced and diced” to take the opportunity because you will always walk away with a nugget. In general, people are not as self-aware as they think they are. Inevitably when I do these workshops many participants make comments about howmuch they learn about themselves, how helpful that is
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Personal Growth Strategies and, in many cases, disappointment that they had not been given the opportunity sooner. Self-awareness is the first step toward emotional intelligence development and leadership development ingeneral. So, why is it that formany leaders they are mid-career or later before they are given or encouraged to take the assessments of all kinds that would give them valuable information and heighten their self-awareness? “Self-awareness is your ability to accurately perceive your own emotions in the moment and understand your tendencies across situations.” Dr. Travis Bradberry & Dr. Jean Greaves It is difficult in the moment to analyze what the emotion is that you are experiencing as it might seem like it is one emotion when it is really something else once you reflect and dissect what happened. One of the foundational books for many of us is/was The 7Habits of Highly Effective People. Very early in the book there is a section titled “The Way We See the Problem Is the Problem”. So true. In a later chapter the author talks about “owning the gap” between stimulus and response. There is a difference between a response and a reaction. For the past couple of years, I have had a post it on my monitor that said, “own the gap”. Why? Because I know that my gap had narrowed during the pandemic. Things that wouldn’t normally trigger me to react were. I had to step back and look at what was going on in my life that was causing me to react quicker and more intensely than the situation called for in some cases. It takes understanding yourself, being selfaware and the ability to reflect on situations to understand the things that trigger certain emotions, what the emotion really is and be able to sever the cycle prior to the reaction so that you can respond more appropriately. A straightforward process to use when reflecting is: • What was the triggering event? • What was the actual emotion at the root? • Your unhealthy response? • The truth, facts? • Healthy response if you were to respond to a similar situation If you have not had the opportunity to “slice and dice” yourself recently I encourage you to do so. If your organization is not investing in assessments for you, you can. For more information about various resources please feel free to reach out janet@berkshiregroupinc.com Self-awareness is your ability to accurately perceive your own emotions in the moment and understand your tendencies across situations. Dr. Travis Bradberry & Dr. Jean Greaves
Keys to Being Mentally Tough By Pat Bennett As a former gymnast and runner, performing well when it counts is what it’s all about. It’s safe to say that almost all athletes want to reach the level where they’re competing to win. But what does it really take to become competitive at the very highest level? There’s one factor that all the greats of any competitive game have in common, and it is called “mental toughness”. Most people define mental toughness as the ability to produce consistent results in practices and in games regardless of the situation. Whether it’s poor weather, an injury, or a pressure situation,
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Personal Growth Strategies athletes with mental toughness find a way to produce the same results. Consider the careers of athletes Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, Roger Federer and Cristiano Ronaldo. They are examples of resilience and confidence. Mental toughness gives you the confidence needed to keep pushing forward despite the competitive situation. The key component of mental toughness is the ability to focus on the challenge right in front of you. You see, athletes that lack mental toughness have a misplaced focus. It is easy to deliver a topnotch performance when the pressure is off or when people feel fresh. It is more important to keep that level of energy when fatigue or pressure sets in. A good coach helps remind an athlete that their limits are only perceptions developed by their mind. When I felt tired or wanted to stop, I was told that I am in control of the situation. It enabled me to push harder and fight longer. Over time the belief was instilled in me that I am capable of more than I ever thought possible. It literally helped me develop a “fortitude” muscle which prepared me to manage more risk. The Ohio State University Athletics Department states “No matter the activity, always encourage athletes to practice visualizing their success. This is a great way for athletes to overcome any mental limitations. Success for most athletes is achieving something that they have never done before. In order to accomplish this, they will need to break down their mental barriers. Recommend meditating or going for a walk to think about their success.” Athletes visualize the process of success in their minds. Once you can visualize that success in your mind, you’ll experience overcoming mental blocks that can hamper your performance. In business, being mentally tough brings a variety of benefits for individuals and organizations. Research conducted by New Zealand’s ResearchPartnershasconcluded that those with higher levels of mental toughness, enjoy the following: • Better performance – it explains up to 25% of the variation in workplace performance. • Improved positivity – adoption of more of a “can do” approach which leads to greater rapport and connectivity with colleagues. • Greater wellbeing – more contentment and better stress management. • Change management – a calmer and lower stress response to organizational change. • Increased aspirations – greater ambition and confidence in achieving targets and a greater willingness to persevere in order to do so. Practice these things and you will see a difference. In business, being mentally tough brings a variety of benefits for individuals and organizations.
Back to School By Heather Wiegering Whether starting kin-dergarten, trade school or graduate school, students of all ages, parents, teachers, staff and the community supporting all of these students, going back to school creates an energy shift. Changes occur in emotions, thoughts and stress. All of these areas requirevaryingsupport torestorehealth, balance and peace to the body and mind. Two systems of the body that are impacted by change and stress include the nervous and immune systems. What can a parent do? Thankfully, essential oils offer a natural way to support both thenervous and immune systems. In our home, we start touse the following3essential oils about a month BEFORE school starts and continue throughout the school year. This helps children get used to a routine, the aroma, and empowers them for self-care. We also aim to provide a foundation of support in the nervous and immune systems BEFORE interacting with to new people and new environments. Our top 3 BACK TO SCHOOL essential oils are Brave Touch, Stronger Touch and Thinker Touch. 1. Brave Touch is an invigorating, bright and warm aroma. It promotes positive affirmations in stressful situations and
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Personal Growth Strategies creates a confident, calm and courageous atmosphere. Uplift with Brave: Use Brave to reset when experiencing feelings of doubt and stress. Roll it onto the back of your neck and pulse points. Brave is the perfect blend when you’re feeling unmotivated. Before tackling life’s big (or small) moments, roll Brave onto the bottoms of your feet and the backs of your hands with thoughts of courage and positivity, with the reassurance that you can accomplish anything. 2. Stronger Touch is a bright, citrus aroma. Stronger promotes feelings of wellness and vitality. It helps to soothe emotions during times of distress and may provide comfort to occasional skin irritations. Immune Support with Stronger: The bright and uplifting aroma of Stronger is refreshing to the senses and works as the perfect blend for daily resiliency or when you are not feeling your best. One idea is to roll it onto the inner wrists, up the spine and feet before and/or after a long day of activity. 3. Thinker Touch is a light, fresh, minty aroma. Thinker is designed to help a person focus while performing tasks. It is a natural companion for a study-time routine. Focus with Thinker: Ideal for people of various ages and for daily use. Thinker may increase feelings of alertness, help with focus and clarity. Keep Thinker in a backpack or easily accessible and roll onto the inner wrists, then inhale deeply to support a positive test-taking, studying or speaking experience. Whatever doors and books you are opening, be it in person or virtual, get ready for a great school year. Stock your home with natural solutions this school year and make it amazing. Essential Oil Safety & Cautions: This content is for information purposes. Possible skin sensitivity with any oil. Please always dilute with 1 Tbsp or more of doTERRA Fractionated Coconut Oil to minimize skin sensitivity. Keep out of reach of children. Statements not evaluated by FDA, nor intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease. If pregnant or under a doctor’s care, consult your physician. Keep out of eyes, inner ears, and sensitive areas. With citrus, avoid sunlight or UV rays for up to 12 hours after applying product.
Doctors Investing in Real Estate By Karen Cupp There are reasons doctors should consider real estate investing to build their financial wealth. They understand the power of leverage. Doctors understand how important it is to work in their area of expertise while letting others work in theirs. They apply their Doctors enter the medical field following their education with the mission of building a healthy financial future for themselves and their families. They are willing to put in the time needed and develop the expertise needed to achieve these goals. How can this relate to real estate investing? knowledge to serve and leave the administrative activities to those who are best suited. They are masters at creating powerful teams to work for a common goal. They have higher aspirations for their future and are willing to delay immediate gratification to assure success.
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Personal Growth Strategies With the guidance of an experienced investment coach, they can shorten the learning curve and create a strategy that fits their goals and their lifestyle. This can include everything from a hands-off buy and hold strategy using a property manager to handle everything and deliver a monthly check. Other strategies can include syndication opportunities or REITs or joint ventures. Doctors recognize opportunities when presented to them. As a new doctor it is important to find ways of creating effective tax breaks to offset their income. Your CPA will become your best resource to help you create a strategy for offsettingearned income. Heor shecan introduce you to the real estate professional status that the IRS allows, yet doesn’t require you to leave your active profession to achieve the benefits of investing. Last but not least educated professionals utilize the services of a financial planner to help them develop the over all plan for building their financial future. Take time to find the right financial planner who really believes in diversification in building your portfolio. The one mistake most professionals make is believing “they have to wait until they have all the money to get started.” Invest for the long haul. Don’t get too greedy and don’t get too scared. The best way to measure your investing success is not by whether you’re beating the market but by whether you’ve put in place a financial plan and a behavioral discipline that are likely to get you where you want to go. “The major fortunes in America have been made in land.” John D. Rockefeller understood this truth. Living in challenging times that include recession and inflation means that successful people must develop a plan and execute well. Willingness to develop a financial goal and delay immediate gratification can result in the gold at the end of your rainbow!
Janice Gordon Janice B. Gordon enjoys her work. She loves to mentor, speak and advise business owners and executives and that joy comes through when you speak to her. Known as the Customer Growth Expert, Janice is listed in the Top 50 Global Thought Leaders, and Influencers on Customer Experience and 150 Women B2B Thought Leaders You Should Follow, 2021 and LinkedIn Sales 15 Innovating Sales Influencers to Follow, 2021. Author of Business Evolution: Creating Growth in a Rapidly Changing World and co-author of Heels to Deals: How Women are Dominating Business to Business Sales. With 25+ years of experience in business, whether in person, online or on stage, if your audience is one or one thousand sales makers who want to make a difference to their customers, you need to talk with Janice about Scale Your Sales. To contact her, or to find out more visit: https:// janicebgordon.com/. Connect with her on LinkedIn: https://www. linkedin.com/in/janice-b-gordon/ Janice Gordon shares how she presents herself while speaking so audience members want to do business with her on this edition of Quick Tips to Grow Your Business with Speaking Podcast. Janice believes that speaking is one of the best business development strategies you can use, if done correctly. She also explains how to present yourself during your presentation so that audience members ‘raise their hands’ and say “That’s right for me. She’s speaking my language. I really like her and would like to explore doing business together.” This podcast is full of quick tips, including a few techniques for gatheringemail or phone information from participants and strategies for following up. Be sure to tune in. You can either watch on YouTube or listen to the podcast on iTunes or other places where podcasts are found. SOAR TO SUCCESS / Reinvention Uncensored Janice Gordon Shares How To Get Audience Members Clamoring To Do Business With You / Soar to Success Podcast
Why Outsource Accounting Services? Growing businesses often find themselves at a crossroads when it comes to performing work in-house, giving it to technology, or giving it to third parties. At some point, what your small business could get done is simply not going to cut it when you’ve grown to a mid-size business. This dilemma is especially true in accounting. Successfully expanding businesses often hit a wall with in-house accounting power, and they need toaddexpensiveheadcount inorder tomeet growth goals. This iswhenmany opt to outsource. But what are the benefits of outsourcing accounting services and where would you begin? Read on to see what are the most commonly asked questions about outsourcing we get here at A.C.T., and how our experts respond. Q: What are some of the markers of a business that might benefit from outsourcing accounting services? By Tina Moe A: One of the greatest indicators that outsourcingmightbeforyou is ifyou’re interested in expanding your accounting, payroll, and tax capabilities without having to hire more inhouse people. Hiring is expensive, and it can take businesses untold amounts of time and money to find the right person, move them through the interview process, onboard them, and then set them up for success. Outsourcing takes that burden off your plate. It also is beneficial for businesses that anticipate growth but would prefer to skip adding more office space—or even moving—to accommodate that growth. The right outsourced accounting provider should be able to provide everything through the cloud. And if you have started to notice that you might be outgrowing your systems like spreadsheets or QuickBooks, then it’s definitely time to explore outsourcing.
Q: How would a business know if they are outgrowing solutions like spreadsheets or QuickBooks? A: Take note of howmuch time your accounting team is spending buried in those systems. Are they spending hours on manual data entry and re-entry? Spreadsheets are just fine when you’re small, but growing businesses will not be able to maintain productivity with them. Manually researching, re-entering, and verifying data that’s already captured elsewhere is a time suck. And they invite errors. Also consider if your reliance on spreadsheets is heavy. Are you exporting data to and from them? Are you setting up dummy accounts and creating additional journal entries each month? These workarounds are inefficient and can even lead to a lack of control and compliance. Q: What other warning signs might there be for a business that should consider outsourcing? A: A major warning sign is if you lack realtime visibility into your metrics. That visibility is essential for making timely decisions that directly impact your performance. Another is if you are struggling to analyze the volume of data you capture. Manipulating high volumes of data at strategic levels can strain your traditional systems. Doing so ismost effectivewith an expert partner. Q: What kinds of cost ramifications are there for businesses that want to keep accounting inhouse versus going outsourced? A: The costs associated with traditional recruiting, hiring, and training a new single employee versus hiring the right outsourced team can save tens of thousands of dollars. An outsourced partner should identify inefficiencies, SOAR TO SUCCESS / Core Business Strategies inaccuracies, and risks that help you focus on your important financial rocks. The partner can fully support you with customized systems and processes that align with your growth goals. There is major ROI in all of that. Q: What are some of the benefits a business should expect from outsourcing accounting services? A: First, the right partner should be leveraging the industry’s top-line technologies. Solutions like Sage Intacct are ones to look for. If your outsourced accounting consultant is a Sage Intacct partner, you’ll soon be well on your way to demonstrably improving efficiencies and cost savings. You can expect your partner to introduce automation that will increase your accounting accuracy and start saving your team immense amounts of time. You’ll also benefit from being able to consult with the partner as an extension of your team—except one that is solely devoted to underscoring your growth goals through payroll, bookkeeping, tax preparation, and other services. You’ll get things like real-time financial data, ongoing professional and leadership support, immediate implementationof solutions for better visibility, and a think tank of knowledgeable, experienced accounting professionals.
Keeping your Instagram busy is a good way to build your following. An active account is more interesting than an inactive one. Plus, using Instagram to share all types of content with your audience in many forms is going to be much more interesting to them than if you shared only one type. Let’s By Holly Kile Instagram Story Ideas to Build Your Following look at some ideas that you can incorporate into your stories to build your following. * Show a Day in the Life – A great use of Instagram stories is to take a day and show up a few different times of the day to share what you’re doing as it relates to your audience and your business. For example, if you are a business coach, you might want to share how you run your own business and team with others. * Go Live – Take some time to go live each day even to share just one exciting tidbit of news. When you go live randomly,
your audience will get notified if they signed up to be notified. They’ll pay more attention to you and will even be sad if they miss it live, but they’ll also watch the recording if you leave one. * Don’t Forget Your Call to Action – When you do share a story, always remember to include a call to action. Your audience will not act (or only very rarely) if you don’t tell them what to do. Each time you make any content, you should know what you want the results to be after your audience views it. That will inform your CTA. * Provide a Sneak Peek – Creating a new product or service? Provide a sneak peek about it. Trying out a new software you want to recommend? Do a story about it. The more reasons you can find to show up in stories, the better for your quest to find more followers. * Conduct a Poll – Instagram allows you to conduct polls, which is a good way to find out what your audience is thinking. Keep polls short and sweet to avoid any confusion, since these polls aren’t very scientific. If you want accurate results, consider keeping choices limited. * Trade Instagram Stories for a Day – If you have a colleague that serves a similar or same audience as you do, you can trade Instagrams for SOAR TO SUCCESS / Core Business Strategies a day. You run their stories, and they run yours. This is a wonderful way to get cross-promotion and more followers. * Count Down to Launch – If you have a launch or an event coming up, use Instagram stories to do a countdown for the launch. This is a fun way to get everyone excited about your new offer. *UseStickers andSpecial Effects – Instagramhas ways for you to grab your audience’s attention; use them. Add special effects, use stickers, add great hashtags. Call out the right people. Make yourself known so that you can grab those followers who like you. * Add User-Generated Content – Another way to add to your Instagram stories is through user-generated content. Case studies, recommendations, testimonials and more are all useful for creating content for your Instagram. User-generated content will grab attention like nothing else. Instagram stories can build your following if you remember who you’re supposed to be adding value to, stay true to yourself and your brand, and keep in mind that you need to publish content on a regular basis. Plus, be sure to explore all the features of Instagram to ensure that you’re using it as fully as possible.
Did you know that 64% of respondents in the 2021 Lob report, “The State of Direct Mail,” indicate that: “Direct mail delivers the highest response rate of any marketing channel they use” and “One third of respondents allocate up to 25% of their overall marketing budget to direct mail, while another quarter use 25-50% of their marketing budget for direct mail.” Why? Because they get results. In fact, data from the 2018 DMA Response Rate Report (available to members for a fee at https:// www.ana.net/miccontent/show/id/rr-2018-ana-dma-respose-rate ) shows direct mail response rates came in at 9% to a house list versus a 1% email response rate. What do your email open rates look like? While digital marketing is important, do you send physical, mailed pieces to your current and potential customers, too? By Melanie Rembrandt Where Is Your Print Newsletter? Customers are deleting your email messages right now!
SOAR TO SUCCESS / Core Business Strategies Yes, there are sales letters, postcards, brochures, and other direct response marketing pieces. But one element you may not be thinking of is a print newsletter. Why spend the resources to mail a print newsletter? • Get opened. You know people are inundated with emails, text messages, social media notifications, and other digital interruptions every day. Rather than have your electronic messages deleted, why not send a physical newsletter that people actually open and look at? (There are many stats out there, but one study by Gallup shows that 41% of people look forward to opening their mail every day.) • Control your message. Your newsletter includes the exact content you want to send without being changed or blocked by anyone else! You can write whatever you want, send it whenever you want and track the results in whatever way works best for you! • Remind customers of what you offer. You have nothing to lose! Even if your mail gets thrown in the recycle bin upon arrival, the recipient still gets a reminder of the products and services you offer. They have to physically look at your mail piece and decide what to do with it. But, if you regularly offer interesting and valuable information, they will want to open it to see what’s inside… every time they receive it. • Stand out from the competition. How many of your competitors do this? By regularly mailing a print newsletter to your target market, you will be top of mind each month! This way, you can build long-term relationships, improve credibility and offer one-of-a-kind insights about your solutions, team members, success stories, and more. So, what are you waiting for? Yes, creating and distributing a print newsletter each month is more expensive than sending out a simple email. But your ROI will be well worth it when done correctly. Try it and see what happens. And don’t be surprised if you boost sales and brand awareness fast… all while enjoying a unique advantage your competition can’t touch!
The Problem with Wanting It All By Jack Klemeyer It’s a challenge that I’ve fought for years… imagine being in a candy store and wanting this kind and that kind and oh, there’s another kind! Can you relate? Maybe you’re not a candy lover so it might show up elsewhere. I have a couple of my friends that when someone asks them what they do… they go on and on with a litany of all the services they provide. I know a few others that when someone asks them who their ideal client is they go on and on… “I serve youth, salespeople, leaders, generals, drywaller’s etc., etc.” Do you know anyone like my friends?
There is a problem with wanting it all and it’s just this… When you’re for everyone, you’re really for no one. Being specific is the key to success, in asking for referrals, telling people what you do and who you serve and especially whatever it is you are pursuing. An assessment I took one time when I was first starting my business reported back to me that I suffered from a thing called Goal Diffusion. Goal Diffusion can sometimes be thought of as lack of motivation but what it really is… is the inability to focus in the face of numerous options and therefore not achieving your goals in a satisfactory way. It can be thought of as a form of overwhelm. My former client and good friend Sarah is a great example of the concept of focusing but she wasn’t when I first met her. When I first met her, she had five different businesses none of which was really working out like she thought they should. After some discussion about her passion, we settled on only one of the five and she really focused on that business and as a result, she became the dominant solution in that line of work. The secret of her successwas, besidesbeing an amazing person, leader and entrepreneur was that she focused on her one business. More ideas and ways to serve her clients in that business. Success followed and in a huge way. Today, Sarah has as much work as she wants and is the go-to person in her field. If you are or have experienced overwhelm in your business, here are some thoughts that might be helpful. Like most of us, hundreds of SOAR TO SUCCESS / Core Business Strategies things are pulling at you seemingly all at one time. You’ve got marketing going, production to oversee, calls to return, employees that need your advice. It’s never-ending right? Most of the small business owners that I talk to keep almost all of these things in their head. I ask them where their business plan is. It’s in their head. I ask where their employee training manual is. It’s in their head. About the only thing that’s written down is their calendar of appointments. Even many of their to-dos are in their head. Here’s one simple and powerful way to get out of overwhelm— write it all down, get it out of your head. Start by taking a little time each day to document your business processes. Make a list today of the processes that you haven’t recorded. Cover marketing, production, training, accounting, etc. Then take one of these areas and document it in detail this week. Each week, for the next few weeks document another area. Within a fairly short period of time, you should have at least the basics of marketing procedures, production procedures, client follow up procedures, and employee training procedures in place. In other words, you’ve now got business processes. Processes that you can rely on. Processes you don’t have to think about. Processes that you will use to grow your business without all that overwhelm now that it’s not all in your head. Pick one and work it and you will be even more successful! Start by taking a little time each day to document your business processes.
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