Advice From the Experts

Why am I not doing better in my business?  I was asked that question recently by a client.  And the answer?  She's not doing anything to move her business forward. 

I know all the excuses.  I used to use them myself.  "I'm not sure this will work."  "I need more information."  "I'm waiting until the new _______ (computer, software package, printer, etc) goes on sale."  "I can't afford _____ (to advertise, host a website, hire a coach, etc)."  "I don't have enough time."  "I just need my _______ (website, infoproduct, ebook, etc) to look a little bit better."

I don't use those excuses anymore.  After attending one of Ken McArthur's jvAlert events and meeting successful people like Felicia Slattery, Carrie Wilkerson, Bob Jenkins, and Adam Urbanski - and of course Ken himself - I saw what was possible.  Listening to their advice helped me get up and running.  A speech by Bob Jenkins gave me the push to go back to my room that same night and launch my first blog - "The Adventures of Traveling Bob".  He said "Take action.  Revise later."  That was also the day Carrie Wilkerson told me that to be successful one needed to take massive action - to completion. 

They didn't just give me pep talks that weekend.  They also gave me concrete advice on how to proceed.  So in keeping with the spirit of jvAlert - people helping people - I pass on to you today some of the knowledge they shared with me.  Use it to make your business better.

1.  Learn what you need to know.  Don't waste your time buying every book, course, and seminar that's offered.  Determine exactly what skill or knowledge you need and then find a way to obtain it.  For example:  Before hearing this I had books on every conceivable way to make money online you could think of.  Problem:  I had no idea how to even begin building a site of my own or researching to see if there was a viable market for my ideas.  Once I focused on obtaining just that information I progressed pretty quickly - and I saved a ton of money on infoproducts that I didn't need!

2.  Advertise. I was so excited when I started my first Pay-Per-Click campaign.  It was a thrill to get online each day and see that I was actually getting traffic to my site!  From there I learned about Ezine advertising, and then Adsense and Adwords.  Now I was getting traffic to my site and they were actually signing up for my newsletter which started building my opt-in list.  Which allowed me to start advertising by email.

3.  Follow up.  It wouldn't have done me a bit of good to learn about advertising methods if Bob Jenkins hadn't casually asked me if I had an autoresponder.  Not wanting to appear completely dense, I did not admit I had no idea what that was.  But you can bet I went back to my room that night and found out.  What a concept!  I didn't have to try and follow up with each lead/subscriber individually.  I now had 24/7 follow up capability.  Awesome!

4.  Network, network, network.  You never know who you might meet.  I started out in business as a meeting planner and Ken McArthur was one of my clients.  He often invited me to attend one of his events and finally one day I was able to.  That event changed my life simply because of who I met there.  Not only did I learn what  I have shared with you here, I also learned the value of networking.  It was here that I was introduced to Ryze, and Twitter, and LinkedIn, and Facebook.  And it was through these social networking sites that I met Terri Dennis aka PopArtDiva, Bev Mahone, Heidi Caswell, Wendy Y. Bailey, Heidi Richards Mooney, and so many others.  Each of them have taught me something that has helped me take the next step.  Learning to network also gave me the courage to attend local networking events where I met Linda Gracy, Carrie Perrien Smith, Linda Concoby and many more.  These ladies have also taught me a great deal and have quickly become friends.  And all of them have introduced me to others in their networks.

5.  Perhaps the best advice I received that weekend came from Ken himself.  I confessed to him that meeting planning, while fun, was not where my heart was.  I told him I had been trying various things to get an online business going but nothing was working.  His advice was stop trying various things, figure out what my skills were, determine what my passion was, put the two together and focus on that.

What are you waiting for?  Take the next step.  Use the advice I received from the experts.  Stop making excuses and let's do this!