Perseverance pays off BIG TIME!

I would like to share this forum post from my friend who has been working to build her business. It does a great job of capturing the power of ongoing marketing:

“I have had major victories over the past few weeks. I have signed on 3 major clients and have a fourth one on the way. These deals will amount to tens of thousands of dollars per month in the next 3-6 months.

You may be asking what have I done differently over the past few weeks that has brought me such great fortune. I have done nothing different. I’ve spent the last nine months building a strong business foundation and asking the question, “Who is my perfect customer and why should they hire me over the other consultants in the marketplace?” And then I shared my message.

I’ve had teleseminars where no one has shown up and I still continued marketing. I’ve set up meetings where no one has shown up and I still continued marketing. And when I asked one of the major clients why she chose me, she responded, “I’ve been listening to your audios and receiving your newsletters for 6 months before I decided to approach you. Based on all I’ve heard, I knew that you would be a good fit for my project.”

So…remember this - Market early and market aggressively! Even when you think no one is listening, they are.”

So, remember this piece of advice if you are ever frustrated because you think your marketing isn’t working. Persistence is the key!

Hugs and success, Wendy Maynard, Your Friendly Marketing Maven

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I find creativity to be a fascinating - if somewhat elusive - concept. It is a quality we have to discover within ourselves and then figure out how we can best harness it.
To me, creativity is about epiphanies while taking a shower, digging my hands in the garden dirt, eating dark chocolate, painting my bedroom walls in bright red and caramel orange, figuring out the best Halloween costume to wear next year, going for a long hike in the autumn colors… These are the things that awaken inspiration and creativity.

From these moments come sparks of ideas that can then be nurtured into a more tangible form.

Creativity is also about feeling scared but finding a way to move forward in spite of the fear. I encourage every single person reading this to figure out what inspires your creativity and what holds you back. How can you move forward in spite of your fears?
Every successful entrepreneur, business owner, marketing professional, blogger, and artist must find the way to tap into his or her creativity on a regular basis.
What stimulates your creativity? What holds you back?

Hugs and success,

Wendy Maynard
Your friendly marketing maven

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As I continue to grow my businesses, I’m realizing that there is a constant learning curve. When I first started out, it was learning how to create the systems to grow to be six figures in revenue. And now, that my goals are set on getting on seven figures, it is a whole new set of challenges.

It’s like a braid that I am weaving with the three strands being expertise, capacity, and learning. As we expand our expertise, we attract more clients. As we attract more clients, we have to figure out ways to expand our capacity…this means adding more staff, contractors, vendors, assistants and/or products/services. To manage all of these components and people requires more knowledge about the next phase of entrepreneurship.

The longer I am invested in the path of entrepreneurship, the deeper my appreciation grows for its intricacies. Humans have an innate need to build complex relationships. And a company is a perfect venue to fulfill this need. But, continuing to step along the path is not for the faint of heart. It takes courage and continuous process improvement. It is very exciting. Which brings me to the point of this post…

I am reading Four-Hour WorkWeek by Timothy Ferris. It’s a book with great concepts. Overall, I really enjoy what Tim is trying to communicate and I recommend the book. It’s well written and has a lot of great resources. Tim emphasizes the importance of creating a business to support a lifestyle. And I wholeheartedly agree with this point. Our path in entrepreneurship should be about the conscious choices that we are making. I find too many business owners get chained to their business - it consumes them instead of being a way to express their passions.

Tim mentions that he outsources all of his work to Brickwork and Your Man in India. He rarely replies to e-mails or answers the phone. Instead, he has assistants to do all of this for him. Tim is definitely on to something here. I have assistants and I recommend to all of my clients that they focus on their highest, best work by getting assistants to help them with the things that aren’t their strengths (i.e. scheduling, filling, bookkeeping, errands, and so on).

Here is the HUGE downfall of the book in my opinion…

The book comes across to me as being written by a 30-year old single white male without many attachments. This is probably because Tim is a single, 30-year-old white male without many attachments. His suggestions do not appeal to me for a number of reasons. I happen to love my garden and my dogs and my house and my family. I love my community of friends and all of the activities that I am engaged in. I have no desire to leave them to become a cagefighter in a foreign land. (I know, Tim, you say that you are offering a workstyle that also allows people to have more time to do the things they love too).

Here are a few reviews making this same point that I pulled from Amazon:

“I do recommend this book to a SINGLE, young, bon vivant man… Who wants to travel a lot, meet girls, stay in “okay” hotels, and see the world trying to work as little as he can…For a FAMILY man, a lawyer.. it wasn’t really that good… We can’t travel just like that… waiting for last minute tickets and all this stuff… So i give 3 stars cause the book is GOOD but for SINGLE people without children… my opinion… Otherwise the maximun that will happen is you read the book and daydream of how many places and things you could do if you didn’t have anyone to be responsible for…”

“Apparently the road to happiness involves outsourcing the majority of your life to miserably paid minions in India and exploiting niche markets by selling them overpriced merchandise. Can you say spiritually bankrupt? It’s no news that the easiest way to become a “have” is by exploiting the “have nots”…this book outlines the process.”

“A married person with a few kids would be hard pressed to relate to this vagabond single male’s lifestyle recommendations…Come on Tim! What about school, feeding the kids, the dog, and the in-laws. What about community? What about being there for those who are friends and comrades? What about the value of working to build the houses, dig the ditches, and do the math? “

But, beyond that, here is where I really get hung up with Tim’s suggestions. While his life and his travel may be filled with excitement, he describes a business model that I would call cold and lifeless. There is nothing vibrant about the companies that he describes. They function merely to bring him income. He also writes the book on the premise that everyone who is reading it is stuck in a cubicle in a job that they hate.

In contrast to this, I happen to adore my businesses. Work is not work because I love what I do. I like to think of my companies as having a life of their own - I have created, nurtured, and raised these entities and they have their own personalities. They are vibrant and warm and complex. I am passionate about the work that I do for my clients, for the working environment I have created for my employees, my beautiful office, and for the complexities of building relationships in the business world. I also believe that my companies are a creative expression of myself and the teams contained within them. As they grow, I grow. As I grow, they grow.

Again, I will pull from an Amazon quote from someone who holds a similar opinion:

“What has worked well for me is work–hard, persistent, and passionate work. Work heals. You never feel more alive than when you are using all your skills in the pursuit of excellence. My work is not work because I love it. Four hours a day would not be enough; I want more.

What works for everyone is responding immediately to people. People love to feel valued and important, and they reciprocate. People love it when you, instead of spending four hours a week at work and the rest of your day learning how to tango or hit a knockdown eight iron, spend it in service to them, their community, or their country.”

What are your thoughts on this?

Hugs and success, Wendy Maynard
Your friendly marketing maven

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A little rant here…

Thankfully, it doesn’t happen that often. But when it does, I find it irritating. I’m talking about unprofessional e-mails. Here are some examples:

• I don’t like e-mails that contain shortened words like “EZ” and “How r u?” and “gr8″ and “thanx!”

• i also dont like emails i receive that dont use any punctuation or caps because i think they look like a child wrote them

• THE EMAILS THAT ARE ALL IN CAPS ARENT ANY BETTER

• Then there are the e-mails from people who don’t seem to care about grammar. For example, “I have learned so much the most important being that I love sales! I love people and nurturing and maintaining relationships. I have fine honed this skill.”

• Buit probably the worts ones of all are the ones where the person writnig them din’t take the time to proff their email or use speklcheck.

E-mail is part of your marketing and it makes an impression. This is true whether you are sending an e-mail to a client, prospect, vendor, or potential employer. A typo once in a while probably won’t ruin a relationship, but please make sure that you look at what you have written before you hit that “Send” button!

Hugs and success, Wendy Maynard

Your friendly marketing maven

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In a previous post, I shared my thoughts on the gender of the blogger triggered by reading some blog rants. If you don’t feel like reading the entire post, here is an excerpt:

…In the realm of starting and running my businesses, I haven’t felt held back by my gender. The only things that seem to hold me back are time, stress, and the occasional hard-to-please client.

From my perspective as a marketing consultant, women are smart and savvy business owners. They can make effective decisions about their marketing. They can also make smart choices about how they choose to express themselves. Therefore, in my mind whether a woman chooses to blog or not to blog, I can’t see that there is anything holding them back from starting one…

And speaking of smart and savvy women business owners, I am honored to be recognized amongst a list of female power bloggers. I am expressing my gratitude by sharing the link love. If you are so moved, please visit some of these blogs…you’ll like what you find

The W List

45 Things by Anita Bruzzese

advergirl Leigh Householder

Back in Skinny Jeans by Stephanie Quilao

Biz Growth News by Krishna De

BlogWrite for CEOs Debbie Weil

Brand Sizzle Anne Simons

Branding & Marketing Chris Brown

Brazen Careerist by Penelope Trunk

CK’s Blog CK (Christina Kerley)

Communication Overtones Kami Huyse

Conscious Business by Anne Libby

Conversation Agent Valeria Maltoni

Corporate PR Elizabeth Albrycht

Customers Rock! Becky Carroll

Deborah Schultz by Deborah Schultz

Diva Marketing Blog Toby Bloomberg

Email Marketing Best Practices Tamara Gielen

Escape from Cubicle Nation by Pamela Slim

eSoup by Sharon Sarmiento

Flooring The Consumer CB Whittemore

Forrester’s Marketing Blog Shar, Charlene, Chloe, Christine Elana, Laura and Lisa

Get Fresh Minds by Katie Konrath

Get Shouty by Katie Chatfield

Hey Marci by Marci Alboher

Inspired Business Growth by Wendy Piersall
J.T. O’Donnell Career Insights by J.T. O’Donnell

Kinetic Ideas Wendy Maynard

Learned on Women by Andrea Learned
Little Red Suit by Tiffany Monhollon

Liz Strauss at Successful Blog by Liz Strauss

Lorelle on WordPress by Lorelle VanFossen

Manage to Change by Ann Michael

Management Craft by Lisa Haneberg

Marketing Roadmaps Susan Getgood

Moda di Magno by Lori Magno

Modite by Rebecca Thorman

Narrative Assets by Karen Hegman

Presto Vivace Blog Alice Marshall

Productivity Goal by Carolyn Manning

Spare Change Nedra Kline Weinreich

Tech Kitten by Trisha Miller

That’s What She Said by Julie Elgar

The Blog Angel aka Claire Raikes

The Brand Dame by Lyn Chamberlin

The Copywriting Maven Roberta Rosenberg

The Engaging Brand by Anna Farmery

The Origin of Brands Laura Ries

The Podcast Sisters by Krishna De, Anna Farmery and Heather Gorringe
Water Cooler Wisdom by Alexandra Levit

Wealth Strategy Secrets by Money Gym author and Founder Nicola Cairncross.

What’s Next Blog B L Ochman

Wiggly Wigglers authored by fellow Podcast Sister Heather Gorringe

Ypulse by Anastasia Goodstein

Hugs, Wendy Maynard

Your friendly marketing maven

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Michael Port seems like a pretty good guy, and definitely smart and charming and all of that.

But here is a recent post on his blog that I just cannot and will not get behind:

Wake Up! I wish everybody got up early. I do my best work early in the morning but I also do my best work with others. I’m working on title ideas for a new book and I need my 5 brainstorming partners. As my old friend Paul Tutundgy (2-ton-G) used to say, “Sleep when you’re dead.” Wake up everybody!

That’s the last thing that the Maven wants to do. I started my own company and am a joyful entrepreneur because I DON’T have to get up at the butt-crack of dawn. I happily get to my office around 9:30 a.m. and work until 6 or 7 p.m. because that is my best and most productive time. I’ve always been a zombie in the morning and enjoyed the evenings.

My business partner often kicks into high-creative mode after dinner and sometimes works until 3 in the morning. One of the comment on Michael’s blog is from someone who is also in the late-night camp:

But hey, that’s you who does the best work in the morning. I do my best after 8pm, and I am creative until 2:30am. Mornings are robot time for me. No inspiration, no creativity. So I wish everybody would stay up that late! The world would be a better place.

My take on it? Let’s all create businesses that allow each of us to work when our peak times are. And not encourage night owls to become morning larks!

Hugs, Wendy Maynard

Your friendly marketing maven

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A lot of my clients ask, “How do I market my business online?” Here are a few tips that I wrote recently:

1) Build your list: The first thing I would say that you all need to do (if you haven’t started already) is build your list! Your top three assets in your business are 1) your core skills 2) your creativity and 3) your list of prospects and relationships. Therefore, you have to have a mechanism on your website to capture names and an offer to entice them to give them your contact name - otherwise CLICK! and they are gone forever! Then you have to be able to store and manage your database of prospects and communicate with them on a regular basis.

2) Work to build relationships: An Internet business is fundamentally just like any other business. You establish a Brand, a niche, and you target an audience. And then you begin to build relationships with them. This is often more complex than in face-to-face marketing because it’s harder for prospects to qualify you and it’s hard for you to pre-qualify them. So you have to have a strategy to engage your site visitors and create a compelling offer with a call to action.

3) Plan for success: Just like any other business, it takes time, effort, patients, and persistence to grow your revenue (that’s probably NOT what you want to hear!) Create a business plan, a marketing plan, and revenue projections. Develop multiple streams of revenue that you will offer over time.

4) It’s all about your customer: Want to know what your customers want? Then ask them. You can send out a survey (keep it short) through www.surveymonkey.com and get feedback about what problems your customers want you to solve. Remember, you are in business to SERVE. Make sure your prospects and customers know the value you provide.

5) If you offer affiliate products, it’s still about your customer: If you are going to offer other people’s products, get to know your affiliates and their offerings. Buy their products and see if YOU like them. I have several affiliate products (less than 10) on my site and I provide them to my customers because I am familiar with the products and I trust the person providing the services. I know they will work to help my customers and subscribers accelerate their marketing goals. My list trusts me because I don’t offer a lot of bad-fitting affiliate products. So, when I do offer something, they are much more likely to buy.

6) Always be building new highways to your site: Your website is like the hub of a bicycle wheel with spokes that represent potential avenues for people to find you. There are hundreds of ways to drive traffic to your site. One of the most powerful is Google’s Adsense. I have created a whole program that details numerous no-cost ways. You can learn about it here: http://www.gomarketingmaven.com/marketing_…ve_traffic.html

Maven Tip: Stay the course - successful online marketing requires a long-term investment. It involves careful planning, tracking response, and repeating/expanding successes. It also involves minimizing those things that aren’t working. Make an investment in sound online marketing by taking the time to develop to plan. As you implement your plans, always work to provide value to your customers.

Hugs and success, Wendy Maynard
Your friendly marketing maven

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