Finding the True Source of Strength

What do you do when you realize you have used the last ounce of your personal strength, resources and do not know how to replenish them? In discussing this with a good friend, she said, "Have you tried praying? To get help, you must ask for it."

In thinking about this, I saw that I had always taken great pride in the fact that I could "do it myself." I have always been so self-sufficient that I have never asked anyone for help, even when I needed it. Certainly, I had never thought of asking God for help for He was surely too busy with the important things of the world to be concerned about my little problems.

One night, however, unable to sleep because of all my cares and worries, I got down my knees and started to pray. I said, "Lord, I really need some help here!" Then I told Him in detail what was bothering me and asked Him to give me strength, courage and guidance.

My prayer was answered the next night in a way that to me was both miraculous and glorious: my whole life began to change in exciting ways as soon as I plugged myself into God's power. I will share in detail in a few blogs from now.

It is now clear to me that we can go a long way under our own steam and much farther when others are behind us offering motivational support and encouragement. But sooner or later, with or without emotional and motivational support, we're all going to run out of ourselves someday. The problem today is that there are so many books and so many humanists out there saying, "You can do it! All you have to do is believe in yourself." As many before me have learned, that is not enough.

There is a limit to the number of times you can pull yourself up by the bootstraps. Unless you plug into a source of power greater than yourself, one day you may discover as I did that, without God, you're as dead and useless as a light bulb without electricity.

So remember to thank God for the special skills, talents and abilities He has given you, and don't hesitate to lean on the LORD when you need help or encouragement in either your personal or business life. From experience, I have learned that if we will simply put our faith in God and give Him an opportunity to work in our lives, He will lead us in surprising new directions and reveal wondrous things we never could have discovered on our own. As the Bible confirms:

"Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." (Proverbs 16.3)

Ten Simple Ways to Discover the JOY Factor

In the past, I have written briefly about the pursuit of happiness and about how, according to recent research, the JOY factor is not increased through more and more money or possessions. So where does it come from? What experiences, thoughts and relationships help you reach a momentary state of jJOY or happiness? Here are some of mine.

1. Set goals and complete them. There is something very satisfying and joy producing in crossing something off a list. I believe we are programmed towards accomplishment. We are frustrated with procrastination, indecision, lost dreams. You may be very "busy" but unless you have a tool to measure progress (goals), you will not appreciate the satisfaction and joy of completion.

2. Dance, Sing, & Listen to music. It is difficult to hold on to a frown when enveloped by a rollicking Irish jig or a rap song playing in the background. Happiness might have been a warm puppy to Charles Schultz but to me is it being in the arms of my warm husband and listening to music.

3. Make something. Cook or Make something Yummy! or try something like knitting , the hum of a sewing machine, the pounding of a nail. Not only the act of creating a product but the pride of producing something tangible always brings JOY to my life.

4. Grow something. Not unlike creating a product, growing a tree, a garden, or an African violet, brings ongoing satisfaction and joy. My best friend Michelle, The Gardener, virtually beams (I can hear it over the phone) when she talks about her wonderful gardens.

5. Give freely. When you give your time, your talents, and/or your money, you will give yourself a shot of happiness. There is something powerful about giving freely (not out of guilt or duress).

6. Get physical. Move your body. Talk a walk, go for a run, have great sex, row a boat, paint your bathroom. We all know there is strong scientific evidence that significant physical movement activates endorphins that make us feel happy. What are you waiting for?

7. Add color.in your wardrobe or around your house. Feeling low? Take off that black skirt and sweater and put on something colorful. I just painted my bathroom celery green and it calls me in. I love it! Have you observed the ladies of the Red Hat Society? They are dressed in purple and wear red hats (in public!). Boy, are they ever a happy bunch! I look forward to wearing my purple hat one day!

8. Take a friend to lunch. Friendship is one of our greatest gifts. Spending time with girlfriends nearly always makes us more joyful. Call an old friend you have not spoken to in a long time, set a date for lunch with someone who makes you laugh, visit a friend who is homebound.

9. Learn to be alone. Spending time alone, regrouping, being silent can have a surprising happiness quotient attached. Learn to find joy in your own company.

10. Stretch your mind. As much as I sometimes resist learning something new, I always come away feeling renewed and fulfilled when I stretch my mind and take in a new idea, skill, or information. My husband finds joy in card games like spades or on-line pool games and I was happy when my Son taught me how to set up a program on the computer.

It is a good thing the title of this article is "10 things" because otherwise I would go on and on. There is practically no limit to the happiness possibilities if you look for them, appreciate them, and acknowledge how you are feeling when you are involved. Make your own list of happiness factors and then make sure they are a part of your life!

Marketing Plans can Prepare you for Success! (JOY)

Planning by itself will not guarantee your success. However, not planning has proven repeatedly that you will almost certainly fail.

One of my favorite resources that I use repeatedly for my own planning is Steve Hackney's Steve describes his Power Marketing Super System as 90% preparation and 10% application. He not only tells you what to do, he also explains why you are doing it and gives detailed steps on how to do it.

An effective marketing plan will keep you from falling victim to the "episodic marketing" approach that is so common among small businesses. You know what that looks like don't you? Business slows down, so you come up with a new "marketing idea" such as a direct mail postcard to try to drum up some new business.

Then the next time business slows down, you come up with some different idea (maybe a newspaper ad, a new brochure, or an open house) in another desperate attempt to stir up some new clients.

The problem is that typically none of these ideas has anything to do with the one before. They are isolated episodes that are a reaction to the current business slow down. It is like riding on a marketing roller coaster. We "market" when things slow down and we "stop marketing" when things are busy.

It should be understood that marketing plans are crucial to your small business success. Yet everyday people do not take the time to stop and actually think about how much better off they would be with even a simple plan.

If you are like most small business owners, I meet, then planning is something you know is important, but it does not always happen. Most small business owners need to feel like they are "doing" something to be productive. In addition, not all that planning sure feels like doing when there are so many day-to-day things to be done.

It does not have To Be So Complex.

Take a few days to a few weeks to follow these seven identifiable steps to create your own small business-marketing plan.

1. Begin with a Clear Purpose and Focus. It is imperative to begin by making sure you are very clear on where you are going with your business and what you want to accomplish. It sounds simple enough, but so many small businesses cannot think past their desperate need for one or two new guests by next week.

With a direction and focus, you can be passionate about, key marketing activities can begin to line up and all point in the same direction.

2. Position Your Business For Success Others Cannot Generate.

Key elements such as an attention-getting message and testimonials have been proven to work repeatedly. Many small businesses just do not understand how to implement them.

3. Create More Compelling Marketing Materials. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but most small business marketing materials are bad. They are poorly designed and written. They do not compel people to read them and do not make much of a case for the product or service they are promoting. In some cases, they are actually driving away customers in droves. Not having a call to action can drive your business away.

4. Get Busy Being Known. You cannot do business with someone if you do not know about him or her and they do not know about you. If you are invisible, then your guests do not even know you are in business.

5. Maximize Income And Profits From New And Existing Guests. By far the easiest and most rewarding, but often ignored part of a typical small business is reselling. It has been said that it costs at least seven times more to get a new guests than it does to work with existing guests.

Do not get overwhelmed By Planning.

Most small business owners seem to get overwhelmed when they start thinking about marketing. But if you just start with a simple outline like this and commit to spending some time filling in the spaces each week, you'll realize it's very possible.

Marketing Plans by themselves will certainly not guarantee you success. However, the process of creating even simple marketing plans will put you ahead of 90% of the small businesses out there. The few weeks of time you spend now and the continuing effort you spend ongoing will launch you past your competition who is continuing to use the episodic (flavor of the month) approach to marketing.

Marketing is not Over Even When Your House Is Clean

Once a week I spend a few hours cleaning our house. Yes, you are correct. This is not my favorite task to do but it does have some benefits. It burns a few calories, which is not a bad thing. And, it's actually somewhat relaxing. (Sometimes its nice keeping your hands busy while your brain rests.)

However, the best thing about cleaning your house is you get instant results. You do the work, and you get a clean house. No waiting. You get to enjoy the fruits of your labor right away. What could be better, right?

This reminds me of the reason many small business owners get frustrated with their marketing. It is because they often want instant results from something that is not designed to deliver instant results.

Effective marketing can make your business or organization almost a household word in your community. It can push your revenue through the roof. And, it doesn't have to cost a fortune.

However, it does take time. You could compare marketing to exercising because they have a lot in common:

• You rarely get results right away.
• You need to do it on a regular and frequent basis for best results.
• The longer you do it the better it works.

*What is your marketing message you want people to hear?

The more times people see or hear your message, the more they will remember it. The more they remember your message, the more likely they are to believe and trust it. Therefore, they will be more likely to do business with you.

Example:

What if you heard about new toothpaste that promises the freshest breath, the whitest teeth and no more cavities. If one person tells you about it or if you see one commercial touting it, you might not even remember it. It is in and out of your consciousness so fast you might not even realize it was ever there.

On the other hand, let us say you hear about this new toothpaste on the radio when you wake up in the morning. Then you read about it in the newspaper during breakfast. Then you see it on a billboard while you are stuck in traffic.

Then you get to work and receive a flyer in the mail promoting this toothpaste. Then a co-worker tells you all about the new toothpaste they tried. Finally, you get an email from a friend asking if you know anything about this new toothpaste.

After all this exposure in one day, do you think you might remember this product? In fact, you might even try it next time you buy toothpaste.

Of course, this concentrated level of exposure is unrealistic in one day, unless you have a ton of money to spend. That is why you need to keep your message in front of people on an ongoing basis. What you lack in concentration, you make up for with repetition.

If you expose people to your message frequently, regularly and through multiple media, you develop awareness of your brand. Do this long enough and your brand becomes part of their long-term memory. It becomes part of their world.

The bottom line is this:

You get best results from your marketing when you focus on building awareness and credibility for your brand over the long term. The more people know you and trust you, the more they will want to do business with you.

Therefore, if you want instant results then go home and clean your house! However, if you want to build your business, plan on a long-term investment in your marketing. This does not have to cost a lot of money. Your time is money. Plugging yourself in community’s events, speaking engagements, clubs of interest can build business.

Resources: Kevin Stirtz developed a unique concept called ‘Blow up your Business’

What Is JOY? A Simple Tool

I love to word JOY. It makes me smile just looking at those three letters. What is JOY? What does it mean it you? I have applied JOY in my daily life. In addition, especially in Owning and operating a business. This may seem dorky, or a waste of time. However, it works. The first thing in Marketing is KEPPING IT SIMPLE but first here is a tool that may help you and something I hope you never forget:

JUST JESUS

ORGANIZE OTHERS

YOURSELF YOURSELF

Take out your left hand: follow along with me.

• Your thumb represents your daily projects
• The pointer finger (pointer) is the weekly projects
• The Second Finger is called Follow- UP the tallest and MOST important finger on your hand (all goal setting, projects need to be re-evaluated and followed thru to success. This is where Thanks you cards, phone calls, Hand written cards of encouragement come into play)
• The ring finger is Monthly projects you have set out to do- How did your daily (thumb) help you achieve this. This finger is the vision of how you can envision your business to be.
• The baby finger. This is the where your three month outlook should be on goal setting for your business, what does your business look like? Re-evaluate business revenue. What is not working? Or Working? Setting Goals three month in advance keeps you and your business Organized.

Applying this Simple tool can keep You full of JOY and even make your business strong and profitable.

Creating a Marketing Plan

Start with a well thought out blueprint for your marketing, just as you would for your dream home. Here is how to start putting your marketing plan together.

1. Identify Your Marketing Goals
What specifically does your marketing need to achieve for your business to grow? You can state this in terms of the number of qualified events generated each week, the percentage of events converted to sales, total revenue, and profit.

What are your marketing goals?

2. Define Your Marketing Strategy
This is your overall approach and positioning relative to your goals and your competition. My marketing strategy is an educational one. It is based on giving people ideas and information they can use as a means of getting their attention and demonstrating the value I provide.

What is your small business marketing strategy?

3. Set up Your Marketing System
Develop a plan of action. To increase sales, your marketing activities and the media you use need to reflect your marketing strategy and work together as one.

What is your marketing system?

4. Map out Your Marketing Activities
You’ve decided what your marketing activities will be; now for each marketing activity you’ll need to determine who will create and implement it and when.

Who will be responsible for developing, implementing and maintaining your marketing?

5. Learn what Your Marketing Tools Are
Each marketing activity involves using one or more marketing tools. These include everything from your web site to your phone scripts to your marketing messages. To cut through the information clutter and get your guest’s attention you will want finely honed tools.

Could you sharpen your marketing tools?

Plan your marketing as you would your dream home. The time you spend developing a marketing plan - your blueprints - based on your business goals, a clear strategy, and a coordinated system will pay off.

Summary:

Tip: Your marketing plan should be evaluated every three month. Keeping a daily/weekly/monthly tracking sheet on marketing results will help further your goals for your marketing plan.

Resources: Charlie Cook http://www.marketingforsuccess.com/