Five Tips for Creating Self-Marketing Capsules to Accelerate Your Job Search Campaign

Five Tips for Creating Self-Marketing Capsules to Accelerate Your Job Search Campaign
The self-marketing capsule is a valuable piece of marketing
collateral that job seekers need to position themselves
effectively during a job search. Whether in a networking
context or a job interview, job seekers must always be
ready to deliver their personal pitch in an exciting and
memorable way. Ultimately, you want to be able to recite a
message that is clear, targeted, and easy for anyone to
understand. When the capsule is presented in this way, you
are more likely to create an advocate for your candidacy
who can refer your qualifications on to the next
appropriate person in the networking or hiring chain. Below
are the five key components of an effective self-marketing
capsule.

Create a professional identity.

Job seekers must be able to tell their audience what type
of position they are targeting. Sometimes people confuse
professional identity with the job title that is listed on
a job description. These titles can be misleading and do
not always fully describe the nature of the person’s
responsibilities. By using such titles in place of a
professional identity you run the risk of compromising your
self-marketing campaign. For example, in the world of
finance, many back office administrators are simply called
clerks. Such a title can place severe limitations on your
marketing capsule. A more targeted and effective
professional identity might be Financial Custody
Administrator or Securities Administrator.

Showcase three strengths.

Highlight three areas of competency that show your value
add and differentiate you from the competition. Chose
traits that can easily be coupled with examples of how you
have helped the organizations you have supported make
money, save money, save time, maintain the business, or
grow the business. For example, being proficient in
Microsoft Project can position a project manager as a
candidate that gets the job done expeditiously and in turn
saves time, money, and resources.

Use accomplishment-focused, metrics-driven examples to
support your strengths.

Just like the resume, the marketing capsule must include
proof that you have successfully completed job relevant
tasks. A good strategy is to marry a strength with a
specific example to prove that you are accomplished at what
you do. Quantify accomplishments using numbers,
percentages, and dollars whenever possible.

Discuss your background as it relates to the target
function or industry.

Draw on your past experiences from several positions to
solidify the scope of your skill set, show career
progression, and build the business case for your
candidacy. Also include relevant education such as a
job-related or advanced degree, industry certifications,
advanced technologies, or leadership roles within a
professional organization to showcase the diversity of your
experiences and position you as a unique contributor.

Make a match between your experience and the skills needed
for a particular job function or industry.

Bring the conversation full circle by relating your traits
back to the needs of the employer or the needs of a
particular industry. By doing so you prove relevancy and
demonstrate why your skills are a good fit for a certain
type of position.

----------------------------------------------------
Barbara Safani, owner of Career Solvers
(http://www.careersolvers.com ) has over twelve years of
experience in career management, recruiting, executive
coaching, and organizational development. Ms. Safani
partners with both Fortune 100 companies and individuals to
deliver targeted programs focusing on resume development,
job search strategies, networking, interviewing, and salary
negotiation skills.

The Best Home Based Business Ideas - Two Of The Worst Ways Of Finding Them

The Best Home Based Business Ideas - Two Of The Worst Ways Of Finding Them
Once you have caught the I-want-to-work-at-home bug, you
will become very anxious to find the best home based
business idea to suit your circumstances. You can't wait
to get started but haven't a clue what would be the best
thing for you to do. When you see the number of home based
business opportunities advertised on the Internet, you get
the idea that finding the right opportunity to suit you
should be easy. Actually, being spoilt for choice is no
help when it comes to choosing your first home based
business idea because everybody is different.

The number one worst way of choosing a home based business
is to make the selection on the grounds that it looks as if
it should make good money. Of course making money is
important, but it is not the best starting point when home
based business ideas are being evaluated. You have to love
what you do if you are going to be successful because you
are going to be spending a lot of time building up your
business, you will need to put in some hard work and you
will probably be risking some cash. If you don't love what
you do, you will be far less likely to persevere when
things get tough and more likely to give up easily when
obstacles arise. It is far better to think about what you
would love to do day in and day out and then find out if
there is a way to make money from it.

The second worst way to choose a home business is to pick
one just because somebody you know is making money at that
particular thing. You need to take into account whether
you are similar in circumstances and ability to that other
person before you start assessing whether the same business
opportunity would suit you. For example, think about
virtual assistance work. This is one of the fastest
growing home based businesses and there are many areas in
which a good Virtual Assistant can make good money. You
might even know somebody who is currently working as a
Virtual Assistant, who is making a lot of money and who
loves working at home. It all sounds great but, before you
get carried away with the idea and quit your day job, you
need to consider if you have the right sort of skills and
an acceptable level of expertise to become a highly paid
Virtual Assistant. Virtual Assistance is about more than
being able to do some basic keyboard work.

Other things you need to consider are practical things such
as family commitments and geographical location. If your
cousin makes money doing mystery shopping and everyone says
mystery shopping is an easy way to earn money from home, it
does not automatically follow that becoming a secret
shopper would be the best home based business idea for you.
For instance, if your cousin lives in a big city and you
live out in the sticks miles from any shops, you would have
to add travelling time into the equation to see how much
money you would be likely to earn. If your cousin has
teenage kids and you have young children, you are not
comparing like with like. With small children in tow,
shopping trips are probably enough of a challenge as it is.
The kids aren't going to be any less bored through being
told you will get paid to go shopping, so a mystery
shopping career should be put on hold until the kids are a
bit older.

If you have never worked at home, it can be hard to judge
which of the zillions of home business opportunities on
offer is going to be best for you. I can tell you what
home based business is right for me and I can tell you
about others that might possibly be right for you. I can
give you a whole list of things I wouldn't touch (either
because I know I'd hate them or because they are scams) but
the only person who can say what would be the best home
based business for you is yourself. Always remember the
words of J M Barrie: "Nothing is really work unless you
would rather be doing something else."

----------------------------------------------------
Elaine Currie is the owner of the Free Work At Home
Directory at http://www.huntingvenus.com and author of the
book Ezine Article Writing - 10 Steps To Success. You can
download the book free of charge in pdf format at:
http://www.huntingvenus.com/free_ezine_articles_writing_eboo
k.shtml

Turning Your Passion Into a Career

Turning Your Passion Into a Career
Today someone asked me the question in this really sincere
way. I've often wondered she said, how you do what you do?
I mean how do you to make money? Are you sincere or is it
all to make money? I thought it was a fair question so I
replied.

The question had been raised once before so I thought it
befitting to begin to bring some critical pieces of success
to the forefront of everyone's mind.

First, sometimes I believe it's difficult to wrap one's
mind around doing what you love or what you're truly
authentically passionate about and making money, well
unless you have done it or are currently doing it. It just
seems difficult for people to believe those things can live
in the same domain. I was one of those people for a long
time.

I was always told I had to work hard for anything I truly
wanted and especially money. I had to put in my time and
work really, really hard. With that kind of knowledge in
the background of my mind, I had a subtle, but honest
disbelief that I could really make money doing what you
love. So I can understand the mind of others having the
question how is she "really" doing it?

There were a few obstacles I had to overcome during my
journey. If I had to summarize it all, I'd say there were
a few key and critical things uncovered that had to be
addressed in order for success to be available to me
through my passion.

I discovered these along the way:

First, I needed focus. I needed direction and concentrated
focus. So, I defined my vision, my purpose. I became clear
about what I wanted. In my quietest moments when it was
just God and I, I became clear about my truest hearts
desire. I found that place where I was complete in being
here on earth.

Secondly, I needed faith and belief. I believed it would
materialize. I believed with everything that I am it could
and would happen.

Thirdly, I realized my worth. I resolved in my mind that my
vision, my purpose, my passion, my desires and wants were
all of value.

I believed my vision was worthy of success. I had to come
to terms with my worth. This was the most challenging
hurdle.

I had to be real with myself about myself. You see I'd done
a little thesis on myself. Subconsciously I'd researched my
past and found evidence that I was undeserving of success,
wealth or prosperity. Funny, how the mind works. I'd
assessed my whole life and came up with "not worthy". So I
reassessed my life and adopted a new mantra; "I have God's
Power, His Ability and His Anointing. I will surrender to
God's love. I have the blessing and I am worthy."

This can be the most challenging for others also. Getting
your "true" worth is vital.

And fourth and foremost, I established an economic model
for my vision, purpose and passion. In other words, my
vision, purpose and passion had to have a business model
with strategic sales and marketing plans, financials and
operational procedures.

I realized that in order to have my life set up to fulfill
on my vision and divine purpose, I needed to be paid
therefore, I needed a successful business model for it.

And fifth, I didn't have extra money to fund the business
while it grew so I had to manage my finances strategically
and effectively. Implementing the knowledge from my
financial background and learning more about the game of
financial planning was also key and critical. I did some
very basic things like:

* Learning to live well below my means during the time I
was turning
my passion into a career
* Establishing boundaries for spending, lending and
borrowing
* Establishing savings strategies
* Establishing Investment strategies
* Streamlining my personal and business financial plan

It started with focus and it ends with focus, I believe.

I always remained focused on the vision rather than the
circumstances or the things happening in the moment. I love
what Chris Gardner, played by Will Smith said to his son in
the Pursuit of Happiness. "You got a dream, you got a
protect it", and that's what I did. I protected the vision,
the purpose, the passion and the dreams; un-wavering,
un-shakable and un-movable…

And now that I have addressed these critical areas, I am
living a life of power, passion and dreams come true.

I wouldn't say that I don't occasionally bump up against
the critical areas however I've overcome them, therefore I
always have the choice to remain on the course of my
dreams, vision, passion and purpose.

I'd say to you, live every moment as if it were your last
and give your vision everything you've got until you reach
your goals…

It is well worth the ride!

The Power Lives Within You and It's Always been there!

----------------------------------------------------
As founder and president of The Power, Passion & Purpose
Group, Lisa Thomas brings over twenty years experience in
business, relationship and individual life coaching. Her
vision is every woman lives a life of power, passion and
dreams come true. Join the P3groups mailing list to receive
our online magazine - The P3 Power Boost Magazine for Women
at http://www.TheP3Group.com

Make Big Bucks as a Business Coach

Make Big Bucks as a Business Coach
You may have heard of them - they’re the people who
swoop into large companies and small businesses alike,
transforming them into profitable, exciting, and motivating
places to work. They mentor CEO’s as well as first
time entrepreneurs, and with a detailed questioning process
can put them back on track to their dreams and make them
excited about what they’re doing again.

Business coaching is the newest trend in the work world and
there’s no doubt that it’s a profitable,
exciting career to be in.

If you’ve been playing with the idea of becoming a
business coach, then chances are you might have what it
takes to do this. Most people who are not interested in
helping others shy away from the very idea of business
coaching. Coaching is a very personal process, and the key
to being a success at this is having great listening skills
and a true desire to help other people realize their
potential.

What experience do I need to be a business coach?

You might be thinking that you have to have a hefty degree
in business in order to get into this line of work.
It’s a common misconception that’s totally
wrong.

For business coaching, the skills you need are personal and
emotional. Like we said earlier, you need to know how to
listen well. You also need the ability to motivate people
and lead them down new avenues in their thinking. You need
excellent communication skills and the ability to see other
people’s vision for their business despite the state
it’s currently in.

Many people don’t realize that they already have
plenty of coaching ex-perience. If you’ve ever helped
someone you know through a tough time, then you used
coaching skills to do it. If you’ve parented a teen,
trained a fellow employee, or helped someone realize their
dream, then this is coaching! These situations are similar
to what you’d be doing as a busi-ness coach.

Why do business owners need coaches?

What happens to a lot of business owners and CEO’s is
that they get so caught up in the day-to-day workings of
what they do that they rarely have the time or energy to
step back and examine their vision and see if they’re
on track to realizing their goals.

They can start to feel overwhelmed because they can see
their dreams slipping away, but they don’t know how
to slow down their “busy work” enough to catch
up with up with them.

This is where a business coach comes in. Anyone that calls
you for help is probably in the situation described above,
and it’s your job to help them get back on track for
what they’re truly meant to be doing.

Still interested? If so, that’s a good sign that you
might be a great fit in this career.

How do I become a business coach?

If you’d like to learn more about how to be a
business coach, then one of the best things you can do is
take a distance learning business coaching course. Although
you don’t need a business degree to do this, there
are some important skills you need to learn before you
start handing out busi-ness cards.

Taking a business coaching course can teach you everything
you need to know about the mentoring process and how to
motivate and inspire the people you work with.

You’re a coach, and in order to be a good coach
you’ve got to learn these important skills. Taking a
business coaching course is a great way to get started in
this rewarding career. Good luck!

----------------------------------------------------
If you want to learn to become a business coach enrol on
the Diploma in Business Consulting course.
The course is conducted entirely through distance learning.
You’ll have your own tutor who will provide you with
guidance and advice, and they’ll mark all of your
assignments.
To find out more about the Diploma in Business Consulting,
and how to register, go to
http://www.inst.org/management-consultants/index.htm

Can You Hear Me Selling Now?

Can You Hear Me Selling Now?
What is the sales message that you and your company are
attempting to deliver to the marketplace? Is it uniquely
yours, focused and delivered with clarity? Are you
cognizant of whether it is indeed the same message that
your customers and prospects are actually hearing? Are you
truly connecting with them or simply going through the
motions?

Your marketing message is tied directly to your brand, your
identity. What are you doing each day to clarify your
market position? Do you sometimes get in your own way? It's
been said that "What you are doing speaks so loudly that I
cannot hear what you are saying." Is that true of you? Your
company? Are you busy doing the inconsequential or are you
busy adding value to your products and services for all to
see? Is your marketing effective? If so, how are your
resulting sales?

Verizon's successful ad campaign featuring New York City
actor Paul Marcarelli has struck a rhythmic chord with the
marketplace in general, regardless of product boundaries.
"Can you hear me now?" has become an everyday term,
generic, identifiable with everyone who uses a cellphone.
USA Today reports that "their Can You Hear Me Now? guy is,
in reality, the personification of a crew of 50 Verizon
employees who each drive 100,000 miles annually in
specially outfitted vehicles to test the reliability of
Verizon's network." Interesting!

"Our casting specifications called for an everyman with
something quirky or memorable about them. We looked at over
1,000 people" says Marvin Davis, VP Advertising, at
Verizon. Those now infamous horn-rimmed glasses are
Marcarelli's actual spectacles! His appeal is universal.

"We're not the low-cost provider. We're not the most
aggressive with promotional deals and headset giveaways.
Our brand message is important, because the market
recognizes it's a higher-quality service. People are
willing to pay more to get more" says Marvin Davis,
Verizon's VP of Advertising. That is their message, and it
comes through loud and clear.

Verizon's creative message succeeds for them on several
fronts:

1. It connects well with their target audience.

2. Is delivered by an everyday Joe that most people can
easily identify with.

3. Is short, sweet and memorable!

4. It makes sense.

5. Their service works.

Can the same be said of your branding and marketing
efforts? How well is your message being received? Follow
Verizon's lead and watch your sales soar!

----------------------------------------------------
Daniel Sitter, author of both Learning For Profit, and
Superior Selling Skills Mastery, has garnered extensive
experience in sales, training, marketing and personal
development spanning a successful 25 year career.
Experience his blog at http://www.idea-sellers.com

4 Steps to Combat Website Plagiarism

4 Steps to Combat Website Plagiarism
Publishing your website can be one of the most exciting
times for a business owner. After all of your hard work
and persistence, the whole world now has access to your
products or services. You have either paid hundreds of
dollars to have someone write your site content for you, or
you have put your heart and soul (not to mention hour upon
hour of hard work) into creating content of which you can
be proud. In either case, you’ve invested time
and/or money into your website copy. Now that it is out
there for the whole world to see, it may be a target for
all kinds of unscrupulous individuals.

Copyright infringement is a very common occurrence on the
World Wide Web. How do you protect yourself? And, what
can you do if someone steals your content?

It’s important for you to know that anything you have
written is copyrighted. You can register a copyright, but
you don’t need to in order for it to be illegal for
someone to copy or reproduce your work without your
permission. Any written text, painting, drawing, musical
composition, photograph or computer program, be they
published or not is protected by copyright law.
Unfortunately, just because your work is copyrighted
doesn’t mean it is safe. Some individuals
don’t know that copyright laws apply to the internet,
and others simply don’t care.

With millions of websites out there, it’s difficult
to know if your website has been targeted by thieves. A
great tool to use in the protection of your website content
is www.copyscape.com.

Simply enter your website URL and it
will scan the web for you. This is a free service, but if
you have been a frequent victim of copyright infringement,
you might want to consider their paid service, which
automatically scans the web regularly for any duplicates of
your content.

What do you do if you are one of the unfortunate victims of
copyright infringement? How can you deal with the offender
and avoid the high cost of litigation? The following are
some simple steps that you can take to ensure that the
infringer removes your material from their website.

1. Contact the offender. You can usually visit the
“contact” page of the offender’s website
to obtain their contact information. If for some reason
you can’t find their coordinates that way, you can
perform a search for “who is” to find many
sites that can provide information about the website owner
by simply entering their URL. The website owner’s
contact information should be posted here, but if not,
their website host will be and you should contact them.
Keep your first contact civil. Calling or emailing the
responsible individual with a stern, yet professional
demeanor will be much more effective than yelling or name
calling. Remember that the owner of the site isn’t
necessarily the writer, and if they are, then being nasty
may not have the desired effect and in fact may create more
problems for you in the long run.

2. Send a cease and desist order. If your initial contact
didn’t get the desired results, your next step should
be to send a cease and desist order. You do not need to
hire a lawyer to create one for you. A simple search for
“cease and desist order templates” should give
you an order that can be altered to meet your needs. Send
one copy by email and one copy by registered mail and make
it look as official as possible. Include a date by which
the material should be removed. You want the offender to
know that you mean business.

3. If action is still not taken, send a cease and desist
order to the offending party’s web host. Again, the
host information is available by performing a search for
“who is”. The majority of hosts will take
action by temporarily removing the offender’s site
until the copied material is removed.

4. The situation should be resolved at step 3, but one more
step that can be taken is to notify search engines of the
infringement. Performing a search for the
“DMCA” or “Digital Millennium Copyright
Act” policies for each search engine will provide the
information you need to contact each of them in order to
request that the offender’s website be removed.

Finally, it’s always advisable to protect yourself by
keeping records of the dates your content was placed on
your site. This ensures that the other party can be proven
wrong it they claim to have posted their content first.

Placing your website and it’s content on the internet
for the world to see is a proud moment. It’s nearly
impossible for you to be able to prevent the theft of its
content, but the next best thing is knowing what to do if
it does happen.

----------------------------------------------------
Kelly Sims is a Virtual Assistant and Owner of Virtually
There VA Services. To find out more about virtual
assistance and how using a Virtual Assistant can simplify
your life and increase your profitability, visit her
website at => http://www.virtuallythereva.com . While
you’re there, don’t forget to sign up for her
free monthly newsletter providing useful information that
enhances and simplifies the lives of busy entrepreneurs.

Are You Maximizing Every Single Sales Opportunity?

Are You Maximizing Every Single Sales Opportunity?
Are you capturing every possible opportunity to make a
sale? If you do not plan your annual marketing calendar,
you may be missing some!

It takes time to figure out what works best in marketing
your business. (Even huge companies with huge marketing
budgets and high-powered advertising agencies have to
experiment some.)

Once you have determined which strategies work best for
your product or service, your location, your personality,
your budget and your target market, then you need to
execute them! (I hope you see from this list why it is so
difficult to market your business by yourself!)

Most small businesses have a website, which requires some
attention all year. Besides that, there are online and
print advertising, direct mail, email campaigns and many
other strategies. Because we don’t have unlimited
resources of time and money, it is important to plan when
we will market.

First, determine the exact strategies you will use and
their corresponding actions to promote your business.
Next, look at what worked the best last year and the year
before, and when they were executed. You may also want to
research what has worked well for your competition.

Now create a ‘promotions calendar’. You may
use a whiteboard or tape several pieces of paper together,
but it is best to create a physical, written calendar.

Write in the marketing events you already know you will do
– for example, monthly newsletters or networking
meetings. I recommend adding in a quarterly return on
investment analysis to keep checking on what is working and
what is not.

Next is when your creative side and your business side need
to play well together. Start with identifying your slow
times of the year and create a promotion to drive sales
during this time. If you don’t really have slow
times or a seasonality to your business, then you will need
to create consistent, regular marketing events throughout
the year.

If January is traditionally slow, what happens in January
that you can use? Well, people go on diets, set
resolutions and start anew. If summer is slow, when do you
need to step up your marketing to prevent a dramatic
slowdown?

What can you offer your prospects to motivate them to buy
when you need them to? Offer bonuses? Offer discounts?
Keep your target market in mind when making these
decisions. Offering discounts to wealthy people might be
less appealing to them than giving bonuses, for example.

By calendarizing your marketing, slow times and
opportunities will not sneak up on you and you can take
full advantage of every sales opportunity!

----------------------------------------------------
Audrey Burton, Small Business Coach, is “The
Tigress”. Get her FR'EE Special Report,
“Closing the Sale is Not Complicated!” and her
FR'EE monthly email newsletter at
http://www.TigressCoaching.com .

Why You Might Be The Next Greatest Business Coach

Why You Might Be The Next Greatest Business Coach
There's no doubt that the field of business coaching has
exploded in recent years. With more and more people
starting their own businesses, and executives working
longer and more hectic hours, the need for an objective
expert to help stop the insanity is growing. People want to
do business and succeed at it, but they also want balance
in their lives. They want to do what they love and spend
time with their family. Not too much to ask, right?

This is where business coaching comes in. Business coaches
wear a lot of different hats and they work with a lot of
different people. They offer help and advice on everything
from increasing the profits in a small business to teaching
entrepreneurs and CEO's how to slow down and go home for
dinner once in a while. They teach people how to fall in
love with their work again, and they can help energize a
company and bring passion back into the work world.

Sound interesting? It should! Business coaching is an
extremely rewarding career that has the ability to grow by
leaps and bounds if you put your heart into it. You can
make a really great living doing this, and if you expand
into the realm of offering e-courses, seminars, ebooks, and
public speaking you can make even more. Some business
coaches have started franchising their small businesses and
have turned them into coaching empires that stretch from
coast to coast. Yes, it can be done.

Is business coaching right for me?

If you're wondering if you have the right personality for
this, look closely at what you love to do.

- Do you like helping others?

- Are you energized by solving problems?

- Do you get excited when you think about business and how
you might contribute to the success of someone else?

- Are you able to listen without judging, and do you like
motivating people to do better?

- Are you interested in time management and how you can
organize other people to work more effectively?

If you answered "yes" to some of these questions then you
might be a perfect candidate for a career in business
coaching.

What do business coaches do?

Business coaches are motivators, listeners, planners, and
dreamers. As a business coach it would be your job to help
people improve the quality of their life both from a
business aspect, and from a personal one as well.

You'd help them dream of new ways to expand their company,
how to improve their products, or how to hire better
employees.

There's no doubt that as a business coach you'd never have
the same two days in a row. It's definitely this constant
change that draws many people into this field.

So, how do you get into business coaching?

One of the best ways is to take a business coaching course.
There are many available online, and although there is no
official school or "certification" for business coaches,
you DO need to learn how to do this. It's not all about
going into someone's office and being super motivated and
excited. If it were that easy, everyone would be doing it!

Business coaching can be a very rewarding career for the
right person. It's not hard to get into, and once you do
you might be amazed at how much you get back from this
industry. You get to meet a lot of different people from
all walks of life, and you get the empowering knowledge
that you're helping them all live and work better in their
life. There are not many careers where you can say that!

----------------------------------------------------
If you want to learn to become a business coach enroll on
the Diploma in Business Consulting course. The course is
conducted entirely through distance learning. You'll have
your own tutor who will provide you with guidance and
advice, and they'll mark all of your assignments. To find
out more about the Diploma in Business Consulting, and how
to register, go to
http://www.inst.org/management-consultants/index.htm

7-Step Marketing Plan to Win More Clients

7-Step Marketing Plan to Win More Clients
Even the most brilliant ideas are worthless if you don't
act to implement them. Read this guide several times,
implement these steps in your business, and you too will
benefit from these money-making concepts!

Step #1 - Think Strategically

Dr. Stephen Covey said you have to "begin with the end in
mind." Thinking strategically is about deciding on where
you're going and identifying ways to get there.

This is perhaps the most important step but most business
owners skip it altogether. You can easily avoid making many
costly marketing mistakes if you just take the time to
think strategically about your business first.

There are 7 components to this step alone:

1) Marketing Mindset. The sooner you realize you can't
build a successful business without having an effective
marketing system in place. A system means you have a way to
consistently and predictably generate new leads and turn
them into clients at a profit.

2) Specific Market. You must identify an already existing
group of potential clients who are currently looking for
the type of solution you provide, have the means to make
the buying decision, and critically important - you must
be able to easily and affordably contact them. Please read
that last paragraph one more time NOW!

3) Specific Need. Understand what your clients are really
buying from you. Chances are you’re trying to sell
the WRONG THING! Clients DON’T buy what you do - they
buy solutions to their problems which is the RESULTS of
what you do!

STOP - read the last sentence one more time!

4) Positioning. The art of making clients come to you is
NOT using the “latest tricks” but in knowing
how to set yourself apart from others offering seemingly
the same product or service.

5) Monetization. Just because you have a good product or
service doesn't mean you will be profitable. You need to
identify and adapt a Winning Business Model proven to
generate profits.

6) Message. You must create a Marketing Message that
clearly and succinctly communicates your HUB - Hot
Undeniable Benefit of doing business with you.

7) Media. Identify the best ways to put your Marketing
Message in front of your Target Market.

Side Note: These are the most important concepts that make
your business a huge success. Before you jump to printing
fliers, creating websites, building blogs, or slaving over
publishing an ezine you must make those strategic decisions
about your business.

Can you see how having a step-by-step guide could help you
quickly gain the "marketing traction", develop a fresh
approach to promoting yourself, and get all the new
business you want? And this is just step 1!

Step #2 - Develop Your Marketing Assets

Communicate your HUB and your Magnetic Marketing Message
through client-focused promotional materials like websites,
sales letters, postcards, brochures, presentations, etc.

Good Marketing Assets should help you do three things:

- Attract Attention

- Build Credibility

- Stimulate Action

One of the most basic yet most underutilized - Marketing
Assets is client testimonial. Make it a point to ask each
client for a testimonial and then use it in all your other
marketing materials.

Step #3 - Generate Leads

Before you can have clients you must generate leads. Here
are seven online and offline approaches proven to work well
for promoting professional services:

1) Writing and publishing

2) Speaking, workshops and teleseminars

3) Networking (the 10x10x10 matrix)

4) Direct response advertising

5) FREE publicity

6) Joint ventures

7) Online marketing

Quick Note: These 7 lead generation tactics are just a tip
of the iceberg of all the available ways to generate a
massive "flood" of new leads for your business.

Still, effectively and systematically employing even just
two or three of these tactics will generate more leads than
you’ll ever need.

Step #4 - Follow Up and Educate

People make a buying decision when they are ready to invest
in a solution to their problem - NOT when you want to make
a sale.

That's why you need to develop, implement, and automate an
education-based, "drip” follow-up system to keep in
touch and achieve and sustain TOMA (Top of Mind Awareness)

The key to follow up without getting overwhelm is to do
things once and leverage them over and over again. And
automate as much as possible!

Step #5 - Master the Sales Process

Selling is an art and a science. You must quickly develop
rapport with your potential clients, gain understanding of
their problems and goals, coherently present and explain
your solution, and finally - ask for the business without
feeling guilty or pushy!

If you think you can build a business without mastering
this skill you might as well do yourself a favor now and
start looking for a job now.

The “trick” is to find and learn a sales
methodology that doesn’t rely on tricks. In my
training programs I teach a model I call "Q.U.E.S.T."
It’s ideal for service professionals because it
allows you to sell with integrity and become your client's
ultimate trusted advisor.

Step #6 - Implement Profit Multipliers

Most professionals never reach the level of profitability
easily available to them, because they don't understand the
lifetime value of each client and don't have a way to
effectively maximize it.

In simple terms, what it means to you, is that your clients
are constantly being bombarded by competing offers and you
must do all you can to turn one-time buyers into loyal
clients who will do business with you for years to come!

If you've been in business for a few years now, and have a
list of some current and past customers, understanding how
to implement Profit Multipliers could mean easily
orchestrating a 30% or 50% boost to your bottom line.

Heck, you could even double your business with no new
clients at all!

Step #7 - Clear Marketing Action Plan

This is the "Holly Grail" most professionals say they want.
And in fact - it's nearly impossible to build a successful
business without at least some sort of action-oriented list
of steps you need to implement to make your marketing work.

Here is what ultimately separates (at least in business)
the winners from the losers:

1) Winners evaluate each strategy, tactic and idea for its
profit potential vs. the required investment of time,
effort, and money.

2) Winners create and follow detailed, step-by-step action
plans for each marketing strategy they want to implement;
they are always conservative in their calculations and
evaluate the "worst case scenario."

3) Winners implement first and perfect later.

(c) 2003-2007 Adam Urbanski

----------------------------------------------------
The author, Adam Urbanski, teaches service professionals
and business owners how to develop better marketing
strategies to increase sales and profits. His website
offers more how-to articles and free tips to create a
winning marketing action plan at
http://www.themarketingmentors.com

IRS to Renew Random Audit Program

IRS to Renew Random Audit Program
Starting in October, 2007, the Internal Revenue Service
will soon be conducting a Random Audit Program. This type
of Random Audit was done in the past, sometimes with
unpleasant results.

According to the Wall Street Journal ("The Next Audit
Scare," by Tom Herman, June 13, 2007) the Internal Revenue
Service plans to revive its controversial practice of
randomly selecting thousands of taxpayers for audits even
when there is no reason to suspect any wrongdoing. The
first audits will begin in October, 2007, and will target
13,000 people of various incomes for Tax Year 2006.

The reason for this program may be because the IRS is under
pressure from Congress, which is struggling with budget
deficits, to take action on the gap between what the
government is collecting each year and what the government
feels it should be collecting.

The amount of this "difference" is estimated to be $290
billion. Random tax audits have troubled many people in the
past. In the 1990's, when the IRS imposed a similar
program, many of these targeted individuals felt the audits
were invasive. Individuals were made to produce vast
amounts of paperwork to support even trivial items on their
returns.

What will the "new and improved" Audit Program look like
this time around? Some people chosen for this auditing may
not even realize it's happening to them. The audit will
all be done completely by computer without their
knowledge. The IRS will be able to check the information by
making comparisons of what the person reports on their
return against what was reported by employers and financial
institutions. Many people will need to endure
face-to-face meetings with IRS Agents in order to examine
their numbers in greater detail.

And what was the track record of the IRS like, when we
think back to those bad old days of the IRS Audit? Not
completely flawless, it turns out. According to CNN.com
(All Politics, April 28, 1998, "Senate Panel Hears Stories
of Alleged IRS Abuses") a Senate committee commenced
hearings on the abuse of power by the IRS. There was
testimony from taxpayers about IRS Agents "stepping over
the line" even raids on peoples' homes, IRS Agents behaving
"out of control" and acting "undisciplined." These Agents
were described as "intrusive" and "intimidating." During
these hearings, Cody Mayo, an Assistant DA in Caddo Parish,
Louisiana, described how one individual actually
experienced an emotional breakdown during an audit, and how
another case tragically resulted in the victim's suicide.

There was testimony that the IRS retaliated against
whistleblowers. Yvonne DesJardins, of IRS Employee and
Labor Relations, appeared as a surprise witness. She
described how people who just wanted to do the right thing
were "ostracized," and their "careers destroyed."
Meanwhile, IRS officials who engaged in any misconduct were
protected -- or even rewarded.

What will you do if you sadly discover that you need to
persevere through one of these face-to-face audits? You
might feel that you need help.

Do Taxpayers Have Any Rights? Thankfully, Taxpayers do in
fact have rights. In fact, many of us might not know that
there is a "Taxpayer Bills of Rights." (IRC Section 7521)
Some highlights of the "original" Taxpayer Bill of Rights
include the following:

1. Taxpayers have a right to an explanation of the audit
process, their appeal rights, and the collection process;

2. Taxpayers have a right to be represented by a
representative authorized to practice before the IRS;

3. Taxpayers have a right to suspend an interview to
consult with a representative, provided the interview was
not arranged through the use of an administrative summons;
and,

4. Taxpayers have a right, with advanced notice to the IRS,
to make an audio recording of any IRS interview.

Of course, the revised Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TBOR) is
much longer and much more complex. You can view this
entire thirty-page long document by going to the IRS
website www.IRS.gov.

----------------------------------------------------
Eno, Boulay, Martin & Donahue, LLP is a Lowell,
Massachusetts law firm specializing in both business law
and business solutions for clients in Massachusetts and New
Hampshire. The firm deals with issues relating to
government regulation including state and federal tax
collections issues, bankruptcy, business conveyancing and
commercial transactions, environmental matters as well as
business litigation. Call: 978-452-8902 or
httpwww.ebmdattorneys.com

Self Motivation For The Creatively Self Employed

Self Motivation For The Creatively Self Employed
Self motivation is a challenge for anyone who is self
employed. But it's a particularly tricky challenge for
those in the creative industries. Why would that be? Well
creative types, quite sensibly and obviously, often become
self employed in order to be able to be creative and
flexible in their work. Not for them the drudgery of a nine
to five office job with a soulless boss!

But when you're self employed, YOU become the boss. And the
employee. And this dynamic sets up a whole set of inner
relationships and rebellions that need to be handled with
care. Particularly when it comes to managing your
motivation so that you can achieve successful outcomes for
both your business and for yourself.

Assuming that at least part of the reason you're in
business is because you want to make money, your inner boss
will be need to be in a position to make strategic
decisions, undertake planning activities and dictate hours
of work.

And assuming that you're creatively self employed because
you want flexibility and creativity in your working life
and don't want to be dictated to, your inner employee will
need a certain degree of freedom and leeway on the job.

So how is your relationship between your inner boss and
your inner employee?

I asked this question of a coaching client recently who was
having a difficult time running her own creative business
from home. She surprised herself with her reply! She'd
expected to respond that her inner boss was terrorizing her
inner employee and that what she needed was more freedom to
work flexibly so that she could enjoy her working time
more. What she discovered as she pondered the question,
though, was that matters were in fact reversed... her inner
employee was rebelling against her inner boss to such an
extent that she despaired of ever producing any meaningful
output.

To motivate yourself happily and successfully, it's clearly
important to nurture a supportive relationship between
these two parts of yourself. And that means engaging them
in regular dialogue with each other. Your inner boss needs
to understand what kind of flexibility works best for your
inner employee. And your inner employee needs to understand
what the boss reasonably requires in order to produce
results that both will find satisfactory and rewarding.

Sometimes there's a degree of delayed gratification
involved for both. Your inner boss, for example, is more
likely to allow your inner employee to take that
luxuriously creative hour for writing in the middle of the
afternoon, if there's an understanding that the employee
will work, and work far better, in the early evening as a
result. And likewise, your inner employee is more likely to
let your inner boss lay down some plans for future
ambitious projects if there's an understanding between the
two of them that the plan includes an allowance for
creative travels and time out on completion.

So as you think about your conflicting motivations when it
comes to work, creativity, self employment, money and
flexibility, take a moment to be aware of the different
parts of yourself that have a stake in the process. If you
can involve each part in a way that allows it to have a say
and to negotiate with the other parts, you're likely to
achieve a much higher overall level of motivation in your
work. And, of course, the corresponding success that comes
along with it.

----------------------------------------------------
Mary McNeil of Create a Space is an experienced,
ICF-certified life coach who works with artists, writers
and musicians, supporting and encouraging them as they make
creative living a practical and sustainable reality. You'll
find her at http://www.Create-a-Space.co.uk .

Tips for Turning "20:20 Hindsight" into "20:20 Foresight"

Tips for Turning "20:20 Hindsight" into "20:20 Foresight"
Have you ever used or heard the expression, "In hindsight,
knowing what we know today, we would surely have done
things differently"? That's usually a good indicator that
there were unanticipated events or circumstances that came
back to bite, haunt, or baffle the participants of a
particular project or undertaking.

Although the situation might have been problematic at the
time, the good news is that astute observers can
retrospectively extract valuable gems of wisdom from the
experience, which they can then use to their greatest
advantage going forward.

20:20 Hindsight = "Lessons Learned"

"Lessons learned" are the perfect 20:20 hindsight that we
frequently have after completing a project or endeavor.
This hindsight is worth its weight in gold if we mine its
special value, but it's absolutely worthless if we don't
make use of what it has to offer.

When capturing lessons learned, we want to identify what
went well, what didn't go well, and why. At this point, you
might be thinking, "What kind of reason can I give to my
team that we should be doing this? It sounds like a bunch
of bureaucratic overhead and more things to do. When the
project's over, we're anxious to move on!"

The value lies in paving the way for future projects, so
they will experience fewer headaches and setbacks. You
don't, however, need to wait until the entire project
finishes. You could capture 20:20 hindsight incrementally
throughout the project, or very soon after it's over, while
the issues are still fresh.

What Lessons Should You Capture?

For any problems that went largely unresolved, for
instance, consider preventative measures that could help
people work through or avoid the problems in the future.

Those measures might involve tools to speed up the work,
checklists to make sure people don't skip important steps,
and solutions for thorny problems. Examples:

-- If people were stymied by complex document formats, try
preparing and pre-testing some document templates that will
be much easier to use next time.

-- If quality was a issue because people didn't do thorough
testing, try creating step-by-step checklists to guide
people through the process next time.

-- If you found components that were supposed to work
together but didn't, and someone found a solution or a
workaround, record that information to help people prevent
or solve similar dilemmas in the future.

Lessons learned can have many possible uses. You can use
your repository of lessons learned to help your customer
service or technical support personnel solve problems in a
just-in-time fashion, for example. If your staff or
colleagues need to address complex issues on the fly, or
troubleshoot technical issues quickly over the telephone,
they would need fast access to solutions for similar
situations that were addressed in the past.

20:20 Foresight = "Best Practices"

After capturing a series of lessons learned, the next step
is to derive what's called "best practices." What is a best
practice? It's a procedure or method that over time has
proven itself to be better than any other procedures or
methods that you were using to do the same thing. You could
say that it's the very best way that you, your group, or
your organization has found of doing something.

Why do they matter? Best practices are invaluable because
they're the intellectual assets -- the "secret sauce" --
that can help organizations remain highly competitive. It's
ideal to institutionalize best practices so that everyone
follows them. You could incorporate them into policies,
procedures, and/or online task support systems.

One idea is to design a best practice repository that other
people can access easily. You don't want that valuable
information to be buried in a file cabinet that no one
knows anything about. The repository could be on a Web
site, in a database, on an intranet, or another highly
visible location.

Best practice repositories can substantially reduce the
negative effects of attrition on the company's intellectual
assets, which can be devastating. When people leave because
they quit, retire, are laid off, or were simply temporary
contractors to begin with, the company's "brain trust"
completely vanishes out the door with them unless their
knowledge is being captured and made available to others.

In conclusion, by capturing 20:20 hindsight incrementally
and turning it into 20:20 foresight, you will achieve far
greater long-term success than by blissfully ignoring or
forgetting problems, or by simply moving on when a project
or endeavor ends.

----------------------------------------------------
Adele Sommers, Ph.D. is the author of the award-winning
"Straight Talk on Boosting Business Performance" program.
She helps people "discover and recover" the profits their
businesses may be losing every day through overlooked
performance potential. To sign up for more free tips, visit
her site at http://LearnShareProsper.com