Friday, 11:35pm
Reno, NV
“Tell your mama and your papa, I’m a little schoolboy, too…” (“Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl”, Sonny Boy Williamson)
Howdy…
Eventually, the main concerns of an entrepreneur become:
Concern #1. How does all the hard work fit into a lifestyle you enjoy having?
Nobody minds slaving away in the early stages of a biz adventure, cuz it’s fun.
And nobody wants to get locked into forced labor indefinitely, with no end in sight.
That old “work-life balance” thing can be a pesky bugger.
So this lifestyle stuff quickly becomes something you need to pay serious attention to. It’s interesting that so many “get rich quick” schemes feature (as bait) someone supposedly living a great life, on a beach somewhere, drenched in wealth and sex and fun…
… but the folks who fall for the pitch never quite seem to attain the same action.
That’s because, while it looks easy enough to do, it’s actually a royal bitch to put together a great lifestyle.
You gotta sample lots of things (like, for example: Do you even LIKE the beach?), test out different kinds of fulfillment (a huge mansion isn’t so much fun if you can’t afford to maintain it, or it’s far from your friends and you slowly waste away from loneliness), and figure out what you actually want (pretty Ms Suzy Q, the beauty queen, might turn out to be a nightmare to live with).
The trick to knowing how to set and achieve goals involves much guesswork at first…
… because almost no one really knows what will make them happy, at first.
In fact, I’ve discovered that MOST folks don’t actually want what they achieve, in their first efforts at implementing goal-attaining behavior.
They underestimate income, what makes them happy, and how fulfilled they will be with the first batch of stuff they go after. (I’m certainly in that camp. I was so broke and lost when I discovered the magic of goal-setting-and-attainment, that I was way too modest about moolah, love, and lifestyle. Took me years of attaining and discarding to figure it out.)
It’s a process.
Just like business.
The trick is to start right now, no matter where you’re at in life.
And use critical thinking to examine what you’re after, and what it means to you after you’ve attained it.
And adjust accordingly for the next round of goals.
What? You haven’t signed up for my “11 Really Stupid Blunders You’re Making With Your Biz And Life Right Now” report? You know it’s free right?
Get your actionable free biz advice right here.
Concern #2. Are you maximizing the easier ways to bring in money through multiple streams?
Your cash register should be pounding away even when you’re asleep, on vacation, or missing in action.
But most entrepreneurs and freelancers leave massive piles of moolah on the table, never realizing the potential windfall just itching to fall into their laps.
You’d be shocked to know how many veteran business owners come to me for consulting…
… with a main problem of “not enough sales”…
… who actually just need to implement simple things like a good back-end.
A good back-end is just creating a product or service (or a menu of such) that you immediately offer customers…
… right after they’ve bought whatever you sell that took so much marketing and effort to close.
You spend 90% of your time and marketing money on making that first sale.
Then, you got nothing else to offer?
After earning all that trust, and getting them to open their wallet?
Right when the first sale is made, that wallet is still open, you know.
And the customer is still glowing with his new-found trust in you and your business.
So, you ignore that opportunity?
Stop. Offer him something else. Right away.
It will cost you ZERO in marketing. You simply make the offer, while you’ve still got his attention.
Such a deal.
And then offer him something else, again, throughout your future communications with him.
Of course…
… most marketers forget to continue communications at all.
Or they’re ridiculously stingy about it (as in, sending out one or two emails a month).
No, no, no. Simple way to double your income next year: Email your happy customers, and your still-doubtful prospects, OFTEN.
At least a couple of times a week.
The most successful marketers I know email their list every freaking day.
And no, it doesn’t alienate their list…
… because they take pains to keep those daily emails interesting and valuable.
Simple ways to keep interested customers buying, over and over, after the initial sale: That’s the key to kicking your bottom line into the stratosphere.
(And that’s just ONE way to maximize profit. For freelance copywriters, for another example, royalties can produce income for years after the work is done. I’m still receiving checks for ads I wrote TWENTY YEARS AGO. And the tactics just go on and on. Not exploring the simple ways of boosting your income is just asking for a lifestyle of relentless hard work and burnout.)
3. When do you decide to chuck the original model, and grow?
To complicate the hell out of everything, bringing in new staff or putting yourself in debt to investors, just because you think that’s how “growth” happens…
… is silly.
When you’re ready to play in the Big Kids’ Sandbox, you often just need a better game plan, higher quality skills, more powerful network connections, and a much, much deeper bag of tricks if you intend to thrive.
Becoming, and remaining, successful is an ongoing process that requires constant vigilance…
… and a commitment to doing what needs to be done to sustain your enthusiasm, your motivation, your ability to “read” your market, and the resources needed to stay relevant and vital.
Think of all this as your “toolkit”.
In there are the tools, tactics, strategies, techniques, skills…
… and the human side of your resources: Your networks, colleagues and mentors you trust to keep you focused on the right goals.
We all need someone to confide in, share ideas with, and confess our fears and troubles to. (I’ll be on the phone today with multiple colleagues, talking shop. And I’ll come away from every single call more energized, bursting with fresh ideas, and full of new tactics to put things into motion.)
After 30+ years in this biz, I’m one phone call away from the best possible answer to EVERY SINGLE QUESTION in business today. That’s a luxury you need to aim for, too. And as it happens, there’s a super easy way to get your network. Find out more right here.
For some, their confidant is a spouse. For others, a biz partner.
For most, though, it often comes down to bringing in outside consultants who can give your situation a cold appraisal…
… and deliver the truth in ways your close friends and lovers may not be able to muster.
The top entrepreneurs all have a bulging toolkit, along with a vast network of human resources they rely on to grow, to recover from failure, and to help keep their eyes on the prize.
Just sayin’… all this is the key to a happy, wealthy life as an entrepreneur.
Stay frosty,
John
P.S. You don’t get into the Big Kids’ Sandbox with stuff you learn from a book.
No. You get there by tapping into the experience and savvy of mentors and experts and colleagues willing to share (while you’re building your own foundation of experience).
That’s where knowing where to turn comes in.
It’s good to have a one-stop resource for all the idea vetting, implementation strategies, skill-set expansion, and high-end reality checks you need to goose your mojo (and bring in the Major Bucks).
And remember, you have an excellent one-stop resource like that here, sitting right under your nose…