One of my favorite shows is The Biggest Loser. Why? Because it’s one of the most inspiring things you can see on the tube. In this article I’m going to parallel the contestants and what they go through with you – my entrepreneur tribe. As you watch their journey, I’ll show you how you can be reenergized in business.

Let’s start at the beginning. The Biggest Loser contestants have it tough. So much tougher than we “normal sized” folks do. Why? Because they can’t hide. If you look at them with 100 extra pounds on their frames, you could assume that there is something not working in their lives.

That’s the good and the bad news for them. The good is that it doesn’t allow for slipping into denial because their pain or dysfunction is publicly visible. And maybe that makes them just a bit luckier in some ways.

Luckier? You are probably well aware that if you pull the curtain on some of the success teachers, actors or athletes, they are hiding many, many things. Maybe they are hiding the fact that they aren’t really making the money they claim. Or perhaps it’s that they are having personal or relationship issues themselves.

I think that when we are in the public eye – and as an entrepreneur you are in the public eye – the tendency is to want to put just a bit of ‘spin’ on the less-than-great elements in your life. It’s hard to step up and be authentic about the challenges you have gone through or the things that haven’t worked when you have the ability to put the nice suit on, crank out a few more happy tweets, and just go about the business of not dealing with what’s real.

But not my Biggest Losers…nope. They bare it all, and on national TV. As the saying goes, “The only way around is through.” These folks work through their issues to get to the healthier, happier, and beautiful person underneath. Week after week they face their fears, get pushed past their limits, and find strength in themselves that they never dreamed existed.

Isn’t that what the entrepreneurial journey is about? That’s how I have experienced it this last year, and I want to share my formula with you, so you too may have the business that brings you joy.

It’s about having D.A.T.E.S with your destiny –

D – Decide to change – The contestants first have to come to a place where they decide that they can no longer continue to keep living in this way. What do you need to decide? How about that you will have more fun in your business? Maybe it’s that you will finally give yourself permission to put yourself more fully into the work you do. Or perhaps that 2010 will finally be the year that you bite the bullet and get the team support you need so that you can devote yourself more to doing the work you love. Whatever it is for you…DECIDE! Repeat that to yourself over and over and over…”I am deciding to ______________, or I have decided ________________.” There’s power in that!

A – Assess what’s true – within the first week on the ranch where the Biggest Losers stay for the duration, they are giving a full battery of tests to determine their level of health and fitness. This is where many of the final shreds of denial fall away for these courageous souls. Last season a woman who was 49 years old tested out at about 61 which shocked the heck out of her. Some times we want to run from the parts of our business (and life) that are a bit messy. We don’t want to see that maybe our books aren’t in order, or that we haven’t been charging what we should, but by not looking at that, it still has power over you. How about this….”You can’t grow what you don’t know.”

Here are a few things you should be assessing for the health of your business –

Your marketing: how frequent and how effective is it?
Your follow up: is it automated?
Your billing: is it done on time?
Your books: are you getting up to date P & L’s and reviewing them regularly.
Your wealth plan: is it growing?
Your networking: are you making new connections and building powerful relationships?
Your offerings: does your market want something new for this year?

Have the courage to make a list of all the things you want to assess and have courage to tell yourself the truth.

T – Train with the Best. If you have seen the show, there are two very different strength trainers who work out the contestants. One is a very open-hearted guy named Bob, who clearly loves the contestants and shows that. The other is a kick-butt gal named Jillian, who is also very much there for them, but does it in a ‘boot camp’ way that calls them out when they are giving up on themselves. She screams and doesn’t let them off the hook, and while I’d probably be a mess of tears, her “in your face” style does the trick of helping the contestants to remember why they are there.

So let’s replicate their success. Who do you train with? Who calls out your brilliance, even when you can’t see it for yourself or are too tired to go on? Who loves you, supports you, designs exercises for your growth, and is there cheering you on? Every great athlete has multiple coaches. You just cannot expect to grow your business without training with the best, so in 2010, make it your #1 priority to find the best coach or mentor out there and let them get their hands on your business the way Bob and Jillian do for the contestants. You’ll love the results!

E – Enhance Your Environment – The contestants live on “The Ranch” which provides an environment for success. Thomas Leonard, the Father of Coaching used to say, “Environment is stronger than will” which means that a well constructed environment can pull you forward, while will is something you have to push and work at. An example of a powerful environment could be a mastermind group. You just show up, plug in and get new inspiration. Another one would be to design your office so that you feel energized just being there versus dragged down by clutter. There are environments in what sort of things you are reading and taking in. Are you surrounded by thoughts and ideas that enliven you and bring out your best? If not, change it.

S – Step up and Play Big – The final contestants of the Biggest Loser all get a makeover and then their families (who have not seen them in months) get to see the new person that has emerged. The metamorphosis is unbelievable. That’s what I want for you. To step up. Do the thing you have been afraid to do. What part of your business could you make over? Maybe that website that has been languishing could use a revamp. How about adding some teleclasses to your offerings to showcase your brilliance. Or let’s get crazy here….why not write that book you have been talking about for years?

It doesn’t have to be a complete business overhaul, but you have to start somewhere. Ask yourself these questions…

What are three things I could do that would energize my business and my spirit?
What help/support would I need to pull that off?
What results would I like to see as a result?
When will I get started?

There you go. My thoughts on how you can be The Biggest Winner!

Be sure to leave a comment on what you are going to do on the blog, and know I’m here to support you. (Not like Jillian, but I’ll for sure hold your greatness ’til you can see it.)

by Therese Skelly

Here’s a little secret…unfortunately there is no correlation between how good you are, and how much money you make. You can be the best kept secret in town if you don’t have the right marketing message. And I don’t want that for you, my pretties!!! If you’ve been reading my stuff for any length of time, one of the messages I preach is how to own your expertise and get out there so you can serve those you are supposed to serve….while getting paid well! That is a beautiful thing.

Recently I was asked by the Arizona Holistic Chamber of Commerce to speak about “How to Sell Without Feeling Salesy.” It was a big hit because so many people in the holistic professions are very heart centered and marketing and sales is not usually something they have loads of training in. And one of the first points I made was that we have to remember that we are in the business of MARKETING whatever business we are in.

But what if you don’t have a clue about where to start? Or worse yet, you have the fear deep down inside that your marketing ‘sucks’ because it just isn’t working? How about if I shine some light on that for you?

As a bonus to the attendees of the AZ Holistic Chamber, I did a follow up live “Marketing Makeover” in which I spent about 35 minutes with Pam Fox, of www.LipStory.com. I’ll share with you the audio so you can listen and learn, but these are some of the main points I covered with her that you can use also.

Tip #1 – Be sure your website ‘calls out’ to your market. You have 3-5 seconds when people land on your page for them to decide if they are in the right place. At the top, in bold letters, do something that says – “Attention: (insert target here)”

You can use their identifiers like “coaches, consultants, and speakers,” but it’s really much more powerful to use language that is connected to their pain. Even better would be – “Attention frustrated coaches, consultants and speakers who have so much to share, but are sick of not having the marketing in place to get your work in the world so that you can serve the people you want and earn the money you deserve!”

See how that speaks more to both their pain and desire? Play with that for your market and notice if you get more web traffic.

Tip #2 – Your web copy should be about the visitor and NOT about you! A huge mistake I see is when some well meaning web designer (or even inexperienced copywriter) says, “Let’s put your vision, mission and purpose on the home page.” Yikes!!! This is where I go a bit nutto with my clients and tell them to immediately get that off. The cold hard truth is that if a visitor lands on your page and it’s all about you, they’ll click away faster than you can say, “What the heck just happened?”

After you have called them out (tip #1) then you need to tell them that you understand their pain.

Fresh out of Life Coaching School, I realized that while I was pretty good at coaching, I had absolutely no idea how to market and get clients in the door. I found a coach who had probably one of the worst websites I’ve ever seen. It was busy, didn’t navigate well, had no flow, and was amazingly effective…because of one thing.

He had a drop down box which said – “Are you a coach who feels like this:”

• “I love what I do but hate to market”

• I have so many good ideas but don’t know where to start

• I get overwhelmed with creativity and don’t know how to make money

There were about eight more of these, and by the time I finished reading his really annoying site, I was convinced that this man understood my challenges and hired him on the spot! This essence is what you have to put in the first paragraph of your site so your visitors are instantly connecting to you and deciding that you have credibility.

Tip #3 – Make your site also about data collection. I’m just gonna step out and be bold here – if you aren’t capturing names/emails of the folks who visit you, why bother having a site in the first place? People search and find your site, but may not be in a place to buy right then. But if you have a wonderful item of value like a special report that you give in exchange for their email, you can then market to them and begin to create that relationship so that when they are ready, you’ll be top of mind.

Your website is a tool for marketing, and not just a pretty brochure! (And if you are stuck on this one, you may want to get a strategy session with me because we can come up with what you could offer and how it is done.)

Tip #4 – Be in regular contact with your database. Here too is a place where you may have to buck up and get out of your comfort zone. Many people send a monthly newsletter and feel like they are being a pest, so you’ll be stretched when I suggest that WEEKLY contact is the best. Is that little voice kicking off in your head now telling you how you’ll be annoying them, and oh no…what if they get mad or unsubscribe? I say, let ‘em leave you!

It’s like this…you want to be the first person your target list thinks of. Imagine that you used a plumber six months ago and you thought he was just the greatest thing since sliced bread. But you stuck his card in a junk drawer somewhere, so when your pipes backed up again, you grab the phone book or Google and find the closest plumber. But what if every month that plumber you liked sent you tips on how to keep your plumbing working well? What if you had just gotten a post card in the mail reminding you that you were in need of an annual inspection, or even if the plumber had his office assistant call and thank you for your business in the past? (Those were some offline marketing tips, Gang!) Who would you call? Exactly – the person that was top of mind, and in this case, the plumber who was rocking his marketing.

Tip #5 – Be BOLD!!! OK, gotta admit, this is one of my faves. In fact, I have created a whole new program around the acronym of B.O.L.D. which I’ll be rolling out soon. What do I mean by this? It’s about staying true to your gifts, your quirks, your brilliance, and your way of doing things. In my B.O.L.D. program I speak about Owning your vision, Owning your Expertise, and Owning your style. Too often we try to be like our mentors or try to spin a professional image that takes away the personality and “relate-ability” we have. Being bold means making strong claims, having the courage to back them up, and doing in a way that is unique to you, and one that your ideal market will resonate with.

Tip #6- Leverage your marketing. You’ll hear as I coach Pam in the audio below, that I turn her marketing activities around by going from working 1:1 to finding the gatekeepers for her market. Here’s how it works. Let’s say you market promotional products and you are trying to sell to realtors. The one-to-one model is that you go to a networking meeting, find a realtor, have a good connection, then have a coffee date later to talk about what they do and how your services could support them. The leveraged model looks like this – you partner with the associations that realtors belong to. You get to either sponsor an event, positioning you as the expert, or you could speak at the event, or do something else to be in front of their members. Do you see the time differences? Look for the gatekeepers. That means you’ll know who your market is, and where your service can solve their problem. (That’s a huge factor in opening up relationships.) Listen in on how I did it with Pam, and you can get some ideas for your business.

Now it’s your turn! Listen to the audio and send me the top three things you are going to differently to get your expertise in the world in a big way. Click here to listen now.

“What the heck,” the frustrated business owner proclaimed. ” I can’t believe that my program didn’t work.  I did EVERYTHING right.  I had great copy, offered some cool benefits, and solved a problem for my market.  And price was super low.”

“But mostly, I thought I used consciousness in this one.  I prayed about it,  connected to the soul of my prospective clients, and felt all the feelings of how amazing it would be to work with these people. “

She was near tears with this as she went on..

“Why?  Did I do something wrong?  How could people not buy?  Maybe it’s an integrity issue with me, or maybe I have some hidden beliefs that made me screw this up.”

The wise marketing mentor listened patiently, and let her go on.

“I thought I knew how to work with the Law of Attraction, but clearly I missed something here.”

At this point, it was too much for the marketing mentor.  She had to jump.

“Stop!”  I hear that you are going down that road, and that stuff may be part of the problem, but do you want to know what the real issue is?”

Startled, the business owner was ready to hear what the problem was because she was so desperate for solutions.

“The real problem is that you had a marketing failure!”

“What?”  Marketing failure?  What do you mean” asked the business owner.

The mentor went on – “Think about it…you have not been connecting with your list regularly.  You absolutely cannot expect your audience to buy from you without first establishing a relationship with them.”

“Really, it’s that simple?  Can you tell me what to do to start establishing those connections?”

“Sure! Here is what you do:”

1.  Consistently get in front of your list.  Weekly is ideal.  Send a newsletter or tip.

2.  Share content that solves their problems.

3.  Be personable and let them know personal details about you so they can connect.

4.  Gradually begin offering them ways to partake of your services.

5.  Start by offering small things – even free teleclasses/articles are fine at first.

6.  Next move into offering low cost ways to have them sample and experience what you do.

7.  Invite other people to promote you to their lists, and repeat the cycle with the new names.

“I can’t tell you how much better I feel!  I will still do the LOA stuff because that’s who I am, but this gives me something I can work on.  Now I have a plan!  Thanks so much.”

The mentor smiled – feeling so happy that she could pass this information on, knowing that it will make all the difference in the world.

There it was.  Right on my Facebook wall.  Not in a private message to me.  No…on the wall.  The snarkiest comment I’ve ever gotten, just sitting there for the entire FB world to see.

Earlier in the day I had written a status feed asking for some support in picking a title for a new opt in piece, and had ten wonderful folks giving their ideas.  They were kind and friendly and encouraging…all the things I know to be true about my Facebook community.

Then his message came in.  It went like this:

“I wonder, have you ever noticed how incredibly self-absorbed you are?  Everything seems to be about you, even when it appears to be about “helping” others.”

YIKES!!!!!!

In that moment, I had three thoughts running all together.

The first – “Ouch!”

The second – “What a jerk!”  (Ok, I am human and was offended)

The third – “Woo Hoo!…This means my marketing is working”

Thoughts one and two are pretty self explanatory, but this article really is about the third concept – the one that you may not have heard much about, so let me break through some of the myths of marketing here.  We all know that we want our marketing to attract our target clients, right?  But here’s the flip side…

Good marketing serves to REPEL the wrong client.

Most of us spend so much time trying to be all things to all people, hoping not to ruffle feathers, and ‘win’ clients over, that in reality, it serves only to make us invisible.

So when “G” decided to blast me, I took great comfort in that fact because he’s SO CLEARLY not my market that the fact that I pissed him off, means that who I am being is working.  See, I have made the commitment to play very full out.  That means being a bit edgy, singing karaoke, and showing who I am.  It’s all about authenticity.  And I know the “risk” of that.  When you are operating to be safe and not ruffle feathers, you fly under the radar, so would likely never get this kind of blasting.

But…you also never connect deeply with the folks that resonate with your message and appreciate your work.  The ones who need what you have to offer.

In fact, here’s a cool “God-thing.”

One minute after “G” sent this to me; I got this post on my wall:

“Hi Therese,

Just wanted to wish you a wonderful weekend! You are such an inspiration to truly live our dreams – I appreciate all your reminders – you consistently keep us motivated – and in the ‘mindset’. So glad to know you and work with you!”

This person is clearly MY TARGET MARKET so appreciates how I express myself in the world.  That’s what I want for you.  To have your ‘tribe’ clearly find you, connect with you,  and value the work you do.  Oh, then hire you as well!

Now I’m going to challenge you.

Do you have the courage to stop being bland?  Are you willing to take a position?  Trying to ‘play nice’ and get along are the rules we learned in kindergarten.  No great movement can come about when there are not courageous leaders willing to take the hits and speak up from the place of passion inside them.

Here’s my request.

Look at your website, brochures, 30 second commercial, and any other marketing material.  If someone got a hold of it, is it very clear who you serve, who you DON’T, and what you stand for?  What has to shift in you to get out from under the cloud of obscurity?  Trust me….the more you step up and play big, the more we all win.

In fact, I’m so inspired by “G’s” snarky comment that I’d love to help you in any way I can to be able to step up and stand out…and repel the folks you need to repel!  Feel free to send me your website and I’ll be happy to give it a quick scan and give you’re a mini-consult (no fee!) to tell you how you can tighten up your message.

Now go shine your light!

If you have been following me awhile, you know I’m going to start with the thing between your ears!  Yep, your mindset.  If you feel confident in your products or service, then you have half the battle won.  So many times people don’t feel like they have enough, are enough, know enough, so the “I need better marketing materials” thought is usually a smoke screen to cover up these faulty beliefs.  Years ago, when I suffered from this very challenge, a wise coach told me, YOU ARE FULLY COOKED!  He meant that I had enough, right where I was, to start my business.  So my little pretties….if you have any trace of this going on, you gotta ‘flip the script’ as they say and just commit to taking the actions necessary to get out there.

But, what if it wasn’t as hard as you thought to get your name in front of the right prospects?  Read below to discover some marketing mistakes that you can correct instantly for better results.  Check yourself to see if you are making these mistakes -

I can’t move forward unless I have the perfect website -I can’t tell you how many times people have said that they can’t really get any clients until they have a killer website.  I knew of someone who spent $5,000 on a site, cards, brochures, and all the bells and whistles and had never got a client!  She loved the creative design process, but was stuck in fear about really getting out there to promote the work she did. The moula that she put into that puppy would have been much better spent had she pounded the pavement or used that three grand to invest in some marketing coaching!

If you do get a site, don’t do all the fancy stuff with moving parts   If you need a site, you can do it a couple of different way.  You can go to www.GoDaddy.com and get your domain name there, as well as their WebSite Tonight.  You can do your own 5 page site (using their templates) for about very cheap.

And maybe you don’t even need a site at all.  If you want something that is up in cyberland with your info, a website is good.  Want something you can change content regularly with ease?

TRY BLOGGING!  It looks just like a website, and you can add content to it daily.  You can do it yourself for free just by going to www.wordpress.com.  It’s super easy, but I do suggest that you get a blogging expert to help you customize it or add in the applications.  I use Dave Barnhart of www.BusinessBloggingPros.com.

But I need a high quality, fancy brochure -You are a small business owner!  Sure, in corporate America the big marketing campaign is a must, but if you are waiting to launch your product/service because you don’t have tons of $$ to spend, you are in for treat, dear reader!  Here are some ideas to get you started….

Get it out of your head that if you don’t have the 30 page brochure like BMW does, or the website that does everything except your laundry.

Need cards, flyers or brochures – Just google online printing and you’ll find a ton of resources.

Need graphic design?  Go to www.crowdspring.com.  It’s a very cool space where you name your price, post your project, and designers will bid on it.  You keep it if you like it, and get a chance to see everyone’s work.

Following up will cost me way too much . Many times business owners make the mistake of always trying to get new prospects in their funnel, but completely ignore the ones they have!  This is probably the biggest mistake and the easiest to correct.  In addition to the email/auto-responder campaign that you should have, there are a couple of other ways to stay ‘top of mind.’

Send out Cards.  This is the easiest way to market yourself by doing killer follow up.  For less than a buck you can go online, pick a card, type in the address you want it to go to, create whatever you want it to say, and hit the send button.  The part I love it that you can send one card, or create a campaign to send tons of cards…all in a few minutes.  The cards are real cards, not just the e-cards.  You can use my link to check it out at www.sendoutcards.com/5407.

Voice Broadcast – I love this one!  Having just lived through the elections in November, you probably notice that you were getting tons of calls from your candidates.  Heck, Bill Clinton even called me!  Oh, he called you too?  Does that mean I’m not special to our ex-prez?  What it means is that Bill and all the others got a list of phone numbers, had it loaded in, and recorded a message to be broadcast.  It’s so easy.  I use www.voiceshot.com and it cost twelve cents a call.  I have used it to announce upcoming events, or to thank folks for coming.  If you have something you are marketing, do consider doing a voice broadcast because it’s different from email, and people will remember it.

So what did we learn today, class?  That Bill Clinton didn’t make 2 million personal calls?  Yes, that and the fact that it’s much easier than you think to get out there and market your business!  Pick one or two of the suggestions and let me know how you are doing with them!

Stay in action, and focus on the good!