Sandra Martini's Success Strategies

What happens when you fail to track

For the past month I've been involved in a 30 day blogging challenge hosted by Connie Ragen Green and have been blogging right along.

"Right along"...today I counted my posts and realized that I'm falling far short of the "30 posts in 30 days" and since the challenge ends tonight, this is one goal that I won't meet -- well, I could, but then you'd be inundated with blog posts this evening and that hardly seems fair.

So what happened?

Quite simply, I didn't track my posts. I "trusted" that I'd reach 30 posts in 30 days in the normal course of running my business and didn't create a plan to ensure that I hit the target.

And the result...I missed my goal.

What aren't you tracking or planning for in your business?  And what results can you expect to have as a result?

Twitter Suspension of Accounts -- Were You Prepared?

Twitter was all a tweeting with the unexpected suspension of thousands of accounts yesterday -- it was a human error and has since been fixed, but leads me to a larger question. . .

Were you prepared for it to happen? Is your marketing diversified?

Much the way we prepare for disaster by backing up our computers and having health, home and car insurance, we need to be prepared for any one of our visibility and marketing tools to hiccup.

There are thousands of ways to get the word out about your business (a.k.a. "market it"), many of them low cost and high impact.  It's imperative to the success of your business that you don't put all your eggs into one basket -- even if the basket is big and includes all of social media.

Here are several ideas of ways you can get the word out about your business:

Marketing Mess of the Week: "Soft Selling"

I recently ordered a book from Amazon and the authors signed me up for their newsletter (nowhere on the page or anywhere else I looked did it mention I'd be the recipient of this gift).

Many of their ezines (I received every few days) were brief, largely talking about the importance of "soft selling" and "closing without selling" and generally okay reads. 

Then they started promoting an event and the emails became daily and more and more about how we have to stand up against those who "hard sell" by coming to their event.

Their brief articles about all the benefits of soft selling continued, even as they proceeded to turn into "hard sellers" when it came to the event.

I waited a week to see if the hard selling would stop or even ebb, but nothing...they continued pounding away and I unsubscribed.

Always remember, you have the power to vote with your dollars AND your inbox space!

My Request to You:  Take a look around your business. . .is there any place where you're not congruent, where you're not walking your talk? 

If there is, that's okay...until now...now that you know about it, it's time to fix it.

2 FREE Visibility Tools for Your Business

It's almost impossible trying to keep up with everything you should know in your business, let alone all the places you're mentioned online. . .especially if you're doing any marketing outreach such as article marketing.

An easy way I've found to know what people are saying, tweeting and which articles are getting picked up the most is to sign up for two free visibility tools:

1. Google Alerts (sends email digests based on keywords you've selected for the Internet) and

2. Tweetbeep (sends email alerts based on keywords you've selected for Twitter "tweets")

These sites not only allow you to follow mentions of your own name/business name, but any topics you want: your competitors, a certain trend, your clients, etc.

A recommendation for Google Alerts: put whatever words you're looking for in quotes if appropriate. When I first signed up with Sandra Martini (no quotes were used), I got every mention of "Sandra Bullock" and the best new "Martini" bars, recipes, etc.

Now I search on "Sandra Martini" and just get me. . .oh, and occasionally the other "Sandra Martini" who lives in Germany.  :-)

Happy AUTOsearching. . .

PS: If you're a member of my Social Networking Done For You program, these have already been set up for you, so no action needed.  :-)

Do you fully embrace your freedom to. . .

During this week of Independence holidays in the US and Canada, I have to wonder. . .

Do you fully embrace your freedom to take back your power and create your business without falling to all the pomp and circumstance (a.k.a. "hype") that's *out there*?

A new private client called me the other day in complete overwhelm.  You see she had a desk full of info products and systems designed to "take [her] business to the next level" and had just received another email promising the same if she would only sign up for this 4-day workshop.

Credit card in hand, she called me to ask if she should go (we had discussed that there would be "no new" purchases until some critical pieces were in place in her business. (I can't share more due to confidentiality.)

My advice to her:

Gmail and Your HTML Newsletter

I wanted to make you aware of a recent problem with Google's gmail accounts.

Take a look at the snapshot of my ezine from yesterday below - this was sent to my test gmail account...all the line breaks (spacing between paragraphs) are gone which makes it pretty ugly and hard to read.

 

Google's gone and done something to the gmail code so that your html (pretty with pictures and formatting) ezines will appear this way for anyone with a gmail account unless...

Does your business need a reality check?

Click here to listen...

During a consultation last week, I was speaking with a 5-figure business owner who wanted to make $150,000 this year.

Doable?

Absolutely!

Doable with the plan she had?

Absolutely not.

So many business owners create good solid goals and then take haphazard action, constantly led astray by another bright shiny object or thinking the Law of Attraction will deliver it all to them.

The “reality check”?

It’s a combination of taking the RIGHT action in the RIGHT way at the RIGHT time WHILE maintaining a positive and abundant mindset that will propel you forward to your goals.

While you may think this sounds a little tough, it’s a whole lot tougher to close your doors and get a J O B working for someone else, especially after spending thousands of hours and dollars on programs and products, all designed to get you “to the next level”.

Make It Real: My Request To You

First, revisit your goals for this quarter (July through September) and this year.

Second, determine if your goals are REALISTIC given where you are now and your plans (HOW will you bring in the revenue, which projects, implemented when?) for the rest of the year.

Third, either revise your goals, your plan or both so that they’re in alignment and doable.

Fourth. . .take action. Now!

If you want help determining if your goals are realistic and building a plan you can implement to reach those goals (or others we set), you’ll want to see if a strategy session with me works for you.

Where do you go from here?

Click here to listen...

Just yesterday I was talking with a new client who’s invested thousands of dollars on programs, plans and info products and came to me asking “What should I do?” as she was so overwhelmed with all the options and wanted to get the *right* things done in order to achieve her goals.

In a time when information – good and bad – surrounds us and we’re hit (it actually feels like I’m being hit sometimes) with thousands of marketing messages every day around what we should do with our business, it’s no wonder you’re confused about the best way to get where you’re going.

Mapquest gives you a choice when it comes to driving directions:

• Shortest distance or
• Scenic route

I’m guessing you want the “shortest distance” to your business goals as opposed to the longer scenic route.

Knowing that, it’s time to decide which steps, in which specific order will get you there:

1. Write – don’t type -- a list of all your goals (there’s a greater connection to our desires when we write them out)
2. Put each goal on a separate piece of paper
3. Write the projects which will culminate in the completion of each goal
4. Decide which goal you want to work on FIRST (now I know you want more than one, but you can only do one thing well at a time, so pick a #1)
5. Decide which project within that goal you want work on FIRST
6. Write a list of tasks/action steps for that project – complete with timeframes
7. Delegate what you can to your team
8. Do what only you can do (if you don’t yet have a team, prioritize the tasks – there is usually a natural order to these)
9. Take this goal as far as you can and move on to the next

It’s key to remember that no matter how much you “want it all”, you’ll get there quicker by picking one thing, getting it done and moving on to the next. The “all” will come before you know it.

And if you’re confused about which goal/project to start first?

Answer this one question: “What *pain* keeps you up at night or which goal makes you giddy with joy?” and you’ve got your first goal.

If you want help sorting out which priority is THE priority or need to brainstorm the right steps to get you there, you’ll want to see if a strategy session with me works for you.

LinkedIn -- A simple way to get "Recommendations"

Anyone who's ever used LinkedIn knows that one of it's many features is letting others write "recommendations" about you.

And to help encourage people to do this, LinkedIn's gone one step further. . .

The recommendation will not only show on your page, but on the person's page who gave it to you.  This way you can see who uses "canned" recommendations, who offers a recommendation when perhaps they shouldn't, etc.

If you're looking for a quick and easy way to get recommendations, simply connect with those colleagues/clients/customers who have given you a testimonial and ask them to copy/paste their testimonial into the Recommendation field.

Done! You now have a Recommendation and it took them less than 5 minutes to do.

Want to make it even easier for them?

In your request for the Recommendation, include the latest testimonial you have from them so they don't have to look it up -- just be sure to give them the option of updating it to reflect current work done together.

(This is a GREAT project for a team member!)

Now stop reading and go delegate!  :-)

7 + 1 Summer Resources To Keep/Get You on Track

Despite the rain, wind and chilling temperatures today, it's officially the first day of summer here in Massachusetts.

As you prepare to have the kids home from school and determine your own summer projects, here are a few resources -- both business and personal -- which may make things easier:

For the kids as they start hanging around the house (and your office) asking "What can I do? There's nothing to do, I'm bored", etc. -- free guide on 50 Easy Ways Your Kids Can Make Money

Okay, now that they're taken care of, on to you. . .

1.  If you've been struggling to get your first ebook out, I recommend Connie Ragen Green's Ebook Writing & Technology Home Study Course 

2.  If you've been wanting to get your first teleseminar under your belt, but have been unsure of how to pull it all together, I recommend my own "How to Host Your Own Teleseminar: The Tools to Make It Happen...without fear

3.  If you're looking to clean up your eating habits some, summer is a perfect time to do it and I recommend Karen Knowler's ebooks on incorporating more raw foods into your meals (note that you don't have to be a total raw foodie to get tons of ideas and recipes from Karen's stuff!)

4.  If summer's the time you're going to get your article marketing in gear, my favorite places include: Ezine Articles, Best Article Marketer and Submit Your Article. Submit Your Article charges about $37/month, but they'll forward your article out to several other sites for you which makes it a bargain (cheaper than doing yourself or hiring someone to do it for you)

5.  If you're thinking about turning your knowledge into product, but need a little nudge, here's a free (no opt-in required) video for you. . .

6.  And if you're planning on hanging out and manifesting some great things, here are two of my favorite manifesting tools: Magnetize Absolutely Anything audio and workbook and Wildly Wealthy book and workbook

7.  Or if you're looking for some organizing tips, tools and assistance, you'll want to check out my two favorite organizers: the MomMentor, Debbye Cannon and Elizabeth Hagen

My best wishes for a VERY Happy AND Productive Summer!