sales skills

4 Time Management Tips Guaranteed to Give You Peace of Mind

Ahhhh TIME, the greatest and sometimes most elusive commodity in our lives. We all want more of it.  When was the last time you caught yourself saying, “I just wish I had another 5 hours in the day?”  Or, “I need a clone of myself in order to get this all done?

Be honest with me-  Do you blame time for your lack of success in life? Are you struggling with weight and blaming time because you just can’t seem to get to the gym?  Do you feel like you are not a good enough parent because you are too busy at work and don’t have enough time to connect?  That list could go on and on, but let’s just leave it there. The point is, you probably do blame time for your life not being as amazing as it could be.

And that has got to stop! Time is on your side (Que the Rolling Stones.) We are all given 24 hours in a day. On our last family vacation, I watched a young man sit in front of a garbage can hoping someone would give him their left over lunch for an hour while I ate lunch with my family. I gave him some food and when we came back 3 hours later to get on the metro, he was still there and thanked me again for the food we’d given him earlier.

I have a client that has 3 little kids, runs a farm, and two businesses.  Before most of the world has gotten out of bed, she’s nursed her baby, milked her cow, fed the chickens, fixed breakfast, spent quality time with her kids, and probably blogged about it. She gets more done in a day than anyone I know.

I’m not trying to judge the young man by the garbage can or cause you all to compare yourselves with my client. Neither of those activities will bring you more productivity. I do want to paint the picture that every single day is a gift. Time is available for you. How will you rock your time management?

Time management is not about time controlling you. Time management is simply how you choose to engage with the time given to you.  Will you spend it doing things that bring you joy, health and wealth?  Or will you spend it on things of little value that you won’t even remember next week?

Here are 4 time management tips guaranteed to give you peace of mind.

1. Find a schedule that works for you. Most people create a schedule that is impossible to live by. A robot might be able to keep it up, but no human could. And after a few weeks of constant effort to manage the schedule, you give up and go back to your old ways of mismanaging your time.  Let’s build a different kind of schedule. One that you actually enjoy following. Check out my post“It’s time to rekindle your love affair with schedules”  to learn how to create a schedule you love to follow!
2. Give your agenda a higher priority than other people’s agendas. It sounds simple enough, but it is actually requires high levels of discipline. Think about how often you check your email, and then spend the rest of the day responding to what everyone else needs.  It happens all the time! Instead, choose what is most important to you to accomplish today and do those things first. What you will find is that your high priority items will get done, and you will still have time to do the high priority items of others. (And as a bonus, you will also get better at saying “no”. It feels amazing.)
3. Shift from busy into productive. Busy people fill their time with lots of low value activities. Productive people fill their time with a few high value activities. Today, I am writing blog posts, writing content for a new website I’m launching, and writing a book proposal, and I have one client appointment. That is pretty much it. I will spend about 6 hours today working on 4 things. And I’ll spend 1 hour answering the needs and questions of my clients, team, and other people. Want more examples of how to be productive not just busy? Check out my post “Are You Busy or Productive?”
4. Shift how you think about time management. Instead of looking at the clock and thinking, I don’t have time to clean the bathroom. Ask yourself, what can I get done in the 10 minutes I have?  Maybe you do have time to take out the trash.  Or if you find yourself thinking, “I need an hour of phone time”, but you only have 15 minutes. Consider asking yourself, “Who can I call in the next 15 minutes?”  You will find that you have MANY pockets of mismanaged time.

I truly love managing my time. In the last few years I’ve been able to move from feeling like time management was some horrible force of control and into loving taking care of my time.  Has this changed the way you think about your time?  For more Details:  business development strategies

time management

4 Myths About Living Life On Your Own Terms

In the entrepreneur world we talk a lot about creating the life we desire.  We talk about financial freedom and time freedom.  We have a rosy picture of living life on your own terms.  And we talk about it as though it is something we will achieve.  It’s a moment of arrival.  The moment when we can look around and say, “This is the life I always dreamed of.”

Many dream the dream, few achieve the dream.  I’ve coached many people as they transition into the life they want.  Some were already highly successful in terms of paycheck, but were not living the life they wanted.  Some were dirt poor and created financial success.  Some started poor and ended poor.  Some started with more money and ended with less.  How can that be possible?  It’s pretty simple, money is not the ultimate indicator of success.

As a coach I see a few BIG misconceptions that keep people from the life they want.  When you subscribe to these philosophies, you are likely to find yourself feeling like you are on a rat race, constantly chasing a life that is always out of reach.

Fiction: Having enough money will allow me to live the life I want.

Fact: Money is a magnifier. If you are already living life on your own terms, money will enhance that.  If you are not, it will also enhance that.  For example, if family time is a high priority for you, but you are working too much, more money to you will look like more responsibility and still not enough family time.  You can find yourself feeling like you can’t take time off because your business or job requires so much of you.  And you can’t walk away from the paycheck because the family needs you to provide for them.  You’ve created the golden handcuffs. The trouble is, you made your money living out of your values so you created a system that requires you to stay out of your values.

Fiction: I have to earn living life on my own terms.

Fact: We choose to live life on our own terms.  At some point every person who is truly living a life according to their own rules wakes up and chooses to live life that way.  It always involves risk.  It always involves change.  It always involves breaking the status quo.  Most of the truly wealthy people I know made that change long before their fortunes showed up.  In fact, they created their fortunes through an intense determination to create the life they wanted.  It’s not about how many years you work in corporate America before you branch out on your own.  Last week I spoke to a college Senior who is finishing up her last semester of college and is NOT looking for a job because she is launching her business.  And you know what, she is already making more money than MANY experienced entrepreneurs.  She didn’t earn that, she chose it, and created it.

Fiction: Living life on my own terms is easier than following someone else’s plan.

Fact: (Lets just laugh for a moment at how silly that myth is hahahahahahahaha!  Okay now back to the reality.)  If it was easier, everyone would be doing it.  It’s hard to say, these are my priorities, these are my boundaries, and no, I will not chase dollars to get by.  All successful people are willing to fail.  We don’t like to fail, we don’t do it often.  But we are all willing.  We said goodbye to oursafety nets a long time ago. (check out my popular blog post on getting rid of safety nets.) 

Fiction: My life will look like so and so’s when I am living life on my own terms.

Fact: That is the fastest way to be dissatisfied with your life. When I look at my industry, people are on planes every week posting where they are going to speak.  Their hair always looks awesome.  They have designer clothes and go on fancy vacations.  If I chase that life, I end up feeling very empty.  I’m not a minimalist.  I like my big house and my Bosch mixer a little too much for that.  But simplicity fills my soul.  Comparison is an easy game to start, and an impossible game to win.  If I compare, I feel like I need to get hair extensions, lose 20 lbs, be dressed up at all moments just in case an Instagram worthy moment arises, and that I need to be on TV and speaking in front of large audiences every week in order to be successful.  That life does not bring me joy.  But you know what does?  My life. The one where I spent a few hours on Saturday cutting down underbrush with my boys and husband. The one where I get to spend the day working in the same room as my husband and where I can walk out and see my little guys any time I want. The one where I can wear a plad purple shirt I bought at Walmart 3 years ago on sale for $4.99.  And one where I can influence people around the world while sticking close to my beautiful small town simple life.  I LOVE being home with my family.  That is what life on my terms looks like.

Stop waiting for what you think living life on your own terms looks like and JUST START CHOOSING it EVERY day!  business strategy

business growth

Business Advice Only an Idiot Would Give You

If you’ve been in business for a while you know that you get a lot of advice, from a lot of people.  And not a lot of them are actually qualified to give you advice!

You know what I’m talking about, you’re at the family reunion and Aunt Sally asks, “So how’s that business of yours going?”  With that sympathetic/pained look on her face.  “Well you know, most businesses go under in the first few years so you better make sure you …”

Or you are at a networking meeting and “That Guy” that goes to every meeting and tries to make himself seem like the most important person in the meeting, but is oozing, “I’m flat broke” energy says to you, “I’m doing this great new thing.  It’s taking off like gangbusters.  You should absolutely stop doing (XYZ business strategy that takes work but is producing for you) and start doing (quick and easy get rich overnight scheme.)

Then there are your friends who have never run a business in their lives.  “I read in an article last week at the doctor’s office about how you can start a crowd funding campaign and earn like $500,000 to get your business going.  You should do that.  You would be so much less stressed!”

We don’t get too off track with that type of advice because it is so apparently naïve and ridiculous.  But then there is other advice that seems smarter at first glance.  It seems smart, and safe and can be some of the most dangerous advice to listen to. Here’s is some of the WORST advice I have gotten while being in business!

1. “You don’t have to do so much, just slow down and scale back so you won’t feel so stressed.” Slow down and be less stressed?  It sounds amazing right?  WRONG!  You are not stressed because you are in business, you are stressed because you are a member of the human race.  You felt stress before you started your business.  You will feel it while you are in business, and you will feel it long after you retire from your business. Often times stress comes when I am at that final push to finish a project, or reach a goal.  If I stop every time I get overwhelmed and stressed, I will never finish my race!  The good advice you need to give yourself during these moments is, “You can do this.  It is hard now, but it won’t be forever. You are so close.  All I’m asking for you to do is take it one day at a time.  And you’ve got this!  Let’s go baby!”
2. “You don’t need to hire someone to do that! I have a friend who can do that for free.”  I am all about controlling costs and being a good steward of my financial resources.  I love spending my money on things that will make me more money.  I hate wasting money.  However, free or cheap labor often times ends up generating cheap, low quality results.  I someone is willing to do your website for free, they are not building you a high quality site.  If they will do your headshots for free, they are not likely to be professional quality.  The one exception to this rule is interns who want to work in your industry and are dying for an opportunity.  Even that labor is not free.  You pay for it with your time you spend training them.
3. “You don’t need help with that. You can do that on your own.”  Hint: This one often comes from yourself.  The unwillingness to hire is one of the biggest hindrances to businesses.  If you are the perpetual solo-prenuer who must learn everything on your own, you will have a very hard time getting much past 6 figures.  Your business will max out because you can’t possibly work any harder.  You will get burnt out because you get tired of never being able to take a break.  I would never design my own website.  I am sure that I could.  It would be hard, it would take me a lot of time.  It probably wouldn’t look great when it was all said and done.  But none of those are the reason I wouldn’t do it.  I would NEVER design my own website, because in the months it would take me to build that website, I would lose out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales.  You must know where you are valuable to your company, and be willing to spend the majority of your time in those areas.

Trust me on these ones!  Save yourself the struggle and avoid my top 3 mistakes waiting to happen!  Be willing to get help!  Be willing to spend.  Choose to spend wisely.  Don’t try to do everything on your own!  My motto is, I am not Superwoman!  I don’t look good in spandex and I don’t want to do it all on my own.  I need help to make my business run.  That is not a sign of weakness, it is a strength that I recognize it.  You have tremendous potential in your business!  Avoid these common mistakes and you will thank me for it! http://amywalkerconsulting.com

business leaders

YOU Have Been On My Mind…

About a month and a half ago, I made some changes in my schedule and opened up time to start talking personally with perspective clients again.  It has re-infused me with love for YOU!

YOU are the reason I love my job and my life.  YOU inspire me.  YOUR struggles, YOUR fears, YOUR triumphs and YOUR passion all make me smile.  I truly love being involved with your journey.  Every week I get to talk to clients and potential clients about their highs and their lows.  We celebrate the good.  And we dissect the failures.  Sometimes I care more about your success than you do.

YOU might be used to living where you are living.  YOU might be used to making what you are making.  YOU might be used to the current state of your relationships.  YOU might have even resigned yourself to settling for less than you once dreamed of.  But I have a different perspective.  I love YOUR journey, because it was MY journey as well.  I know what it is like to hope that there is more in store for your future.  I know what it is like to work hard and not get ahead.  I know what it is like the moment you find the missing link in your brain that connects you to the path of success.  I know what it is like to break through mediocrity and live the life you always dreamed of.

A few months ago I was talking with my beautiful, successful, longtime friend Kim Duncan.  She said, “Do you ever just look at your life and think, I can’t believe I get to live this life?”  I said, “Yes, but at the same time, this life feels so much more natural to me.  When I think back to where we were, that is the part that feels foreign.”

Speaking with so many of you over the last few months has been like reliving my journey.  I see in YOU where I was.  And I see where YOU are going.  The BEST is yet to come!

I am guessing you can relate to one of these three scenarios.

1. You are working hard. You do everything you are taught to do.  Daily you are working on the skills and tasks required to succeed.  You get results, but it never seems to bump past that line of success you have dreamed of.  You are not sure why it seems to work for others, but it doesn’t work for you.  You sometimes doubt if you will ever get there.
2. You have the vision! You have the belief!  You have the faith!  You KNOW that success is in your future.  But you lack the detailed business plan for what will get you there.
3. You know what to do. You have read all the books.  You have the mindset tools.  But you struggle to show up and do the work.  Something always gets in the way.  You know that if you could just be disciplined, it would all come together.  You can’t figure out why it’s so hard to discipline yourself and you spend more time than you would like to admit beating yourself up for not working harder.

Which one can you relate to?  Don’t worry you are not alone.  About 90 percent of the people I talk to can relate to one or more of these scenarios.  I can relate to all of them at different times in my career.

THESE STORIES MAY BE A PART OF YOUR PAST, BUT THEY DO NOT HAVE TO DEFINE YOUR FUTURE!

There is a HUGE need for mentorship right now! I’ve been mentoring and coaching business owners for 13 years!  I have always hated having to turn people away who want and need help, but can’t afford it.  It tugs at my heart every time.  Because I WAS there.  I still remember when I was in Kim Duncan’s basement being in the middle of financial crisis, and feeling hopeless because I knew I needed mentoring and couldn’t afford it.  That day, she changed my life, by giving me what I needed for $100.

Today I want to pass that on to you!  A few months ago I was invited to be a mentor with the Conscious Creators Mentoring Network by Strongbrook.  I would put my content into the Vault with other mentors from across the world.  Mentors like Les Brown, Kris Krohn, Gerald Rogers, Ann Webb, Leslie Householder and others all put in their amazing training.  And you can access all of it for $99 a month.  I am so grateful to be a part of this and to share it with YOU!

In 2 weeks I am hosting a personal development event called the Conscious Creators Expert Summit.  You will get to sample 5 of the amazing trainers content for FREE!  Just register and you will get 6 trainings that will help you with your relationships, your money, your time, and your life!

There is SO MUCH WAITING FOR YOU!  If money is the thing that has stopped you in the past, it doesn’t have to stop you anymore.

Get registered now!  At the end of the series, I will teach you how to you stay plugged in to my, and the other mentor’s programs for less than you ever thought possible! http://amywalkerconsulting.com

executive business coach

Don’t Tell Me What You Can’t Do

Today’s article has nothing to do with business, but everything to do with business.

I want to introduce you to my nephew.  He is a little hero who defied all odds.  Andy was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder, trisomy of the 4p and partial 4q and partial 5q. As a result, Andrew was born with a hypoplastic left heart, legally blind, agenesis of the corpus collosum, and some serious developmental delays. Before he was even born, the doctor’s knew that he would not live without a major heart surgery 5-10 days after his birth.  His life was going to be an uphill battle. The doctor’s recommended that comfort care be given to Andy until he passed away.  They did not think he would ever be able to have a good quality of life. Through a lot of prayer, my sister and brother in law decided to fight for their son’s life. Andy had his first open heart surgery at 5 days old. He had his second major open heart surgery 4 months after that. Andy’s life was full of “couldn’t-s”.  He couldn’t see.  He couldn’t eat.  He couldn’t talk. He couldn’t walk.  But the “could-s” are what defined him.  He learned to sit up and crawl.  He learned to take his clothes off and spent a lot of time doing it!  He had the best laugh and the most positive attitude.  He loved everyone and everyone loved him.

I tell my clients regularly, “Don’t tell me what you can’t do.  Tell me what you can do.”  I know that way of thinking was strengthened for me by watching my little Andy defy the odds time after time.

Andy passed away in 2013 and we all miss him like crazy.  July 28th would have been his 7th birthday. When he passed away, it was hard to imagine how life would go on. But it had to go on.

This year for Andy’s birthday, we can’t watch him destroy his birthday cake.  We can’t hold him.  We can’t listen to him laugh at whatever new noisy toy my sister would have gotten him.  We can’t kiss his sweet cheeks.  All of those things suck.

But what we can do is celebrate his life.  His entire life was a miracle.  And we can create those miracles for others!

My amazing sister runs a fundraiser for his birthday every year. This year she is hosting a virtual 5K to raise money to buy a wheelchair van for Andy’s good friend Simon.  (Check out the story on KSL, our local news station).

It is a great cause, and I invite you to be a part of it!  Amy Walker Consulting is sponsoring the Hero Run and I want to sweeten the deal for you!

For anyone that donates $250 to the fun run through a combination of registrations, fundraising and personal donations, I will give you my new Walk Your Talk Mentoring program for FREE.  That is a $997 value.  

To register yourself or your team for Andy’s Hero Run, or make your donation, CLICK HERE. Make sure that you leave a note on your donation that I sent you.

To learn more about my Walk Your Talk Mentoring program, CLICK HERE.

Here’s what I learned from Andy:

1. Don’t focus on what you can’t do, focus on what you can.
2. Challenges and heartbreak are a part of life. Choosing hope and joy during and after the challenges is essential.
3. Don’t wait for perfect situations to laugh and love life.
4. Socks are always optional.
5. Never accept the limitations given to you by others.
6. Every day is a gift.

Like I said at the beginning, this article has nothing to do with business, and everything to do with business.  http://amywalkerconsulting.com/

business development strategies

5 Weird Sales Tips That Work

I have been in sales for 16 years now.  Wow that makes me feel old!  I started off amazing!  I was selling on accident and didn’t realize I was in sales.  Then I switched industries, started my own direct sales business and knew very clearly I was in sales and all of the sudden I went from awesome to horrible!  I gave away more product than I sold.  Have you ever lost money being in sales?  Me too!

Fortunately I figured it out!  I have now closed over $20,000 in sales in an hour.  I have no problem closing multiple digit deals.  I havelearned to be a strong seller.  I emphasize learned because too many people are buying into the story that they are “Just not a sales person.”  That is an expensive story and you can’t afford to buy it!

During the past 16 years, I have studied people, sales techniques, strategies, and tips and then studied people some more.  I have learned that certain things work, and others don’t.  Today I want to share with you some of my weirdest tips!  I can’t explain fully why they work, but I can promise you that they do!

1. Popcorn-Popcorn works in live sales presentations.  If you are a speaker, presenter, or network marketer this one will be your best friend. I heard once that if you put popcorn kernels on the stove and apply heat, but remove them before they pop, that those kernels can never be popped again.  They had their moment, and the moment was missed. I haven’t verified it.  Part of me wants to see if it really works, and part of me doesn’t because it would ruin my awesome analogy.  As you apply heat to the popcorn kernels, for a while nothing happens.  Then all of the sudden you get your first pop!  After that, the pops get closer together and pretty soon you have an explosion of awesome snackiness.  People at live selling events work the same way.  You all know, or should, that if you are selling to a group of people, you need to do a call to action to the group.  If you do the call to action, no one moves, and you just end the event, you are not likely to close sales that night.  But if you will continue to talk and invite the audience into action until someone moves, you will close sales.  You just need your first popper.  Once the first person takes action, the others will follow.  You know that awkward feeling at a gathering where it’s time to eat and everyone wants it, but no one is going first?  That is how your audience feels.  Maintain the conversation until you get your first popper.  You’ll thank me for it!

2. The Tunnel- As I go into any sales experience, I visualize myself entering a tunnel.  I will be in this tunnel for the entire conversation.  At the end of the tunnel, my potential client can choose what direction they want to take.  But during the conversation, we both have no way to move except forward.  Here’s why it works.  How many times have you been in the sales conversation and wimped out, gotten off track, or stopped just short of asking for the sale?  You can’t do any of that in the tunnel because there is no way to move except forward.  This visualization keeps me extremely thorough following my script and helps me dramatically increase my closing ratio.

3. The Pen Pass- This tip works for any time you are trying to get someone to sign something.  It could be at a vendor booth where you are trying to get them to enter your drawing.  It could be that you are trying to get someone to sign a contract.  You hold the pen for the entire conversation.  Then when it is time for you to get them to sign, instead of handing them the pen, set it on top of the paper in front of them.  They actually sign at a much higher rate than if you hand them the pen directly.

4. The take away- If you’ve ever been in a training with me, you know I am a little feisty. I learned this trick just because people annoyed me on my calls!  Have you ever been in a sales conversation with someone and they are just impossible to talk with?  They have all the answers, or they are full of doubt and reasons why something won’t work for them?  Well, in my early years, I was trying to convince them to work with me.  I tried to talk them into liking me, my message, and my product.  Then I decided I just didn’t care about winning everyone over.  So I started taking my offer away.  Guess what happened?  Those calls ended up going better!  I’m not going to say I close them all.  But there is something about knowing the services you need are about to be taken away that causes people to actually listen to what you have to say.

5. The BFF- This one is also a lesson I learned early on.  I was trying to be so professional!  My knowledge of my products was perfect, my presentation was solid.  But I just wasn’t closing.  I wasn’t relatable.  Now I go into every conversation thinking about that person as someone I have known forever.  They are my BFF for the next hour and I have no one to impress.  I can just go in and share my knowledge.

I could, and probably will, write a book about all of the sales tips that I have up my sleeve!  But for now, if you are wanting to improve your sales.  Join me Thursday July 16th For Sales Mastery Live.  This is a 2 hour online training where I will teach you how to build a sales system that WORKS!  This is a great opportunity for you to look at how to take your business to the next level!  http://amywalkerconsulting.com

sales skills

Attracting Clients: When to Push and When to Pull

I love hearing people talk about attracting in clients. We all love when new clients show up! And I do have some miraculous stories of the right person showing up at the right time. The stars aligned, and I found myself with that wonderful new client. But not all the time.

Unfortunately there is no special client attraction cologne or perfume. There is no magic formula for how to go viral with a video. I’ve looked.

There are times when you have to push your message, product or agenda, to get it in front of the right people. And there are times when you use the energy of what you have created to pull in people. It’s like a dance. And to do it masterfully you need to know when to make the right move.

Times to push: Push marketing is when you are pushing to get your product or service in front of potential clients. Examples would be:

1. Trade Shows/Expo Booths
2. Holding classes or product demonstrations
3. Finding retail locations to sell your products
4. Webinars
5. Email Marketing

Almost all businesses need to be engaged in push marketing when they are in start up mode. It is the quickest way to get to the point of sale and it is usually the least expensive. Anytime cash flow is slow,you need to be engaged in push marketing campaigns. May-August and the month of December are slow times in my industry. You better believe I will be engaged in push marketing during all of those months. The first year and a half of my business, I was VERY engaged in push marketing. We needed to build a client base, and I wanted to build it quickly. If you are looking for fast growth, definitely time to push.

Time to Pull: Pull marketing is when you draw clients to you. Examples would be:

1. Referrals from Existing clients
2. Public Relations and Media appearances
3. Radio Shows
4. Advertising in radio, television, or print. (Direct mailers would be push)
5. Sales and discounts
6. Customer relations and internal upsales

In order for pull marketing to work, you have to have some people in the flow, or some cash in the flow. It requires resources. When you have an established client base, and cash in your budget pull marketing will help you take the business to the next level. Pull marketing can build your brand recognition and help you spread your reach.

Bottom line, you should always be pulling and pushing, just in the right proportions. For new businesses or old businesses that aren’t profitable yet, I recommend that the majority or your time and marketing budget be spent on push marketing. Once you are profitable adjust that number and start to invest in the right type of advertising and PR. But, I’ve yet to reach, or see any of my clients reach the point that they don’t benefit from some good old push marketing! For more details: http://amywalkerconsulting.com/

time management

Will Your Resolutions Fail?

I was in church yesterday and heard several people talk about how they hate New Year’s Resolutions and how they don’t even make them because it sets them up to fail.  It was one of those moments where I had to bite my tongue because I LOVE New Years Resolutions!  It’s a clean slate.  You have a fresh start, a blank canvas of your year and can turn it into anything you want it to be.  I don’t always achieve every single thing on my original list, but I do achieve most of it.  And sometimes what I achieve is better than the original goal.  Some of the other things don’t happen because my desire for them changes through the year and what seemed important on January 1, is let go of in pursuit of something better on June 1.  But my life and my business would not be where they are without setting those resolutions!  Here are some tips to keep you on track this year to reaching your goals.

1. Do you have the education you need to accomplish your goal? This year one of my resolutions is to garden, raise chickens, plan an orchard and make progress towards my hippie goal of growing all my own food.  Up until this point in my life, I have never managed to keep a house plant alive.  Those of you that follow me on social media may remember our goat drama and know that we are NOT experienced farmers.  If I set this goal, have no clue what I am doing, and charge forward I will set myself up to fail.  I need education.  I will be reading books, watching you tube videos AND enlisting HELP from experienced farmers! 
2. Do you offer forgiveness when you fall of the wagon? Two of my scariest resolutions this year are to not watch TV and not eat processed sugar for the ENTIRE YEAR!  That is going to be hard!  I love me some sugar and I love me some down time with the TV!  As much as I am committed now, will there be some bad day in the future when I am just ready to quit and turn to a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and cuddle up with The Voice?  Hopefully not, but if it does happen, all is not lost.  I simply forgive myself and drink more green smoothies for the next few days. 
3. Are you trying to start them all at once? I have a LOT of goals this year! I have goals for my home, my health, my spirituality, my relationships, my business, and my personal talents.  (I am starting to paint and am playing the cello again!)  If I try to change all of these at once, I can’t maintain that much structure.  It’s too much too soon.  Some of these goals will be implemented in phases.  Right now, I am either painting or playing my cello once a week.  In 2016 I want to play in the community symphony.  It’s going to take practicing every day.  But right now, I’m not ready for that.  I will have to work up to it.  Progress is progress, perfection is impossible.
4. Are you carving out time in your day to think and be still? That is essential for change.  If change was easy, none of us would have bad habits.  When you change, it will cause you to stretch and grow.  It’s painful. Sometimes it’s physically painful, ask me about that tomorrow after my first workout of the year!   Sometimes it is mentally painful.  Sometimes it’s painful to your soul as you purify out your weaknesses and vices.  When you don’t give yourself that time to be still, meditate and receive inspiration, it is working your physical body with no sleep.  You can’t do it for very long before you just go back to the way it was.  I would attribute the majority of resolution failure to not having time to think quietly.
5. Do you have support in reaching your goals? Sometimes I post my goals for everyone to see. Sometimes they are very personal and too fragile to let anyone know. In either case, I do need support in reaching them.  Sometimes it is asking the people that I love to pray for me.  Sometimes it is getting a workout buddy.  Sometimes it is in hiring a coach.  That support often times looks different, but it is ESSENTIAL! 

If you haven’t set your resolutions yet, please do it!  Do it with faith that you have the ability to change and grow!  Let go of the fear of failure.  Failure is just a natural step on the path to success! For more details: business growth

business strategy

The Bad, Better, and Best of Content Marketing

What is your marketing budget?

No one really likes to answer that question.  “I want to spend as little as humanly possible and I am hoping for hundreds if not thousands of leads” never quite seems professional enough.  But if that is how you feel, don’t worry you are not alone. Most business owners feel this way.  I feel this way!

The expected thing to say would be, “I hate to be the bearer of bad news but…”  But that is actually not true.  I LOVE shooting you straight.  What I hate is giving people false expectations that they can generate monumental results with minimal time, effort and money.

So I’m going to shoot you straight with marketing!  Most of the “free” marketing strategies people are using are not effective. And one of the most common places people try to build with the “free” model is on social media.  So let’s dive in and help you see how to create a content based marketing strategy that works.

BAD

I kind of want to reach through the phone and shake people when I ask them about their marketing plan and they tell me, “I’m doing social media.”  What that means is, you are annoying your friends and family with constant calls to action and product updates.  It may also mean you are starting up groups, adding people to them and then trying to sell them your products, (Yes I am talking to you mascara sellers!  How many mascara groups does one person need to be invited to?) It could even involve inconsistently adding content to your page.  And maybe you are running online events and adding everyone on your contact list to them.  If you are guilty of any of these marketing misdemeanors, it’s time for a marketing intervention.

BETTER

Better would be to create a social media schedule, where you know what you are posting, how often you are posting, and you are balancing value adds to offers about 80/20.  I have a social media content map that pretty much stays the same for a few months at a time.  You will always see my promotions on Tuesday and Thursday Evenings.  My blog posts show up the same time each week.  Motivational tips on leadership, sales and mindset will come onto your newsfeed at regularly scheduled intervals. (If you are not following my business page, click here, because you are missing out!)  The content I create is regular, consistent, and something I can manage over the long haul. This is your next step to creating a content marketing plan that works, but don’t stop here!

BEST

Matching a great content creation schedule with strategic use of groups and events will give you more opportunities to engage with your followers beyond the output of content that happens on your business page.  It is important that you are proactive about taking readers from content to conversation.  My goal is to take a “like” into a conversation online, and then ultimately to a conversation off line.  A group or event can be a good in between step.  What can be on it’s own annoying and intrusive, can be a great resource when it has purpose and focus that people WANT to participate in.  Now you will be able to establish trust and rapport!  The final step is to take those online friends and bring them to a real life conversation!  Invite them to a webinar, conference call, live event or one on one phone call!

We are in the information age of business. People want to be informed.  They expect great content from you!  And no amount of online content will ever replace good old fashioned communication.  Increase your commitment to engaging with your prospective clients and I guarantee you will see an increase in sales and new clients!

For more details visit here: http://amywalkerconsulting.com/

business leaders

Do you know about this dangerous business expense?

A good business owner SHOULD always know their expenses.  I talk with business owners every single week, so I know it’s not always true, but it SHOULD be!

I pay attention to how much I pay for Infusionsoft, website hosting, my text opt in service, my payroll and my taxes.  Sometimes the big expenses get the most attention and your smaller expenses get overlooked.  And sometimes the little ones add up and you look at your bank account in amazement that all those little things can add up to such a large amount going out!

However most people don’t realize they have a hidden expense in their business that is costing them thousands if not millions of dollars a year!  It’s stories.

Stories are expensive and you can’t afford to buy them!

We all have stories in our lives.  Stories that play through our mind about why we can’t do something.  Why someone else can’t do something.  And why it won’t work for us.  I know you have them, because I hear them from you on a regular basis. If you are one of my clients, I call you out on them on a regular basis.

Let me give you some examples. “My team just unplugs every year during the summer.  It’s so frustrating!”  That is an expensive story. So expensive it will cost you your production for 3 ish months of every year.  What if instead your story was, “The summer is the best time of year to find new recruits!  I love working my business during these months because so many people are out and active that I meet the most amazing new prospects and I’m signing up excited people right and left.”

Here is another example. “Everyone is struggling in my industry right now.”  Can you see how expensive this one is?  If you buy that one, you are on your way out of business. Instead replace it with something like this, “This is the perfect time to be in business.  While others check out, I will innovate.  There is always opportunity in any economy.”

And one of my least favorites, “We’ve tried that before and it just didn’t work for us.”  It’s as though you think you are the one exception to the universal laws of success.  Of course it didn’t work because at the time you were probably also buying into the story of, “I’m afraid this won’t work.”

My story is that I get what I want at the benefit of others. That it always works out and there is always a solution. And that success is the natural flow of my life.

Be very cautious of stories in your own life.  Be very cautious of buying the stories of others as well.  I listen very closely for stories in my clients. “I can’t afford it” is a story not a fact!  I’ve seen single mom’s with struggling businesses come up with thousands of dollars to pay for a program because they were determined to write a new story.  And I’ve seen women who are supported by husbands with great jobs and money in savings accounts tell me that they want to grow their business but that they can’t afford my program.  If I buy their limiting stories, I cannot afford to pay my bills!

The stories in your mind will write your future.  If you are struggling in your business, I suggest you look hard to find your limiting stories, and the limiting stories of others.  Cancel your subscription and start creating a new future.  Remember, the wrong stories are expensive and you can’t afford to buy them!

For more details  visit here:  http://amywalkerconsulting.com/