Give up on the seeds?

In our garden, we’ve just planted some rocket and lettuce seeds. In these early post-planting days, we could stare at the barren soil, see nothing emerging, and throw up our hands in despair. We could give up the idea as “not working” and walk away – or even dig up those seeds in dismay.

But no. We just have to keep watering. We have to believe something is happening under there, beneath the soil. We have to keep our eyes peeled for those first shoots, those fragile seedlings, pushing up through the surface, giving us signs of life.

Focus on what’s working

In your business, you can focus on the empty space in the room – or the one person who shows up for your class. You can focus on the fifty people who don’t reply to your email – or the one who does. You can focus on the five consultations that don’t turn into paying clients – or the one that does.

Love the one

Love the one person who shows up. Love the two words of feedback on your Facebook post. Love the positive comment, the hint of synchronicity, the opportunity that lands with a whisper.

Love the teeniest tiniest successes and celebrate the heck out of them. No matter how small, no matter how insignificant others might tell you they are, these are your signs of life.

These are hints that something beautiful is happening in your business. Life is stirring, something is taking hold. And day by day, you’re moving your business closer to the vitality of spring, the full bloom of summer, and towards harvesting what you’ve sown.

Have faith. Focus on what’s growing in your seedling business. Be compassionate with yourself, be patient, and don’t stop watering those precious seeds.

Over to you

What flickers have you seen – or did you see – in the early days of business? How have you trained yourself to look for what’s working? Leave a comment below, let us know.

FREE: Your Blogging Questions Answered

Click here to access the 30-minute audio recording from Tuesdays’s live Q&A call. You’ll hear me demystify blogging, from how long a blog post should be, to finding your blogging voice, to how to get people to actually read (and engage with) your blog.

Keen to join the How to Blog to Help More Clients masterclass? You’d be so welcome. There are currently 5 places remaining so click here to book before the doors close.

© Corrina Gordon-Barnes 2013

“Love the tiniest successes. Celebrate the heck out of them. These are your signs of life.”

I’ve just done a Midnight Google Search.

Desperately seeking answers

Life can be pretty tough. Whether your parents have just announced they’re separating, your sister has been diagnosed with cancer, or your business has hit a financial meltdown, or whether you’ve simply got a niggling admin task to cross off your list (like getting business cards printed or figuring out how to use WordPress), we’re all looking for help.

The Midnight Google Search is like a modern day prayer. Our fingers fold over the keyboard and we type our request, out into the all-knowing void. We wait for guidance, relief, reassurance. We’re looking for a poet who can speak our pain, a sage who can inspire us, or an expert teacher who can give us a step-by-step How To.

When you run a service business (you do, right?), you can be the guardian angel who responds to the prayer. You can even do this while you’re asleep; your blog answers for you. You can be there at midnight when someone is in the dark; you can be the light under their duvet. Your words of empathy and reassurance and hope can glow from their computer. You can help them grapple with chronic fatigue, find the right clothes to wear for a networking event, or figure out which expenses are tax-deductible.

When you run a service business, your ideal client is in need – and I know you want to be there to meet that need. They’re searching for what you can help them with and so you want to be found.

So, when it comes to choosing topics to write or record videos about, make it your mission to be who (and what) they find in the middle of the night.

Action

Make a list of 10 phrases your ideal client might type into a search engine in the middle of the night, when their pain point is high. In that moment when they’re fully aware of their situation, problem, niggle or yearning, what would they type?

Now, pretend to be him/her. Type the first phrase into a search engine and see what results come up. Are you met with satisfactory answers? Do you get a sense of relief, that you’ve found exactly what you were looking for? Are you pleasantly surprised and your needs are met? Or are you left disappointed, like nobody out there is answering you?

Where there’s a gaping hole, where there’s no answer to a burning need, that’s your clue for what to write or record a video about. Your blog post or video blog is what’s missing. Write or record an answer to that search engine prayer; you’ll have chosen a powerful topic indeed.

Over to you

What do you remember about your own Midnight Google Searches? What’s it like to see blogging (written or video) as answering people’s prayers? Leave a comment below, let us know…

“Someone’s Google search is their modern-day prayer. Be findable as their guardian angel.”

Learn how to blog effectively

Do you want to connect with more potential clients? Establish yourself as an expert? And do less work for more sales?

Then it’s time to master blogging.

Blogging is powerful, affordable, and could become one of the most enjoyable marketing tools you’ll ever use. Doors are now open for the How to Blog to Help More Clients masterclass – click here for full details> >

© Corrina Gordon-Barnes 2013

People often worry that blogging, or sharing content through social media, teleclasses or webinars, will deplete them as a business owner. They fear that they’ll put in a lot of time, energy and expertise and won’t see a return on that investment.

Here’s a concern from one of the You Inspire Me community:

If you’ve held back from sharing your ideas or information freely, out of fear that no-one will then pay you for anything, it’s time to get familiar with content marketing.

Content marketing

Content marketing is where you strategically give away content for free to (a) add value to your prospective clients whilst (b) equipping them to become future buyers of your products and services.

Here are two great reasons to spend time and energy on content marketing:

1. It means you don’t have to do your actual work for free

“Huh? But aren’t you working for free when you blog etc?”

No, because you aren’t doing your core work for free. People absolutely still have to pay for your coaching, yoga, homeopathy, style advice, translation service etc.

Let’s take two coaches: Nora (who has nothing free to offer) and Connie (who loves content marketing).

Nora speaks with a prospective client who says, “I can’t afford your coaching, can you give me a discount?” Nora wants to help this person and doesn’t want them to leave empty-handed so she reluctantly says, “Um… sure”. She has nothing to offer them except for discounted (or even pro-bono) access to her core service.

Connie receives that same request from a prospective client and simply replies, “Okay, I hear that and I don’t do discounts. Come back to me if and when you can afford this support, and in the meantime, here’s a ton of blog posts you’ll find useful.” She feels satisfied that this person can access her free resources until they’re ready to become a paying client.

Connie is giving away the right things for free so she doesn’t have to give away her core service (i.e. her coaching).

When you have no blog and no free offerings, people only have two options: they can buy from you or they can’t. If someone says they can’t afford what you’re selling, you might feel that heart-tug to make your service accessible – at a financial loss to you.

2. The more you give, the more comes to you

People often panic because they feel that if they give away their wisdom, they’ll run out. They imagine they’re a one-trick pony: they have one idea in their heads and they better keep it there because that’s the only idea they’re ever going to have.

Actually, magic happens when you give abundantly: more and more flows through you. I’ve been blogging since 2006 and I have more ideas now than I’ve ever had. Each time I create content, even more appears in my mind. I’ve heard this from so many of my colleagues too. It seems that the Universe abhors a vacuum; when you give a piece of your wisdom away, you create space in your mind for more to come in.

Your prospective clients come to see that if you’re giving away a lot of content for free, it’s because you’re tapped into a never-ending supply. They see, “Wow, if I get THIS for free, just imagine what I’ll get when I pay!”

And in terms of marketing, free content is immensely shareable. The more you share, the more others can share you with their friends and colleagues, which brings more people into your community.

Give abundantly from your heart. Stay wide open to receiving money, allowing people to pay you for the work you do. And you can trust that you’re on track to run a profitable and fulfilling business.

Over to you

What kind of content marketing have you done so far? Have you written an article for a magazine or given a talk? Recorded videos or written blog posts? Led a teleclass or webinar? Or what has held you back from doing these things? Can you identify with that fear of giving away the whole store? Leave a comment below, let us know…

How to Blog to Help More Clients Masterclass – get front of the queue

If you’re feeling inspired by the concept of blogging, and are eager to learn how to blog most effectively, you’re in for a treat. Next week, we open enrollment for the How to Blog to Help More Clients masterclass; places are limited so get front of the queue to receive early notification by leaving your name and email here:

“When you give abundantly, more and more flows through you.”

© Corrina Gordon-Barnes 2013