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I just listened to Lisa Michaels’ audio article, How a Bargain Basement Mentality Can Weaken Your Business Growth.  This audio caught my attention because everyone loves getting a good bargain.  But, having this mentality will hurt a business long-term.

Lisa says she pays attention to make sure she’s getting a bargain on the right types of things.  Getting bargains on things you use up, and not ongoing resources.  This may be your hair shampoo, food, clothing, and other disposable items are desirable.  Ongoing resources are things you will use over and over again, they last virtually forever.

However, Lisa contends that having a bargain basement mentality when investing in long-term and ongoing resources can weaken business growth.

Here are two reasons why entrepreneurs need to adopt a mindset of investment rather than a bargain basement or “freebie” attitude:

1. Free training gives you a nibble – but not a meal

When an entrepreneur has a bargain hunter mentality to business, how this shows up is they engage in getting a lot of free or low-cost business training.  They “hunt and peck” for the lowest cost training they can find.

It’s kind of like going to Costco and eating the samples of food to feed yourself dinner.  Doing this you never feel fully nourished; you haven’t filled yourself up because all you’ve had are little nibbles of food – some of which probably isn’t very nourishing to you.

When you Invest in higher quality training in your business, this is an asset you are acquiring.  The reason this is so is because what you learn you will keep forever.  The business skills you are learning and developing will always be with you.

When you invest in training and coaching programs that develop your skills, you transform and strengthen your business-building ability.

Free is fantastic.  But, in order to experience a deeper level of transformation you have to invest money, time and energy.  You can’t do this by flitting across the top layer of the “what” and “why” information free training delivers.  You need the “how” which is delivered by investing appropriately.

2. “Like” attracts “Like”

There are certain things I hear time-and-time again from entrepreneurs that without fail point to trouble.  One of those things is hearing someone say, “I’m not making any money.”

Upon closer inquiry, it becomes very clear that this person is not investing in coaching or business development programs to help them get to the next level.  They are the freebie program seekers and DIY-ers.

The writing on the wall is these people are not doing what needs to be done in order to develop themselves.

Because they’re not willing to invest in anything – guess what type of clients they’re attracting. 

You’ve got it!  They’re attracting the types of clients who don’t want to invest in themselves, either, the ones who always want something for free.

Our businesses are always reflecting back to us how we are showing up.  If an entrepreneur is attracting clients who aren’t willing to pay – the first place to look is to honestly ask themselves if they are willing to invest and pay.

How we’re investing is being reflected back to us in the amount of income we are receiving. {tweet it}

Investing in training and coaching that shows us the “how” is what we need to up-level our business growth.

My coach’s request of you this week is to review what type of training you’ve invested in the last six months.  Was it all or mostly free?  Was it paid for?  For either, what are the results you got?  Which type of training had the better return on investment?  Free or for-fee?

My guess is training you invested money for paid you back many times over if you implemented what you learned.  Go out and find the next awesome training to invest in to build your business!

What do you think?  Post your comments below.  I’d love to read them. ~B

Invest TIME, ENERGY and a small amount of MONEY and join me for a LIVE training event – Make More Money: “5 Essential Strategies to Get Your Business to the Next Level and Increase the Amount of Money You Make This Year”.  CLICK HERE to register for this live event.  ONLY 5 seats left!

In my business, I strive to offer my clients and followers programs that will solve their most urgent problems growing their businesses.

A few weeks ago I surveyed my email list and asked the question—

“What’s Your Biggest Challenge Getting Enough Clients And Earning The Income You Want?”

Here are the responses.  Do any of them resonate with you?  If so, tell me about them by posting a comment below.

Biggest Challenges

• Pricing offers
• Branding business so my ideal clients know how I’m unique
• Confidently charging my worth
• Using the best marketing methods
• Getting more clients, making more income – and not running out of time
• Crafting a story to convey my message and attracting an audience
• Creating create consistent income
• Keeping clients committed and enrolled
• Closing the sale / handling objections
• Generating enough leads
• Being able to afford to hire a coach or VA
• Managing my time , prioritizing, doing work that really matters
• Avoiding overwhelm
• Getting to the next level – I’m stuck at a certain income ceiling
• Finding ideal, paying clients
• Packaging my knowledge
• Creating information products
• Addressing fear, doubt, and increasing my confidence I can “do it”
• Creating an action plan and implementing it
• Questioning if I can do it all – I only have 24 hours

Erasing Obstacles

Surely, these are many obstacles  that can stand in our path on the way to success.  No adventure is worth taking if there aren’t any dragons standing in your way!  Overcoming and “erasing” these obstacles takes knowledge, mentoring, and persistent action to overcome them.

Which of these challenges in getting clients and increasing your income resonate with you?  Do you have any to add to the list?

Post your thoughts, ideas, and challenges in the form below.

I can help you with ALL these challenges!  Join me for a LIVE event – Make More Money: “3 Essential Strategies to Get Your Business to the Next Level and Increase the Amount of Money You Make This Year”.  CLICK HERE to register for this live event.  ONLY 6 bonus gifts left!

I’m also leading a FREE training call on May 14, “10 Blind Spots Holding You Back from Leaping to Your Next Level of Income and How To Break Through Them”.  CLICK HERE to register for this free training call.

“5 Essential Strategies to Plug Your Money Leaks and Double the Amount of Money You Make This Year”

Join me for this brand-new high-content LIVE session.

You’ll be stretched personally by me as you begin to learn the exact business and marketing principles I used to grow my own multiple 7-figure and 6-figure businesses.

Then, you can immediately start using them yourself to upgrade your entire life—both personally and professionally.

This is also your opportunity to win a Complete Business Makeover (at no charge) as well as witness others experiencing breakthrough and “aha” moments while in the “hot seat” with me.

Barrington, IL • Friday, May 24, 8 am – 12 pm

Get the details by clicking here.

Announcing Bonita’s Marketing, Money and Sales Intensive for women entrepreneurs looking for HOW to earn more money and work SMARTER in their business.

Here’s how to tell if you’re ready to be a ROCK STAR at growing a business and what you’ll learn in this LIVE 4-hour event with me…

• You want clarity on the future “long-view” and where you are going…AND you want to know how to make it happen doing the day-to-day activities.
• You’re already doing okay in your business BUT you’ve hit a plateau and are ready to leap into the NEXT LEVEL.
• You want to learn from someone who actually has business experience and is an experienced teacher, adviser and business mentor. (me)

Here’s what we’ll cover:

1. Gain Clarity & Focus: Master Planning

2. Make More Money: Profit & “The Numbers”

3. Charge Higher Fees: Offers & Pricing

4. Be Seen: Promotion & Sales

5. Get Help: Collaborations, Partnerships & Advisers

Join me in the Make More Money Event to experience a level of business wisdom and training event unlike any other.

* The first 25 23 women who register will receive this valuable BONUS gift *

3 Steps to Authentically Price Your Programs for Profit! ($97 value)

Get the details by clicking here.

See you there!

~Bonita

Over the last ten years, I’ve looked into the eyes of thousands of women entrepreneurs and have seem them struggle in their businesses.  The struggles most commonly point to:

• not having enough leads
• not having enough clients
• not having enough cash flow and income

There are many reasons why a woman entrepreneur does not have enough clients or cash flow in her business.  Many times it boils down to her having some blind spots she’s unaware about.

Until she gets clear about how she’s stuck, it’s almost impossible for her to successfully attract enough clients and generate enough cash flow in her business to create the lifestyle and freedom she wants.

How can a woman entrepreneur tell if she has blind spots blocking her way?  Here are some common tell-tale signs.  She -

• knows the marketing she needs to be doing to attract new clients and generate cash flow, but can’t seem to do it on a consistent basis (or get results)
• is plagued by cash flow and money issues and feels trapped in “survival mode” financially
• procrastinates putting herself ‘out there’ in the market – she’s “idling” and doesn’t know why (or knows but doesn’t know how to fix it)
• needs a business coach but can’t ever seem to find the money
• is stuck at that 5-figure place of $30,40,or 50K – just enough income, but can’t seem to get to that place of having enough money for the home she wants, to save for retirement, or to support someone else

Blind Spot #1. Knowing she needs to build a list but she’s not doing enough about it.

Here is how not paying enough attention to growing her list shows up. A woman entrepreneur does not-

• see her list size grow by at least 100 people per month
• have a strategy in place for doing online marketing activities (ezine, social media, teleseminars/webinars, SEO, driving traffic to her website, etc)
• have a steady stream of new client prospects entering her sales funnel

The limiting beliefs at work here are - 

• if she sticks up a free offer on her website people will gladly get on her list
• she doesn’t like email marketing and to become a “Spammer”

The TRUTH: Every small business owner needs an audience of prospects to make offers to so they can generate cash flow and income.  If a list does not exist to market to she doesn’t have a business.

To resolve this blind spot, a woman entrepreneur must realize that it is crucial to consistently do list-building activities to being new people into her sales funnel.

There are over 50+ authentic list-building strategies a small business owner can do.  Many of them are free and can be easily implemented immediately.

An entrepreneur who commits to building a list of highly qualified prospects and develops a relationship with their list, based on trust, will consistently acquire new clients and cash flow.

Blind Spot #2. No formal business training or experience.

This is a blind spot we don’t hear enough about. For many entrepreneurs, they struggle and struggle to grow their businesses, and no matter what they do, things just don’t work out well for them.

If this speaks to you, dear reader, know that if you do not have business experience or training, and you are struggling and feeling bad about it, that maybe you’ve been mislead by all the programs promising quick and easy results, and fast money.  These promises are myths in the ‘Land of Easy Money’.

Starting a business is easy. All someone has to do is tack up a shingle next to their door, register their business, get some business cards, and start attending networking events.

But, growing a successful, sustainable business is not easy.  It’s hard. All we have to do is look at the business shutdown statistics and the median income of a coach being $29,100 to know this is true. (Source: 2012 ICF Global Coaching Study.)

These statistics are heartbreaking.

My experience is many of those coaches earning $29,100 are working very hard for that amount of income.

The good news is circumstances can be improved with the right training, coaching, and experience (which just takes time to acquire).  But - every small business owner who is struggling has to recognize, 1) it’s not easy, and 2) they really need to get professional help.

Here is how a lack of business training and experience shows up. A woman entrepreneur -

• is a DIY-er and is trying to build her business by doing everything herself (or only invests in “free” or low-cost trainings under the guise she’s “saving money”)
• is working hard, long hours and doing the best she can, but she’s still not making enough money
• has been in business 2, 3, 5 or even 10 years, but her business is not where she thought it would be by now in terms of cash flow, income, clients
• saw her business fall apart after the recession because she didn’t have a strong business foundation
• loves what she does but dislikes having to manage her business – the money/budgets, sales, marketing, measure business performance, etc

The limiting beliefs that are causing this to happen are she -

• knows she’s really good at what she does so the “clients will come”
• doesn’t need to learn about sales because people will refer her
• thinks by researching and “piecing together” all she reads about business, marketing and sales topics she is saving money
• knows “ultra-successful business owner A” who grew a successful business, generated lots of cash flow, and didn’t have a business background
• believes (naively) that anyone can grow a successful business

The TRUTH: No one has a successful business without having some sales, marketing and business experience themselves – or they’ve hired expert help.

If we study any successful entrepreneurs, whether they’re guru coaches in the industry or Bill Gates of Microsoft, a common thread we’ll see is that they got business training, coaching or hired the right help. This is true in every success story.

Also, by trying to learn how to do everything yourself, it takes a lot of time. It is almost impossible to gather all the pieces you need; there are knowledge gaps that occur simply because business, marketing and sales are massive topics to learn.

This represents a huge opportunity cost in terms of unrealized sales. Working with a mentor or coach will massively shorten your learning curve, and accelerate getting clients and cash flow.

And – if growing and managing a business is so easy, why are MBAs and finance professionals some of the highest paid professions in the marketplace?  The reason is because business development and management are complex, technical topics that the best business leaders learn over many years of training and practical experience.

Growing a successful business that generates the desired amount of cash flow is not easy, and it’s not enough to be good at what we do. To be successful in business, every woman entrepreneur needs sales, marketing, and business management skills – and help from someone experienced in business to navigate the right path for her.

To resolve this blind spot a woman entrepreneur can:

• hire a business coach or mentor who has real-world business training and experience (and runs a successful business – they are an entrepreneur)
• take key business courses, like financial and managerial accounting, budgeting, economics, marketing, and sales
• continually invest in acquiring business knowledge

Next week, I’ll share more blind spots that are holding women entrepreneurs back from creating consistent cash flow.

I am very excited about a new program I’ll be announcing soon which is about how to create consistent cash flow in your business, using PROVEN business growth strategies.  If you want to be put on a Priority Notification List – contact us by clicking here.  You’ll get the chance to attend this program FREE - our compliments.

"Her hair is like a beam of light."

In a conversation with one of my potential clients, she said to me—

“I’m busy doing things in my business all the time.  But, I’m not sure if what I’m doing are the right things to grow my business.  My vision feels scattered and unfocused.  And, my income is really suffering.”

If you ever feel like this, and your sales and income aren’t “trending up” or are where you want them to be, there may be a culprit at work. 

This culprit is often a lack of focus and aligned action to achieve your vision.

To gain clarity and achieve a vision, we have to figure out what to do, and what steps to take. 

Most importantly, these steps have to be aligned with our vision and goals.  

I love strategy and systems. Having a plan and process is absolutely critical to success… 

…however, what good is a map, a plan, if you aren’t super-clear about what you want to accomplish, or you don’t have a passionate purpose, or know where you’re headed?

Trying to figure out how to get somewhere without having clarity of vision is what fosters self doubt, indecision about making the “right” choices, and procrastination. 

Following are two easy steps you can take immediately to gain clarity about what you want to accomplish, and how you’re going to do it:

Step 1: Align Your Actions with Your Future Memory

Put everything down for a moment.  Close your eyes.  I want you to see an image of yourself 3 years from now.  We will call this a Future Memory.  To get to this Future Memory 3 years from now, envision there is a beam of light that radiates out from your body, and this beam connects you to you 3 years from now.  This beam is an energetic connection to you, 3 years from now.

Notice where you are, where in the world are you?  Notice what you smell, feel, taste anything, and see around you.  Notice the things you can’t see, what’s going on in your life?  What are you doing?  How are you being?  What’s happening in your life?   What do you notice?  This is your orientation toward what you desire, a vision you have for yourself, sights smells, sounds, and feelings. 

To bring yourself back to the present moment, follow this beam of light back to your present self, in the room where you are now.

This was a short journey, and you may not have seen all the details.  This is okay; for the purpose of this exercise you did see something, and this is awesome.  Right now, I want you to take a moment and write down what you saw on your journey; write down the details you saw.

You can’t achieve your passionate vision unless you are energetically aligned with your future vision. {tweet it}

You can take action all day long, and not ever move closer to getting there. Visualizing your future and then mapping out the small milestone steps is the key to success.

How do you know if you are taking the right actions?  You feel it.  Once you see your Future Memory, everything you do that is aligned with your vision will pull you toward it, you’ll feel it. 

When you step off the path, you’ll intuitively know that this is not the way.  You’ll feel a resistance, you’ll feel something “isn’t right”.  When you are moving closer to what you want, when you’re taking the right actions, you will feel a sense of energetic alignment.  Step off the path, it’s hard to quantify, but you’ll feel it and know it that this way is not the right way.

Now, from what you wrote down, what is the first step you think you must take to achieve your vision?  What is the second step?  This is aligned action, and will help you gain clarity of your vision, and the steps how to accomplish it.

Step 2: Map it Out

Write down a goal, something you’d like to have or have happen. 

Next, in relation to that goal, where are you in your life now? How are you doing?  

Do you want a business that breaks through the 6-figure mark?   How are you doing with achieving that goal?  

Do you want to lose 30 pounds?  What are the simple facts of your life right now? 

Don’t dramatize, just be factual. 

Next, I want you to think about this journey to your goal, and break it down into smaller pieces. 

For example, if you want to lose 30 pounds, think about some milestones along the way to losing 30 pounds:

• Milestone 1 could be starting to exercise 3x per week by week 4
• Milestone 2 could be cutting calories by 250 calories per day by week 5
• Milestone 3 is losing 8 pounds by week 8 or being down one dress size

If you want to grow your business to $100,000, break it down into milestones:

• Milestone 1 is to have 1 private clients at $5,000 in the next 4 weeks
• Milestone 2 is to get 2 private clients at $5,000 each the second month
• Milestone 3 is to get another 2 private clients at $5,000 each the third month

There are many ways you can break down big goals into smaller goals.  Building a 6-figure business may seem overwhelming, until you break it down into the smaller steps.

Right now, I invite you to think of your big goal, and start writing down a series of milestones.  Don’t make them too big or too far in the future.  Milestones can be anywhere from 1 day to 1 week to 1 month out, no more time than that.  Write down whatever feels right to you.  These milestones are landmarks along the way to let you know you are on the path.

Visualizing your future, and then mapping it out into the smaller pieces, will ensure you are taking focused, aligned action toward reaching your goals!

Let me know how this information has helped you.  Please write your comments on my blog below.

We all need guidance to create a vision and gain clarity about where we want to go, and how to get there.  This is where having a mentor, coach and community support helps you become clear.  Someone who has been there can shorten your learning curve, and help you from making rookie mistakes, or if you make rookie mistakes how to recover from them quickly.  Join an awesome community of women who will support and cheer you toward reaching your big goals in my Fiery, Feminine & Free Virtual Sisterhood.  Early Bird pricing disappears Friday, March 15, so hurry!  Register here.

Yesterday, I lead a group Q&A follow-up call for the women who attended my Virtual Master Business Planning Retreat. I was anticipating the questions to be about the business planning process, marketing, list-building, launch, or even how to decide about what products and services to offer.

To my surprise, the questions were not about any of these topics.

Aside from two questions about budgeting, all the other questions were about how to manage time, set priorities, focus, how to deal with overwhelm, and how to hire and work with a virtual assistant. For the most part, the questions asked were about time management and daily business operations!

One of the keys to creating a 6-figure+ business with the least effort is to set up strategies and systems to manage and leverage your time, so you work on tasks that will move your business forward toward your goals, you get more work done in less time, and you create income faster.

Here are three of the most effective, yet easy-to-do time management principles I live by in my business each and every day.

1. Flip it…

One of the tools I use to focus on ‘closest to the cash’ activities, and manage my time is a flip chart. Using this tool helps me identify which activities on my to do list will have the greatest impact in moving my business forward.

To leverage your time, tasks you will do on a daily basis must meet two criteria:

• They will move your business forward toward your goals
• They are closest to the cash

The way I set up my to-do list is I write down all the tasks I have to do on the left side of the paper. Then, I count them, and mark 20% of them with an asterisk *. This action ties into the Pareto Principle, which states that 80% of our results (in this case revenue) are derived from 20% of our actions.

Then, I move one of the asterisked tasks to the right side of the paper. Doing this helps me to focus on completing one task at a time, and avoid overwhelm. When I complete the task, I cross it off and then move another asterisked task to the right-hand column. Here’s how it looks:  

2. Choose simple

As women entrepreneurs, we are creative people and LOVE to create programs with lots of “bells and whistles” i.e. features to help our clients. We add this component, then add another, and yet another. While this intention is good, packing our programs too full causes two things to happen.

When we…

• pack too much into our programs, we overwhelm both ourselves and our clients
• overcomplicate creating a new program, this sucks time right away from us

What the results is we delay getting a new offer to market, which hurts our income and keeps it lower than it could be.

The thing to keep in mind is to try to create simple products and services that are designed to solve one problem, and don’t have a zillion features, and end up sucking our time (and life) away from us.

The easiest way for you to create the next thing you want to offer is to keep it simple.
You will get it to market faster, which is a great way to leverage your time and a lot more income for you!

3. “Please bottom-line it for me…”

I know sometimes I have a tendency to over-explain, and in the process even repeat points to make sure my clients “get it”. So, when my clients do the same thing, I totally understand.

But, the problem with over-explaining and not getting to the point is it can be a time-waster, especially if someone is over explaining in an email. (Which, by the way I rarely do! My emails tend to be very short.)

When I receive an email or voicemail from one of my clients that has lots of run-on sentences, ideas, and questions all bundled together, and I’m not sure what they’re really asking, the ‘please clarify’ or ‘please bottom-line it’ idea is one of my favorite ways to leverage my time.

When someone sends you a communication by e-mail or voicemail, and you’re unsure about what they want, don’t spend any time trying to interpret what they meant. That’s a huge waste of time.

Instead, send an e-mail back or make a quick call asking for clarification.  Better yet, have an assistant call.  By doing this, you are empowering the other person to become clearer about the answers they are seeking, and putting the responsibility on them for getting their message across in the right way.

(Watch for Part 4 in this series next week…)

I’d love to know which one of these time leveraging tips resonates the most with you. Please share with me by posting a comment below or retweeting!

Fast and Easy Ways to Leverage Your Time and Create Income: Part 2 of 4

 
In last week’s article I shared three easy ways to leverage your time, so you ‘clear the path’ and income can flow more freely to you.  In Part 2 of this article series, I address common stumbling blocks that seem to pop up for even the most seasoned entrepreneur and how to deal with them.

Here are four of the most common stumbling blocks I frequently coach my private clients on, to help them remove blockages, and open up the flow of income into their businesses:

1. Not taking action to “move ahead” even when the next step is known.

Women entrepreneurs seem to come up with all kinds of excuses why they have to wait to take the next step, or feel they ’aren’t ready, yet.’   Almost always, this is either fear-based (fear of failure or success) or a ‘seeker of perfection’ mentality that is causing immobilization. 

Thoughts such as, “what if this doesn’t work” or “I have just a bit more work to get this just right” are common.  We come up with all kinds of excuses as to why we stop, and something doesn’t get done.

If we’re afraid of failing and don’t take action on what we must do, we are almost guaranteed to fail achieving the results we want.  And, we’ll deprive ourselves of the learning and growth that will result had we tried, so we can course-correct to achieve a better result.

In my mind, failure is not a word I use in my vocabulary.  I have complete confidence in my talent and vision.  When things don’t go as planned, I view it as simply an opportunity for learning, and trying and doing things differently.  This learning is a stepping stone to success.

Also,when things don’t work out exactly as planned, it’s just a blip, a hiccup, a “bump in the road.”  It is only a temporary—not a permanent condition.

One of my favorite strategies I learned from my mentor is to ‘fail fast’.  Put it out there, see what happens, and tweak until you get the result you want.  This mindset will pull your forward, and get you into action.

2. Not being self-disciplined and sticking to deadlines.

As an entrepreneur, we don’t have a boss breathing down our neck to get things done by a certain date.  This is a good thing!  But, the tricky thing is that lack of external accountability makes it easy for us to slide on deadlines, and let the dates of our goals whoosh by us.  Having no one watching over us makes it very easy to move and shift deadlines.

So, how can we become more self-disciplined, and do what we plan on doing?  The first strategy is to connect to our Big Money Why.  Money in and of itself is not a motivator to many women.  The true motivator comes from the emotional purpose for creating the money.

Another way to stick to our deadlines is to make them public, and become ‘accountable’ to someone.  This can be our list of followers when we announce an upcoming program launch, an accountability partner or peer, or a coach who will be our strongest accountability partner because of the investment in time and money we’ve made in this relationship, as well as benefiting from their expertise.

3. Not fully stepping into the role as leader of our business.

I’ve met many women entrepreneurs whose businesses never seem to grow from one year to the next.  Their businesses are at the same place, they look the same, and the women are delivering the same types of services (in the same way), year after year.

What’s happening here is there is no growth or expansion of their businesses; there’s no innovation.  Businesses where sales have not increased over the last year are actually dying, simply because of the effects of inflation.  Eventually, business operations will become unsustainable.

The reason this happens is because it’s actually very easy to stay in the current operating phase because it’s comfortable.

It could also be because often women entrepreneurs don’t know WHAT—

• the NEXT STEP is
• the NEXT LEVEL of business growth looks like
• must be done to TAKE them to the next level

The sooner they can step into and embrace a leadership role in their business, the faster the growth of both the woman entrepreneur and the business.

 4. Not having emotionally-driven money motivators.

As I stated earlier, money is often not enough of a motivator to do what needs to be done to create income.

No matter how much you may want to achieve a certain level of income, there has to exist a powerful and emotional reason behind it.  This is what drives the business forward—this emotional desire.

If you find you are struggling doing the daily tasks that will move your business forward, you’re procrastinating and delaying and not taking action, take a look at your Big Money Why (BMW).

Take some time and sit in a quiet spot, and in as much detail as possible, write out why you want the financial success you do. Is it to give to and support your family?  It is to give to others?  Is it to travel and experience the wonders of the world?  Is it to give your children the best education you can offer them?  Is it to give experiences to those you love?  Is it to take care of and be there for elderly parents?

There are countless reasons why you want to create money.  But, you need to be very clear of what they are before you can make the money to make them happen.

When you face what’s stopping you from taking action, and you increase your intensity of self-discipline, identify your emotional money motivators, and step into the role of becoming the empowered feminine leader of your business, you will open up the flow of income into your business.

I’d love to know how this conent resonates with you.  Please share your thoughts with me and our readers on my blog!

Do you want my personal guidance how to to create your income-generating 12-month Master Business Plan in as little as 1 day? Then come on over and check out the 5-part teleclass series, Illuminate the Path to Profits: 2013 Business Planning Secrets. If planning has been a struggle for you, this program can help. Check it out here: Illuminate the Path to Profits: 2013 Business Planning Secrets.

“I never seem to make any headway on my ‘to do’ list.  It keeps getting longer every day, even though I’m working and marketing all the time—usually 6 days a week.  And, I’m not making enough income, even though I’ve been ‘at this thing’ for a few years. (building a business) I’m not sure if my business will ever work.”

It pained me to hear one of my new clients confide this to me.  It was clear she was working very hard in her business, and doing what she’d been told to do by other successful mentors.  She even had team members in place to help her. 

Yet, she was still overwhelmed, working all the time, frustrated, and wasn’t making enough money in her business.

Once I took a look at her business and marketing plan, and how she was managing her time, it quickly became clear to me why she was struggling.

Many women struggle with focusing and prioritizing which activities they must do to build their business.  This is not surprising, because there are so many different activities to do—planning and strategizing, marketing and list-building, selling and enrolling, launching programs, creating new content, delegating to and managing a team, dealing with technology issues, and so much more.

The problem is when women entrepreneurs aren’t focused doing the right activities that will move their business forward, their income suffers, and overwhelm kicks in.

The first step and solution to overcoming this problem is to get a solid foundation in place.  You want to create a solid business, marketing, and list-building plan, and create systems for time management.

In this first part of a 4-part series, I’m going to share with you some of the most effective ideas you can apply to your business today to get a handle on and leverage your time, so you grow your business and income.

1. Create a 12-month master business plan.

You’re probably thinking, “This article is about time, why is she writing about creating a business plan?”

The reason is because you won’t know how to invest your time in your business until you know what you want to accomplish.  When you create a 12-month business plan, you’re creating a road map to follow.  This map will help guide you, and help you focus and prioritize on what activities to do.

For example, when you create your business plan, you will decide what programs you are going to offer and launch.  Knowing this then drives what marketing activities you must do to promote your offer and generate the income your desire.

You will also decide what list-building activities to do and calendar them.  All this helps you to focus on doing activities to move your business forward, so you get the results you want.

Action Step: To begin, choose six programs you want to promote and launch this year.  Choose which months you will market them. 

Then, set a goal for how many people you want in each program, and how much you’re going to charge.  This is intentionally planning your cash flow, and not running your business by the seat of your skirt!

2. Prioritize your daily activities.

Now that you have your business plan, or at a minimum an idea of your next offer, write down all the activities you must do to launch that program.  Then, write down all the other activities you must do to grow your business.

Now that you have this list, put a *star* or circle the top five activities that will have the greatest impact to move your business forward the fastest, and are “closest to the cash.”

See how easy prioritizing what you must do to create income is?!

3. Create an Idea Journal.

Us women entrepreneurs have so many creative ideas!  And, this is a wonderful thing.   But, if we record all of our beautiful ideas on our To Do list, then these ideas morph into activities we think we must take action on right away.  This contributes to feeling overwhelmed, and like a failure because we can’t seem to implement.

Instead of putting your ideas on your To Do list, I suggest doing this:

Look at your ideas and compare them to your business plan.  Do they fit in to your current plan?  Are they aligned with what you want to accomplish this year?  If so, decide if you have room in your calendar to implement this year, and put a date to the activity.  (It’s okay to move this idea to next year!)

If the idea is not aligned with your current plans, but you still want to explore it in the future, put in an a separate Idea Journal.  Your Idea Journal is separate from your To Do list.  Doing this helps to keep your To Do list “clean” and focused on current business and income-generating priorities.

When you create a 12-month business plan, and then prioritize activities that support your plan and are “closest to the cash”, your income will grow with more ease and less struggle.

How is my client feeling today?  After implementing these simple, yet powerful business plan and time management strategies, she is feeling calm, confident, a lot less overwhelmed, and she’s not working too may Saturdays any more.  And, most importantly, she is filling her programs and creating more income.

(Watch for Part 2 in this series next week.)

I’d love to know which one of these planning and time tips resonates the most with you.  Please share your comments with me below.

Do you want my personal guidance how to to create your income-generating 12-month Master Business Plan in as little as 1 day?  Then come on over and check out the 5-part teleclass series, Illuminate the Path to Profits: 2013 Business Planning Secrets. If planning has been a struggle for you, this program can help.  Check it out here: Illuminate the Path to Profits: 2013 Business Planning Secrets.

Did you know that over 90% of entrepreneurs don’t have a master business plan for how they’re going to create cash flow and grow their business?  Not having a business plan is like going on a year-long road trip without a map.  It wouldn’t take long to get into unfamiliar territory, lose your sense of direction, and begin to wander aimlessly about, wondering if the road you are on will get you to where you want to go. 

The same thing happens when you don’t have a thought-out business plan.  You become reactive and run your business by the seat of your pants, rather than being proactive, with purposeful action to help you move closer toward achieving your vision and goals.

But, what I’ve found to be true by working with thousands of entrepreneurs is most have a tendency to over-complicate the business planning process.  Then, overwhelm kicks in, they get emotionally bogged down, and they never complete their plan.  The result is they embark on another year where their business doesn’t come close to meeting their goals—once again.

To help you, following is a simplified and powerful approach to help you plan your “Big Picture” 2013 business plan!

Step 1. Set a BOLD Money Goal

Planning for success begins by setting a compelling money goal for yourself that will pull you forward out of your comfort zone, and into a new model of thinking and behaving. To begin, determine the GROSS AMOUNT of income you want to earn in 2013.

Post this number where you can see it daily.

Step 2. Mark Time off You Want in Your Calendar

This means blocking off time for holidays, vacations, service delivery, attending workshops and seminars, etc.  

Step 3. Plan “Big Pay Days”

To meet your Bold Money Goal, cash flow is queen. That’s why you want to plan for your Big Pay Days. Big Pay Days, especially if you are new in business, is going right out and attracting 1-1 Platinum coaching clients ($5,000 for 6 months). Get your first client, then second, third, etc. Big Pay Days can also take the form of a 1-day VIP Live Intensive ($1,200 to $2,500).

If you’ve been in business awhile, your Big Pay Days may look different. They may include:

• 1-Day VIP Live clients ($4,000 to $8,000)
• 1-Day VIP Virtual group ($2,000 to $5,000)
• 1-1 Private Platinum coaching clients ($6,000/6 months to $12,000+/6 months)
• Platinum group coaching program ($10,000 for 12 months)
• Training and certification programs ($10,000 for 3 months)
• Master Mind Retreat (10 people at $15,000 to $25,000 per group)
• Workshop
• Membership association 

For existing businesses (and as a start-up business grows), plan in your calendar to have 2 or 3 high-end offers per year to generate Big Pay Days.  Calculate the number of people you will serve for each high-end offer, and calculate projected income.

Step 4. Plan Smaller Projects

These smaller projects can be teleseminars, information product launches, starting a membership continuity program, and small workshops.  These projects can also be “feeder” programs for your Big Pay Days, such as a teleseminar series.

Calculate the number of people you will serve for each smaller offer, and calculate projected income.

CHECK: Does this number add up to your BOLD Money Goal. If so, you are on track. If it is fewer dollars than your goal, readjust your numbers (investment amount, people to serve, or both).

By now, you know—

1. Your BOLD Money Goal (sales/revenue you will create)

2. What major High-End projects you will offer

3. Smaller projects you will offer

4. How many people you will serve

5. Your marketing calendar and activities

Step 5. Do Time-Blocking for the Month

For my personal schedule, I prefer the 1st and 3rd weeks to be my busy weeks of the month. During these weeks, I lead my coaching calls, Inner Secrets Training calls, and Personal Retreats.

The 2nd week of the month is lighter, not as busy. The 4th week is very light, where I plan more time off. This is also my creative time. 

Step 6. Create Your Marketing Launch Calendar

Because you want to plan your High Pay Days, first, you want to get these planned on your marketing calendar, first!

Plan the launch date of your high-end offers, and then back up from there to when you need to begin to market. Decide on the methods you will use to market (email, speaking, creating videos, teleseminar series, workshop, etc)

For high-end offers, plan on 4 to 6 weeks of marketing time.  Seeding, where you “drop hints” about an offer, happens 4 weeks to 6 weeks prior to active marketing of the program. You can see now why you need to get these offers plotted on your calendar!

“To achieve your goals you must create a business plan that awakens your vision, increases clarity about what to offer to create consistent cash flow.”

Creating a ‘Big Picture’ business plan is one of the first steps to creating a Master Business Plan for how you plan to grow your business, so it creates cash flow and meets your income goals.  Take this step, and the “how” about actions you must take will become clearer.

“If you’re tired of drifting about with no real planned direction…being reactive day-to-day in your business instead of focused and intentional…and letting your sales and income up to chance, then I know you’ll want to join me for an *all-new* FREE training event, “How to Create a ’13 Master Plan that Awakens Your Vision, Increases Clarity about What to Offer & Creates Consistent Sales, Profits & Confidence!”  Reserve your seat here!

As songwriter Paul Simon sang in Kodachrome, a photograph shows you the nice, bright colors and the green, sunny days of summer, making you feel all right!

You can create a bright future for your business by taking a “photograph” of it to identify your blind spots, and evaluating where you are NOW, and the gaps that exist between where you want to BE.  This is the most sure-footed path to success, because you can clearly see the blind spots, and then take necessary action to correct them.

Here are the simple steps to ‘Kodachrome’ your business to identify blind spots, and create a success plan for next year:

Step 1. Measure Your Current Level of Success

The first step is to identify the major categories in your business to identify blind spots, and measure for success.  I recommend the following 5 categories to pinpoint where to improve:

• Focus
• Time
• Support
• Clients
• Income

Why didn’t I begin with the category of ‘Income?’ The reason is because if you lack focus, essential time management skills, and support, getting clients and creating income won’t happen easily.

Step #2. Identify Blind Spots and Golden Opportunities for Growth

Within each category, you want to create 5 statements that you’ll check off ONLY if you’re actually DOING them in your business.

For example, here are the five statements I have in the category of “Focus”:

“I have created my strategic business plan, goals, and objectives for 2013.”

“I know my Unique Value Proposition and how I am differentiated from anyone else.”

“I have a clearly defined marketing message and plan to consistently market and promote my business to a  specific Ideal Client.”

“I know exactly the problems my Ideal Clients struggle with on a daily basis.”

“I know, at a minimum, the next three offers I am going to make to people on my list.”

In the category of “Support” I have these five statements:

“I recognize I cannot grow my business alone, am not a Do-It-Yourselfer, and do not “bootstrap” under the illusion that I will ‘save money’.”

“I have a team who frees my time so I can focus on my brilliance and produce income.”

“I know how to justify investing money and my time in team.”

“I invest in a mentor who gives me regular coaching, who will show me the fastest, surest path to reach my goals; who believes in me, and will provide me the courage I need to step into the unknown.”

“I surround myself with like-minded people who support me, both professionally and in my personal life.”

Step #3. Identify Where You Need to Make Changes

Be honest with yourself and identify where you need to make changes to grow your business. 

Any of the statements in Step 2 that you couldn’t check off means you’ve identified a blind spot that is holding you back from creating a successful business, and generating more income.  These blind spots are making it harder on YOU to grow your business.

Step #4. Take Action

Any item not checked off in your assessment gives you a clear ‘Kodachrome’ snapshot of where to focus improving your business, and identify areas for growth.

For example, if you’re not able to check off the 5 statements (above) in the area of Support, then your action steps are to:

• Decide not to be a “DIY-er” or bootstrap.  Identify tasks you are doing that, 1) could be better done by someone else, 2) are not an expression of your unique brilliance, 3) are not income-producing, 4) you don’t enjoy or procrastinate doing.
• Hire a team to do the tasks you identified.
• Hire a coach; join a coaching program that gives you private coaching and accountability.  Otherwise, you’re trying to do too much on your own, and likely slowing down your progress at a very high cost in both lost income and sanity.

It can be so easy when you are running a business to get tunnel visioned, and think you can’t afford to hire team or a coach. 

The reality is you can’t grow a business alone. 

Only when you accept this, take responsibility for the blind spots, and get the support you need, will you begin to think more clearly about how to take your business from just paying the bills to actually being successful.

To grow a successful business you must identify blind spots sabotaging your success, and then take action to correct them.

The only way to know these blind spots is to first identify them, and then come up with a plan to address them so you make forward leaps on the entrepreneurial path. Anything less than leaping is limping along and struggling.

Kodachrome your business, take a look at the image in the photograph you see, and be honest with yourself.  Make a commitment to being successful. Then, take action doing the things you need to do today, and onward, that you were unable or didn’t know you needed to do yesterday.  Make next year a bright, sunny, successful year, and the start of an everlasting prosperous future for your business!

Do you want to take an easy assessment and create an action plan to make 2013 your best year yet?  Attend my Business & Money Mastery 1-Day Live Intensive Workshop.  This is an intimate workshop experience where you’ll receive lots of my 1-on-1 attention.  Seating is extremely LIMITED.  For full details and to register visit http://bonitarichter.com/secretsmoneymastery/.