Guest Blog Post by Audrey Seymour - Clear Change Group

When I was fresh out of corporate life years ago, my ideas of branding were shaped in the mold of that culture – that it was more professional to be "vanilla" in one's marketing copy. In promoting my coaching business, I was careful to not offend anyone and worked to craft the perfect balance between formality and friendliness.

A wide variety of people would inquire about my services, and about 1/3 of them were ultimately not a fit. I spent a lot of time with each prospective client trying to see if I could help, and if someone didn't jump at the opportunity, I would invest in the classically recommended follow-up calls.

The net result in those days was that marketing felt like a lot of work, requiring a lot of hustling and convincing.

Does that sound familiar? Are you hiding the essential you behind a "professional" brand and working hard to overcome people's reluctance to buy? It's no wonder most solo entrepreneurs dislike marketing!

The problem arises from trying to apply old-world marketing techniques, which assume that being real would lose the game. But the truth is that when faced with choices that appear equal, people use the know/like/trust factor to make a purchasing decision. Whether it's knowing the business owner personally or liking the look of a website, subconscious affinity becomes the determining factor.

The problem with vanilla brands that offend nobody is that they also don't inspire anybody either! So no wonder the urge is to roll out the hype.

One dramatic example is what happened with my colleague's audio products website. The original website was very edgy and wacky, and she enjoyed quite a following with great sales. Then she let a consultant convince her to "upgrade" to a more "professionally polished" site. Her sales plummeted!

That was enough to convince me, and I haven't looked back since. Rather than having people call and ask how I work, I now get comments like "Your website really spoke to me." Or, "After reading all the ads, you were the only one I wanted to call."

It's not that I'm the only quality coach in town, it's that my personal style is so visible that people immediately know if they like me or not. I no longer need to chase after those who aren't motivated to enroll, because I know that they aren't a fit. Now nearly everybody who contacts me knows that they want my specific approach.

What's needed to accomplish this is to explore what experience people have when they use your services or purchase your products. Once you understand those qualities, the point is to create that same experience in those reading your promotional materials.

One client who I'll call Joan needed help writing website pages to promote her business as a yoga teacher and fitness coach. She had assembled all the important information about her services, credentials and background, but felt it needed something more.

Joan was a very bubbly and playful person who knew how to make exercise routines fun for her clients. Once she shifted her writing style to show those qualities, the sparkles starting showing on her website. She shared her love of windsurfing on her bio page, and it totally came alive. Joan was thrilled with the result and with the calls from prospective clients who loved it too.

By expressing the specific and unique essence of you in your brand, you will accomplish several things:

• Your marketing materials will be much more interesting and appealing than the formulaic ones.

• You will draw more of those you'd most like to do business with.

• You will draw less of those who aren't a good fit.

• You'll save time because the people who contact you will be pre-screened and pre-sold.

What is the essential brand of you? The best place to start is by listing those qualities which are inherently part of you. Some examples of essential qualities to consider are playful, brilliant, wise, peaceful, vivid, comforting, safe, analytic, spacious, intriguing, fresh and timeless.

Have fun and let the real you out to play!

About Audrey Seymour: Founder and Principal of Clear Change Group, Audrey transforms mission-based businesses so they can make a difference and a profit at the same time. Download her free article "8 Mistakes That Keep Change Agents From Making a Difference."

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

Last week I gave you a big overview for a content strategy to market your Independent Professional business. 

Please don't ignore this strategy as it can be the most powerful and effective way to build relationships (meaning trust and credibility) and get more prospective clients to opt-in to your e-list to learn more about what you can do.

And it's only those who have raised their hand and said, "tell me more" that end up being clients. 

This strategy fits hand in glove with Marketing Ball. You get a prospect to first base when they visit your site and see a lot of juicy information that can help them. They read some of your articles on your blog and then they opt-in to your e-list. You now have their attention. 

The baseline between first and second includes information, familiarity and experience. If you push to the selling conversation (second base) or make a pitch too soon, you get struck out. 

Now that they are on your list, you don't send emails pitching your services. No, cool it. Instead, you give them more valuable information. 

Articles and Content are Keys to the Kingdom

Once a month (at the absolute minimum) you send them a juicy how-to article that will help them. Look, even better, you send it out twice a month or even weekly. And since 95% of the content of your emailings are real value to them, there's little resistance. 

And if you end up blogging more frequently, then at the top of your eZine, you put links to those blog posts. Perhaps you have a few guest bloggers. Well, link to that content as well. 

In short, much more sharing of valuable ideas and much less selling and pitching. There's too much of that already. I get emails once a day from some people and most of them are pitches for something. After awhile I just start to ignore the emails, don't you?

The thing I didn't talk about last week that I want to cover in depth today is how to create powerful, relevant content that people want to read in the first place. 

Isn't that the issue? 

Heck, if everyone could write without a lot of resistance, this would be easy. But it's not easy because everyone has so many preconceptions about writing. People can take half an hour just to write a sentence. 

That's not writing, that's torture!

Today I'm going to talk about a couple key things you need to do in order to produce useful articles with as little struggle and effort as possible. 

1. How to find topics for your articles

2. How to structure your articles

If you can handle these two, you'll be writing up a storm in no time. The first one is often a huge barrier in getting started, but it's really the easiest.

1. How to Find Topics for Your Articles 

Since I'm a fanatic about lists, of course, you start with a list. 

What you do is write a list of at least 100 questions that prospects or clients have asked about your area of expertise or areas where your clients have had problems. Questions and problems. As simple as that. 

And the only way to do this is to write FAST! 

Anybody can write a list like this in about 30 minutes. Just start with the first question or problem that pops into your head. Don't judge, don't sensor, don't wordsmith, don't fine tune, don't edit at this point. Just write. It will fill about 4 pages of a spiral-bound notebook, It you want to do it on a word processor, fine. 

Now you have 100 topics. If you wrote once a week for two years, that would be all you needed. Twice a month, four years; once a week, eight years. You may never have to write another topic!

OK, now take that list and rework it. Arrange it into similar topics, add to it, fine tune it, edit it. Turn those topics into "How-to Headlines." So if your topic is "performance reviews," the headline might be: 

"How Managers Can Conduct Performance Reviews That Actually Result in Increased Performance."

Not hard, right? Now you don't have to do this right away for all your topics. Just the first dozen or so. And that's from three to twelve month's worth of articles. Great start

2. How to Structure Your Articles

I can't tell you how much people over-think this. Remember, you are not writing a book or fine literature. You're just explaining, in 750 to 1000 words, how to do something that you already know how to do. You explain it in writing just as you'd explain it in person - conversationally. 

Here's a basic structure that is tried and true. I've been using this basic approach weekly for fifteen years:

a) Open up with a paragraph or two of a problem or issue. 

"Performance reviews aren't easy; everyone avoids them. They're so hard because…" One or two paragraphs that get you on the same page of where your reader is. Show them that you understand their pain and that you've been there. 

b) Talk about what's possible if that issue is resolved. 

"A great performance review doesn't need to be a chore, in fact it can be fun. Not only that, a correctly conducted performance review can inspire your employees to do better." Again, a few paragraphs that will motivate them to read the rest of your article to learn what to do. 

c) Give a list of five to ten things that will help solve that issue for them. 

You've seen me do this hundreds of times in this e-zine. In fact, I'm doing it in this e-zine right now! I'm simply sharing a list of things that work from my experience. You don't need to over-think this. Again, this is not a college thesis. 

d) Wrap things up and make a call-to-action. 

Give them some final words of wisdom and send them on their way. They now have some very useful, actionable information on this topic. This makes them feel good. This makes them think about you when they need help. This make them refer you to their friends and colleagues. 

So titles and structure is the starting point. My recommendation is to write your topic list today and then select one topic and write an article. 

Don't think about it - do it!

Next week we'll talk more about this. I want to give you enough tools and inspiration to get you developing powerful, practical and valuable content that will start to magnetically attract prospects to your business. 

Cheers, Robert

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

This week, all the approaches to marketing my business online came together into one "Unified Theory of Online Marketing" – A way to create true marketing synergy. 

These days more and more of you want to market your professional services online. After all, if you could sit at your desk in front of your computer and attract all the clients you wanted by never stepping outside your door, wouldn't that be the perfect marketing solution?

This is essentially what I've done for close to 15 years. 

Virtually all my business has come from online marketing activities. And my primary tool for that has been the More Clients eZine that you're reading right now. 

My website attracts visitors, the visitors sign up for the eZine, my e-list grows, and in addition to providing valuable marketing information for free, I've promoted various products, programs and services with great success. 

The question is, can you follow this model and be successful? 

The resounding answer to that is: "No you can't!"

Why? Because things have changed dramatically in the past few years that makes this model less and less sustainable. 

The most dramatic changes I've seen is that it's getting harder and harder to grow one's e-list. Because there are more eZines than ever, it's harder to get subscribers. And because there's more and more competition in search engines, specifically Google, it's harder to drive traffic to your website. 

As a result, many people have switched directions and moved toward blogging and social media. But these two marketing vehicles alone will not produced the kind of results a regular email newsletter does. After all, if your blog is on your website and it's hard to get web traffic, you'll get very few blog readers. 

What is needed is a complete integration of blogs, social media, and eZines. And then there's one catalytic ingredient that I'll mention at the end of this article. 

Simply put, this is how it works:

1. Put your online content, primarily on your blog, front and center on your website. You blog becomes your home page. By having continually updated relevant content, your website will start to rank higher on Google, hence more visitors and more return visitors attracted by your content. 

2. Link your blog to social media. At the bottom of every blog post you should have links for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn (at minimum) and the very first thing you should do after posting your blog is to click on those social medial links and announce your new blog post to your own social networks. And then when visitors come to your blog, many of them will spread the news by also sharing it with their social networks. 

3. Make your blog the primary channel for getting new subscribers to your eZine. A simple way to do this is to place your sign-up form directly below the blog, always with a free report as a bonus for signing up. 

All of these methods added together equal online marketing synergy. More people are attracted to your content and sharing it with others as your list builds, increasing your reach to your prospective clients. 

The mistake most people make is failing to integrate these three powerful marketing tools - blogging, social media and eZines. This week, I've taken the leap and put my blog up as the first thing on the home page on my website. The other steps are already in action. 

But I know what you're thinking:

"It's easy for you, Robert, after all you've been publishing your eZine for 15 years, already have a huge list of subscribers and don't have any resistance to writing. What about me? I'm lucky if I can write an article a week, let alone a month!" 

Well, that's where the catalytic ingredient comes in that creates even more marketing synergy:

Guest Bloggers. 

Guess what? You don't need to write all of your content. In fact you could only write a small proportion of your blog posts. There are dozens, perhaps hundreds of people in your industry who would be willing to contribute to your blog. 

The guest blogger strategy is a triple win:

- Your readers win because they get more valuable, free content that can help them in their businesses. This makes you look good, raises your credibility and turns visitors into prospects. 

- Your guest bloggers win because they get the exposure they wouldn't get otherwise and will also get traffic to their websites as a result. 

- And, of course, you win because you get a lot of valuable content for your website at no cost. You get more visitors to your website and you build your e-list enabling you to communicate with more people, some of whom will become buyers of your services. 

The inevitable next step for me is to invite my readers to be guest bloggers for the Action Blog. My goal, by the early part of March, is to blog daily, with one post from me and four posts from guest bloggers. The More Clients eZine will continue weekly, but will also include links to the week's blog posts. 

Who knows, you could be one of my guest bloggers!

If you have original content about anything related to attracting more clients as an Independent Professional, I'm interested. All you need to do is go to this page and fill out the application: 

http://actionplan.com/write-blog

Cheers, Robert Middleton

Please feel free to comment on this blog and also share it with those in your social networks (links below).

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

In this short book excerpt, MC, the Marketing Coach had been working with RJ, his client. They had been working on RJ's fear of following up with clients. The fear came out of worrying he'd be interrupting them. If you've ever had that fear (and who hasn't) you might find this scenario helpful.

All the scenarios from the book, including this one, come from actual coaching sessions with my clients.

Unsticking Images 

After exploring RJ's thoughts and beliefs about interrupting people, MC had RJ look at related images… 

"One more valuable technique related to mindsets is what I call 'unsticking images.' Not only do we have thoughts and beliefs that stop us and keep us in our comfort zone, we have a never-ending stream of images that block us just as effectively.

"Your issue of interrupting people is a perfect example of this. In addition to thoughts, you have images of the people you think you're interrupting when you call them. What's the image of a person you don’t want to interrupt?"

An image sprang to my mind immediately. "It's a big guy, the CEO of a company, with a mustache and a cigar in his hand. He's sitting in a huge executive chair behind a massive mahogany desk inside a vast, ornately carved, wood-paneled room. Behind his desk is a giant window looking out over Wall Street."

MC laughed out loud. "Yeah, that's a guy you definitely don't want to interrupt! But tell me, is that image true? It it real? Have you ever encountered anyone like that, let alone a client of yours?"

"No, I guess not, but when I make a follow-up call to someone I haven't met yet, that's pretty much the image that pops up. I see him as powerful, inaccessible and definitely not someone who wants to be interrupted by me!"

"Exactly," said MC, "and can you absolutely know that the person you're following up with is like this?"

"Well, of course not. It's absurd."

"Yet, like our thoughts, we attach to these images unconsciously, perhaps for years, and as a result we stop ourselves from making those calls, or we make them under a cloud of fear and intimidation. 

"Since this image is completely false, why not replace it now with a more realistic image?"

"OK, let me see. A real image would be a quite normal looking person, a man or a woman, who is very busy. They are rushing from meeting to meeting. Their office is comfortable but modest. They are juggling a lot of projects, trying to stay on top of things and concerned that their business is succeeding and profitable. They are always on the lookout for sharp people who can help them achieve their goals. When they get a call from me, they are usually enthusiastic because they know they’ll get value. 

"That about sums it up. It fits most of my clients to a T."

"Perfect," said MC. "Now for a minute I want you to imagine making a follow-up call to someone like this instead of the person in your first image. Let me know what that's like for you." 

I closed my eyes, visualized this person in their office and then imagined picking up my phone, giving them a call, reaching them, and having an upbeat, productive conversation. 

I opened my eyes and said, "That's amazing MC. Instead of a feeling of dread I felt excited. I didn't feel small and insignificant; I felt confident and powerful. You might not believe this, but I have never had the urge to make follow-up calls before, and right now, that's all I want to do!"

"Now that's what I call a transformation," said MC. 

- From Chapter 14 of Marketing Ball

My new book, Marketing Ball, is now available free as an e-book for all members of the Marketing Club. You can join free for 7 days and check it out today. I keep adding value to the Club and if you belong, it's all free with your $29 per month membership. Details on Club Membership on this page. 

Please feel free to comment on this post and to share it with those in your social networks.  

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

We'd all like to attract more clients and better clients who both paid us more and who are great to work with. 

And we'd all like to increase our incomes - not by a little but by a lot. However, for most of us this is just a dream because what we're doing to increase our businesses will never get us there. 

In order to see exponential increases in our marketing efforts we must work on increasing our marketing effectiveness in five key areas. 

Last week I got reports from several of the current and past Marketing Mastery participants who had accomplished these kind of exponential results. Here are brief reports from four of them:

Sal Sylvester - 512 Solutions: "I Just sold another $32,500 program (that makes 4 concurrent programs right now). Raised my price by $8,000. The next one will be in the $40k range. Revenues expected to be very close to $300K in 2012, and that will be almost $100k above 2011."

Jim Smith - The Executive Happiness Coach: "I Closed a $48K Culture Change program (a one-year program) a couple months ago... a product I used to sell "piecemeal" and for 1/4 of that price, before I learned how to package it as a Program and articulate the value of it." 

Sharon Rich - Leadership Incorporated: "It seems like what's happening for me is that I sell a component of my high-end program, which leads to the sale of other components, which leads to the sale of other components. For example: I sold a coaching program for 2 executives, that has now expanded to 5 execs, and keeps rolling over in 6-month increments. Value of the client so far: about $50K."

Liz Guthridge - Connect Consulting Group: "In 2010, I had one client that I billed in excess of $10,000. In 2011, I had four clients that I billed in excess of $10,000. (One new client’s billing was close to six figures.) Also, in Late Fall 2011, I sold a project to a new client for $44,000. The company and I had talked about a $7,500 project in Spring 2010." 

The question is, what are they doing to get these kind of results?

They are practicing these five marketing disciplines: 

1. Offering Higher End Programs. This is the central piece that so many miss. Sal Sylvester used to sell $5K leadership workshops. To earn $100K had had to sell 20 of these. Now, with a high-end program at $32 to $40K he only needs to get three clients for the same income. That gave him real marketing leverage. 

2. Better Marketing Messaging. Jim Smith couldn't sell a $48K program with the same message and promised outcomes as a $12K program. His new message had to be oriented around producing sustainable change for his clients as opposed to offering a process with unclear outcomes. 

3. More Visibility to the Right Audience. Sharon Rich concentrated her marketing efforts on the members of a high quality networking group whose members could refer her to her ideal clients. She got to know them and over time explained the kind of results she produced. Now referrals are coming in regularly.

4. More Appointments and a Higher Closing Rate. In her selling process, Liz Guthridge is now asking for and getting more better- paying clients. She is now using an orchestrated selling process that moves a qualified prospect into a paying client much more efficiently. And it's a process she can successfully repeat over and over again.

5. A Marketing Mindset Shift. These results were possible because all of these Independent Professionals did extensive work on getting past their limiting mindsets of what was possible. They are no longer stopped by fear of rejection, perfectionism, or a host of other thoughts and beliefs telling them these results are impossible. 

None of these skills came automatically. They were learned, practiced, implemented and perfected over several months. They have all taken the process of marketing and selling their professional services seriously, and are now reaping the rewards. 

Are you interested in getting these kind of marketing results?

Then I recommend our two marketing programs: 

1. The Fast Track Marketing Club

This is an online program with step-by-step tutorials, expert interviews and coaching calls designed to teach you the skills of attracting more of your ideal clients. All for a very low monthly fee of $29. And this week we've just added our new "Marketing Ball Score Keeper" program and app that lets you track all of your prospective clients using my Marketing Ball model.

http://actionplan.com/fasttrack

2. The Marketing Mastery Program

This is an intensive one-year marketing program where I work with a maximum of 20 participants to mentor and support them in actually implementing the above marketing practices until they are consistently attracting more high-end clients. Applications for this program, which starts in April, are now open. 

http://actionplan.com/advanced/mastery-program

I urge you to learn more about these programs and then take action to become a more masterful marketer of your services in 2012. Don't leave your marketing success to chance. Get the information and support you need to take your business and marketing to the next level. 

Cheers, Robert Middleton

Please share this blog post to your social networks and also feel free to ask quesitons or comment. 

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

Do you ever ask what it really takes to attract all the high-end clients you can handle? 

Well, I've asked this question about a hundred times. And since finally reaching that goal myself and helping hundreds of others either reach or get closer to that goal, today I have the ultimate answer for you…

I don't know if you'll like this answer, perhaps not, but I don't like to sugarcoat things. To attract all the ideal clients you want, I recommend you follow these six daily practices:

1. Plan – Plan your day every single day

Yes, long term and weekly planning are also essential. But nothing beats daily planning - that is, committing to accomplish a small number of high-priority items every day that move you towards you goals. You don't need ten, twenty or thirty items on your list. You need four or five. 

Simply ask, "What do I need to do today that will take me one or two steps toward attracting my ideal clients?" What we focus on and what we measure gets done. Then take decisive action.

2. Write – Write something every single day

At its core, marketing is about communication. And if you're writing, you are communicating. Most people are worried that they don't have much to write about. But when you commit to writing every single day, I promise you'll soon discover you have more ideas than you have time. 

Write marketing materials, web content, articles, reports, white papers, books, e-zines, blogs, emails and ideas/notes. You don't have to complete a written document every single day, simply make some progress every day.

3. Connect – Speak to a minimum of one prospect every single day

Connect, whether it's someone you meet for the fist time in a networking group or a follow-up to a prospect you just sent a proposal to. Make it a priority to connect daily with at least one person who has the potential to be a client. 

And if you can't connect with a prospect every day, connect with an associate or a referral source. Call to catch up; go out for coffee or lunch. This simple activity gets those in your network thinking about you, and that often leads to new business.

And as a last resort, connect on social media. But this should not be a substitute for live connections.  

4. Track – Track your progress every single day

If you don't know where you are in the game of marketing and where your prospects are, how do you know what move to take next? You don't. Track everything that counts: your web visitors, your e-zine opt-ins, the number of contacts you make, the number of appointments you set up and the clients you win. 

Marketing is a game. Can you imagine any other game where you don't keep score? It's absurd. In a week or two I'll be launching a program and app that let's your track your progress with your prospects. Keep posted!

5. Read - Read every single day

Knowledge about marketing and selling are not scare. But if you don't study this material it might was well not exist. You don't need to read a lot every day, but you always want the stimulation of new ideas.  

Read e-zines, blogs, articles and reports online, magazines and books. Read anything that helps you be a better marketer and business person. 

6. Mindset – Work on your thinking every single day

What you think determines your actions, your actions determine your habits, and your habits determined your life. When I talk about working on your thinking, I mean challenging and questioning your limited thinking. 

You can start with these thoughts: "Is it really true that I don't have time to plan, write, connect, track and read every single day?" If you believe you can't you won't. Use the "Getting Unstuck Process" as an aid: 

http://actionplan.com/apmc/Unstuck_Work.pdf

Doing these six things every day have the potential to not only transform your business but to transform you in the process. You'll emerge as a more confident, informed, articulate person with the ability to attract more of your ideal clients. 

Make the commitment to do these things every single workday for the next month (take your weekends off!) and I promise you'll see amazing progress in your marketing.

Cheers, Robert Middleton

P.S. If you think you don't have the discipline to do these every day, and you're still committed to attracting all the high-end clients you can handle, then I encourage you to apply for the next Marketing Mastery Program. For a full year we hold your feet to the fire and make sure you do these things every day. 

http://actionplan.com/advanced/mastery-program

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

Did you know that you have all kinds of marketing energy stored up in your business that you don't take advantage of?

A current participant of the Marketing Mastery Program just tapped into her "latent marketing energy" and attracted three new clients. 

Latent marketing energy includes the following:

1. Lists of prospects or old clients who haven't been contacted for some time

2. Testimonials and case studies from past clients

4. Marketing messages that are powerful but underused

5. Creative marketing ideas you haven't tried yet

6. Marketing strategies you've used successfully in the past but have stopped using

6. Past clients or associates who could give you referrals

7. Services or programs you haven't promoted for a long time

All of these are marketing activities or resources that have real potential but that are getting you nothing now because you're not using them. 

And if you are not using them, they are latent. The dictionary defines latent as "…lying dormant or hidden until circumstances are suitable for development or manifestation."

And since there is no better time than the present, why not take a look at these ideas and resources and figure out a way to put them into action?

That's what Cheryl did. She looked through all her old files, lists of past clients and associates who knew her but who she hand't been in contact with for some time. 

She put them all in a database and sent them an email updating them on her activities and new services. She also included a new article she'd written. 

The net result? In just a few days she got three new clients. They replied to her email letting her know that they needed her help with some projects. 

Too often we sit around waiting for the phone to ring. 

This is a colossal waste of time. Instead, take an inventory of the activities and resources listed above and figure out a way to launch them into action. 

You could…

- Email past prospects with some new ideas as Cheryl did. 

- Call up some past satisfied clients and ask them for referrals.

- Re-launch a marketing activity such as speaking that used to work for you but that you haven't implemented for awhile.

- Post your case studies on your website and point new prospects to them to build your credibility.

And remember, these are things you already have, but you just aren't using now. Take them out of mothballs and put them into action as soon as possible. 

By the way, this isn't just one of those random marketing ideas that you should put on a back burner. Move them up to the front burner as soon as possible. 

I'll tell you a secret. When I work with a client, this is the Very First Thing we work on. We uncover all that latent marketing energy and put it into action immediately.

And more often than not that energy turns into hot new clients. 

No reason you can't do this as well. 

Cheers, Robert Middleton

P.S. Do you know about the upcoming Marketing Mastery Progam? Check it out here.

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

I remember getting an email several years ago from a woman who had been in one of my programs. 

One of her goals was to launch a regular email newsletter (e-zine), and after a lot of preparation, writing, and technical machinations, she was finally ready. 

In her email she said, "I was shaking as I took the final step of pressing the button to send out my first e-zine to my list."

That may not sound like a big deal, but I want to acknowledge her and all the others who commit to a plan and take action - despite their fears and doubts. 

That's courage; that's boldness. 

In marketing every time we put something out there, an e-zine, a new website, a new promotion, there's a risk it won't work. 

Every time we follow-up with someone we just met at a networking event, there's a risk we might get rejected. 

As our marketing confidence grows and we implement bigger, more complex marketing strategies, that risk of failure and rejection are still there, looming as large as ever. 

But if we try to play it safe, wait for prospects to call us, avoid writing that controversial article, put off contacting conferences to give presentations, and keep delaying writing the first chapter of your book, something will happen worse than failure or rejection. 

Mediocrity. 

I've read many times that when it comes to the end of their lives, people rarely regret the things they've done, but the things they haven't done. 

As an Independent Professional, will you make a mark in the world that changes lives or will you just struggle to make the mortgage payment?

Will you take on a huge, impossible project that takes every ounce of intelligence, and resourcefulness you can muster or will you simply wait until circumstances are better? 

When will you do that thing you've always wanted to do but delayed because you didn't have enough education, money, connections, or a good enough economy?

Think, right now, what is that thing?

And if say, "I'll think about it," it's already too late. 

But if you know what it is, write it down and take just one small action in the direction of its fulfillment right this very minute. 

Or as our friend Goethe says:

"Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."

Cheers, Robert

Please comment on this question: What is a bold action you took in your business where you may have been scared, but did it anyway? What changed for you in your business when you took this bold action?

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Last month (Dec 2011), over the Holidays when on a "working vacation" in Mexico, I wrote my new book, "Marketing Ball" in 18 days straight. Every day after writing, I wrote a short blog post on my creative process and sent it to the members of my Marketing Mastery Groups. It was interesting, capturing my thoughts and feelings in the moment during this process. You might find it useful.

12/17

It's all about one step at a time. No planning, insight, breakthrough or revelation will ever replace that. What do you have to do next - today, to keep things moving forward? Just do that. There is no resistance in the present moment.

12/18

Time disappears when you're in the moment. There's really some magic in working for long periods - on one thing intensively, never giving away to distraction or discouragement.

12/19

When things get difficult or confusing, the first tendency is to move on to something else. But that movement is almost always avoidance, fear, discouragement. We want things to be easy and when they're not, we want to take our ball and go home. But this never works. It only delays the inevitable. You're still going to have to come back and face that work eventually. Why not do it now, even if it's not perfect, even if it's difficult and confusing?

12/20

When you really strip things down, you're either moving forward or you're wasting time. And when you have a big goal, a big intention, all that time wasting stands out in bold relief. I'm not saying time wasting is "bad" it just ain't moving you forward.

12/21

Someone once said that "only super-efforts count." A super-effort could be defined as "a sustained effort towards a goal that is outside your comfort zone." Inside the comfort zone we make ordinary efforts and get ordinary results. The interesting thing is, if we make super efforts for long enough, we start producing results that we can build on more easily and we have entered a new comfort zone. Then a new kind of super effort is needed.

12/22

If we expect perfect every time or even "our very best" every single time we will inevitably disappoint ourselves sooner or later. Many people have this realization and it leads to resignation: "If I can't be perfect or do better than others, why even try?" So we settle for mediocrity.

But people of great accomplishment know they will never be perfect, not even always the best, but never give up because they know that once in awhile their work will be, if not perfect, "pretty damn good." When they have a down day, it's just a part of the process of success, not a failure in any way.

12/23

Inspiration is only as association. That is, it's something that is triggered by external influences. It's nice to have, but it isn't required to move you into action. What's more import is intention. This takes a conscious focus and commitment. The nice thing is, when you activate your intention, often inspiration comes along for the ride.

12/24

Anything, anytime, anywhere holds the opportunity to get excited, to be enthused, to be moved to take action. There isn't anything in our world that isn't inherently magic. We just don't see it. But it's there in all its splendor if we only look. And when we look, unlimited possibilities open up in every moment.

12/25

When writing, it's important to know what you intend to write about but unimportant to know what you will actually write. That only comes by writing itself. If you have a topic and perhaps a rough outline, that is enough. Then, in that place of not knowing, you write one word and another and another until you have what you have. Then, if you need to, you can go back and edit it. This fear of writing comes from thinking you need to know exactly what you will actually write. How can you know until you start? Suspend judgment, worries and all that other garbage in your head and just write.

12/26

When you're on a roll, you're on a roll. So why do anything to get in the way if you're experiencing high energy and zero resistance? This might not come around again for awhile, so take advantage of it!

12/27

No matter how well things are going, be prepared for a bump in the road. Usually we dread bumps as they trigger all kind of constrictive beliefs, fears and doubts. "I knew it was too good to be true! Why did I try anyway?" It can take months to recover from a mind attack like this. Or... a few minutes.

12/28

When you're dreaming about something every night, it's an indication that you're really involved with something. Dreams can sometimes give you good ideas, but more often just point to issues that are not resolved. And these issues can only be resolved when we're awake. I sometimes think I need a break, but it's like watching a suspenseful movie where you don't know how it will end so you stay glued to the screen. 

12/29

When it comes down to it, writing is just work, no more, no less. It's not a big challenge, it's not easy, it's not hard, it's not inspired, it's not boring. But like all interesting work, it's fun and stimulating. When all the stuff gets out of the way, it's just something to do the best I can. And that's enough. 

12/30

Sometimes you need a rest. I've worked on the book for 15 straight days, writing a total of 18 chapters. Two chapters left (I think) plus a whole lot of editing afterwards. It's a beautiful, sunny day today and I'm going to the beach for a longer walk and a nap in the afternoon. I'm going to do this without guilt! We'll see if I end up doing some writing in the afternoon. :-) My goal is still to finish by New Year's day.

12/31

Sometimes a margarita in the middle of the day is a good idea when it's a sunny day in Mazatlan. And a nap in the afternoon is very renewing! Back to writing in the evening.

1/1

It's been quite a journey. When you've been holding something inside you for so long, it's a great release to get it out there. The sense of satisfaction and fulfillment is palpable. It certainly is a New Year's Day. 

The first draft of the book was completed on Sunday, January 1, 2012. Twenty chapters and about 60,000 words. I'm very happy with it. Next is a book proposal to an agent and a search for a publisher. I'll also be posting the book in the Marketing Club in a few weeks.

This short clip from a famous movie tells you everything you ever wanted to know about why nobody trusts marketing. 

Cheers, Robert Middleton