The most important question to ask yourself when looking for places to network is, “where do my clients hang out?” The second most important question is, “where do my potential referral sources hang out?” Read more

I am not a sales and marketing guru. I’ve written two books on marketing and taught thousands of people how to sell themselves, but really, I don’t know more about sales and marketing than most of you. Read more

Browse the Internet, read the newspaper, or thumb through a magazine, and you’re bound to see an article advising you to use your network to help you grow your business. But how exactly do you do that? Read more

As a business owner, there are a lot of things vying for your attention. Some days it’s easy to see what to do next; other days you’re lucky if you can even figure out where to start. Call clients back, do proactive marketing, have lunch or coffee with referral partners, follow up on leads from that networking event -– these are just some of the things on your to-do list. Read more

Remember the old “pop quiz” when you were in school? Wasn’t it a great feeling when you were prepared with all the answers? On the other hand, it was a real drag when you were caught off guard and didn’t have a clue. Read more

You’ll often see the advice that you should make a profit and loss forecast for your business, so you can set appropriate prices for your products and services, and accurately predict your expenses. But what does such a forecast look like for an independent professional? Read more

Have you ever stopped to notice what habits you’ve gotten into, especially around work? Habits have been on my mind lately, in particular how to develop good habits. My fascination began when I read The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, and I recently learned more about habits when a colleague introduced me to the work of B.J. Fogg, a teacher at Stanford and an expert in business innovation and habit formation. Read more

Christopher McAuliffe interviews C.J. Hayden on The Coaching Show on how learning more about your stuck places can fix what’s wrong with your marketing. Here’s what you’ll learn in this program: Read more

Selling your services to corporations is an attractive proposition. The contracts are larger than with small businesses and individuals, and often longer-term. There’s the possibility of repeat business worth many billable hours at respectable rates. Read more

I hear from many entrepreneurs that marketing is a struggle. They just can’t get enough clients to pay the bills, or they are spending more money to get each client than the sale is worth. So many of their efforts seem to fail. There must be an easier way, they tell me. Read more