Most website owners fall into one of two categories: they are spending a fortune on banner ads, bulk email, listings in classified directories, and pay-per-click advertising, or their sites are languishing with only a few hits per day. But you can change all that, and you don’t have to spend a fortune. Here are three ways to get started today: Read more

Recently, two women in one of my Get Clients Now! classes reported that prospects responded to their follow-up calls by saying, “I’m so glad you called.” These women realized that they probably would have lost the business if they waited for these prospects to call them. Read more

Let’s face it, many service business professionals treat self-promotion as a necessary evil. We know we have to do it, but we just don’t like it. Professionals often say, “I love my work, but I wish I didn’t have to keep finding customers.” We describe the process of marketing as distasteful, frustrating, intimidating, and just plain scary. Read more

You’ve heard it many times before: you need to sell benefits to your clients, not features. Whether you are writing copy, talking about what you do, or engaged in a sales presentation, it’s the benefits and results of the service you provide that you should emphasize, rather than its features or how it works. But it’s not always easy to get this right. Read more

The waning days of the year are the perfect time to look back at what you’ve accomplished this year, where you are now, and where you would like to go next. Set aside some time to conduct a year-end review of your life, career, or business with this thoughtful exercise. Read more

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

Savvy independent professionals know that referrals are the best way to land new clients. But getting those referrals can sometimes be a challenge. When referrals don’t come easily — or the ones you get seem to be off track — it’s tempting to forget about building referrals and spend time on cold calling, boilerplate letters and emails, or advertising, even though you know those approaches aren’t as effective in the long run. 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

For years, I heard that if you want to get something done, ask a busy person to do it. Implication: busy people are successful. I’m sure some people still subscribe to this philosophy. I don’t any more, especially when it comes to successful business ownership. Read more

I’ve been thinking a lot about comfort zones lately, mostly because I can’t seem to see mine very clearly anymore. Or more accurately stated, I can see it, I just haven’t spent that much time there recently. Read more