Secrets to Stimulating Your Own Cashflow
Published September 26, 2009 | 
By Denise Michaels, Author, “Testosterone-Free Marketing”
Sure, pundits and experts are starting to cautiously say “the recession is over.” However, if you’re like millions of women business owners you put on a happy face to the rest of the world that says, “Everything’s great!” but on the inside you may still be concerned.
How do you stimulate your personal economy so you get results rather than get caught up in the lack mass consciousness that’s become so pervasive the last year. This article provides seven stimulating secrets to get you back on track. Successful women in business depend on these principles to keep their cashflow humming so when someone asks them about business they can honestly and enthusiastically say, “We must be doing something right. My business hasn’t been impacted.”
• Stay away from the nattering nabobs of negativity. Whether its cable news almost predicting Armageddon daily, or, just the people you meet at a networking mixer who have fear all over their face. Stay away from anything less than optimistic. It’s impossible to be confident when you feel afraid. About 15 minutes of news daily is all you need to keep up to speed with what’s happening. Turn off the news and focus on the 99 percent of the world that’s doing well.
• Make progress every day and give yourself credit. Focus on doing what gives you the greatest results. Creating a successful business is about moving energy and building momentum. Consider all the thrust it takes to get a jet off the ground. Except the most important work you do may not be about running around. The most important work can be about consciously shifting your mindset. Then, when you take action amazing things happen.
• Speak with enthusiasm and passion. Wealthy people attract others to their dreams by speaking with passion, enthusiasm and confidence. They give the impression they just know their product or service is amazing and their business will be a winner. Once you launch your business stop looking for validation. Get over feeling like you need “permission.” If you offer good value and products or services that help others you don’t need permission or validation from anyone.
• Be bold. One bold stroke to get the word out can do much more than dozens of hesitant, little moves. This means expanding your comfort zone because your business growth doesn’t happen any faster than your personal growth. This mean when you decide you’re going to get on a radio talk show or do some other promotion that’ll make a big splash you do it with your head up, with boldness and confidence.
• Understand the importance of marketing. Marketing is about building relationships – but it’s more than smiling and chatting with other business owners at a networking mixer. Your marketing message goes out ahead of you. It precedes you. It should filter out people not likely to do business with you and filter in people who are likely to do business with you. Filtering means when you actually talk with a prospective customer chances are they already know about you and are partially pre-sold making sales much easier.
• Be emotionally compelling. People still have wants and needs. What’s lacking right now is trust and confidence. When people feel you understand, empathize and have a solution for their problem they will do business with you. Too many business owners try to play it safe because they think customers will buy based only on features and benefits. They must see how your features and benefits help them solve their problems.
• Ask for the sale. Some business owners enjoy building the relationship however they’re afraid they might mess it up by asking for the sale. Don’t be pushy but do be willing to confidently guide and direct a conversation. After I’ve explained everything about what I offer, me fees and answered all their questions and gotten strong signals they are interested my closing question is, “When would you like to get started?”
By following these seven secrets you’ll crack the code on stimulating your own economy. You’ll discover more people are receptive and open to what you offer. They will come to trust you and have confidence in you and as a result your cash flow will increase. You will be in your own flow of wealth and abundance so when people ask you about your business you can sincerely smile and say, “My business is great!!”
Do You Believe You’re “Worth it”?
Published September 15, 2009 | By Denise Michaels, Author, “Testosterone-Free Marketing”
Over the last decade I’ve mentored over 1,500 small and home-based business owners – mostly women. I’ve probably talked to, networked with and had in my workshops and teleclasses, thousands more. All wanting support and marketing knowledge.
On the surface, that’s what they THOUGHT they wanted.
One of the impressions I get from many, many women I’ve met over the years is that deep in your heart you’re somehow cheating customers if you make a profit for what you do. Somehow, if you’re scraping by financially – you’re a noble and a better person for making less.
Traditionally women always gave away the work we’ve done. We have a long history as volunteers at our kids’ school, the library, the Candy Striper at the hospital, the church volunteer and more. Even in 2009, the majority of volunteers are women. For centuries, women were at the bottom of the totem pole with jobs. After World War II, we left the factory jobs and went back home so men returning from the battlefields could take the jobs.
Let’s be honest. For many women asking for money in business feels icky. It makes them uncomfortable. Traditionally bringing home the bacon was a man’s job. Our job was making a nice home, raising our children and doing nice things in the community. So many women figure, if they ask for the lowest amount of money possible in their business they’re altruistic and mistakenly believe they won’t have to market. They say they do it because they want to “be nice.”
The challenge is that when it’s time to pay the bills – if you’ve shorted yourself on what you charge, you end up falling short when it comes to your lifestyle and paying your bills. You can’t exactly go to your mortgage company or the grocery store and say, “Um, I’m a really nice person. Would you give me a little extra discount?”
Of course we know that’s silly. Why? Because these real businesses don’t give extra discounts. So if you consider yourself a real business – why are you undercutting yourself?
Here’s where it comes back around: In the real business world people don’t say, “Gee, that’s so nice. She’s only charging me $$ instead of $$$.” Instead they silently think, “She’s charging so much less than market rates – she must not be as good.”
And so it goes.
My suggestion: go to EmpowerUAcademy.com and download my free audio, “Break Through Your Internal Glass Ceiling.” If you like it and want more I suggest you get my “Unstoppable Confidence” program available at the same website. Oh, and don’t forget to sign up for my free Marketing and Empowerment Tips.
Posted in A-has for Women | 
Adventurous Women, believe, business, Denise Michaels, giving, home-based, marketing, nice, pricing | 
3 CommentsDiscover Your Unique Marketing Niche
Published September 14, 2009 | By Denise Michaels, Author, “Testosterone-free Marketing”
“Differences are not intended to separate, to alienate. We are different precisely in order to realize our need of one another.” - Desmond Tutu
As a woman business owner chances are one of the things you’re really not crazy about is the thought of “competition” and “dominating the competition.” Its all that testosterone-heavy stuff that totally goes against our nature as nurturers, people who build relationships more than people who pay silly competitive games.
Want to know how to remove the competition from your picture without ever really competing? Develop a unique marketing niche no one else has. When you do more ideal customers will be attracted to you and want to do business with you because you offer something perfectly aligned with their wants and needs.
Think about what makes the experience of doing business with you unique and special that your customers love and seem to want more of. Once you truly have a grip on that uniqueness that makes you and your business different – play that up as a part of your niche and make it a featured part of your marketing message.
The notion of “marketing for women” did not exist until I wrote, “Testosterone-Free Marketing.” As a result, I created the niche! My entire business revolves around that unique niche. Find a need that’s just a little bit different – and then fill it.
This post is an example of some of the great marketing and empowerment tips available at EmpowerUAcademy
Also, if you’re in Las Vegas, find out about my amazing “No-fluff Testosterone-free Marketing Magic Workshop” on Monday November 2nd by clicking here.
Posted in A-has for Women | Adventurous Women, business, competing, competition, Denise Michaels, marketing, niche, unique | Leave a commentDoes “Balance” Work for Women?
Published September 6, 2009 | By Denise Michaels, Author, “Testosterone-Free Marketing”
I was on Facebook this morning and came across a group discussion where women were saying, “The answer to being successful is all about having balance.” As if to imply that if we embrace balance – every other problem in life will simply fall away.
I feel “balance” is a lofty ideal but in practise its baloney. It leads women to believe they can do everything. Then we feel stress and inadequate when we can’t. It adds stress to our lives because as long as we say – the word “balance” we’re supposed to be able to cram it all in. Yes, I know it’s politically incorrect to cast aspersions on the idea of balance because it hints at the notion maybe we can’t have it all.
We can have it all – but not necessarily all at the same time. You can’t help your child with homework and be at your Pilates class at the same time. You can’t have dinner together as a family every night and be at a business meeting at the same time. It’s not just about balance – its about making compromises and improving your skills in the areas where you’re struggling now.
I was chatting last week with a woman who had five businesses. Oh, three kids and a husband, too. When I asked her which business is her focus she trilled merrily about how she loves them all and is focused on all of them. My experience (I’ve mentored over 1,500 business owners) is when a home-based business owner who doesn’t have help to delegate to has more than one business – they aren’t making money (a full-time income) at any of those businesses. By the way, I see this much more frequently with women than with men.
Here’s an interesting statistic:
If your focus is on one primary goal and you keep working on it and doing what’s necessary to succeed, you have a 91% chance of turning it into a reality. If you split your focus on two primary goals your chance of success goes down to 63%. And if you’re trying to work on three primary goals at the same time your chance of success plummets to 27%.
Many women start a new business when they haven’t given the first one an honest shot and figured out how to market and sell in that business. Instead, they add another business. They don’t improve their cash flow but they get the admiration of all who say, “Look how busy she is!”
Let’s be honest. The initial “original creation” phase is fun. It’s creative.
Its not as much fun when the rubber meets the road and suddenly you’re hearing “no” when you were hoping you’d hear a lot more “yeses.” It feels like rejection. But the solution isn’t to “balance better” and start another business. The solution is to let go of the excuses of why your business isn’t creating the cash flow you imagined and figure out how to turn it around.
Get beyond your hesitation and learn how to market and sell successfully – in a way that works with your style as a woman. (That’s what I help women do, by the way.)
If you’re floundering, trying to figure out how to make a full time income with your business - it may be time to make a few positive changes and stop feeling like you have to squeeze in even more. The only way to end the challenge of too many people saying “no” and not enough people saying “yes” is to buckle down and learn what you don’t know – how to market and sell.
To find out about my exciting workshop coming up Monday November 2nd click here. Also, make sure you sign up for my free marketing and empowerment tips by clicking here.
Posted in A-has for Women | Adventurous Women, balance, business, Denise Michaels, have it all, marketing, stress | 3 CommentsWelcome!
Dedicated to every 40+ person still kickin' it. If you have dreams and adventures you refuse to abandon - follow me on the journey. Life is one big adventure! Make yours excellent.
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