Are YOU a Fire Starter?: Book Review The Fire Starter Sessions by Danielle LaPorte #FireSS
April 6, 2012
We’re excited to announce that Danielle LaPorte’s book The Fire Starter Sessions is being released this month!
I was lucky enough to get a sneak peak and I LOVED every inch of it. I love how it feels like I’m listening to her talk as I read the words. She has a great way keeping her speaking voice in her written words (I’m jealous of that!). It’s like she’s sitting there talking to me, I like chat with girl friends. It’s honest, it’s authentic and it’s incredibly moving.
The first time I sat down to read it every sentence made me say, “I need to tweet that…and that…and that.” Everything was so juicy. And to make it even better, my favorite part is that her best bits of wisdom are huge. Unmissable. Though every phrase might be tweetable, there are things she wants to make sure that you GET. Here’s one of my favorites:
The typography is phenomenal. It’s not a boring read. Danielle’s personality even comes through the layout and font.
This book can help anyone step up their success game and light the fire to be your own authentic, powerful and amazing self. It’s geared towards entrepreneurs though anyone can glean juicy wisdom from each page.
What I love about this book goes well beyond the words on the pages. We started working with Danielle at Startup Princess almost 4 years ago. Before The Spark Kit came out, before Your Big Beautiful Book Plan, before this book hits bookstores to become a New York Times Bestseller (I can feel it in my bones…). Before all that, she was a blog writer and was a candid fire starter herself – out to squeeze the real passion out of every human being. Igniting corporate professional cube sitters into budding, inspiriting entrepreneurs. Looking back on the last 4 years has been a treat to watch, and a blueprint that any aspiring speaker, author and changemaker can pattern for success. Share your voice for free online, inspire others in one-on-one coaching, get out there and speak, create phenomenal products then in four years, you could have your own best seller ready to hit the book stores.
This book is the perfect mix of helping find out who you really ARE and what you want to BE with the added bonus of helping you take the steps necessary to live your own great life.
As Danielle says, “Mindfulness and contemplation is only half the equation. You’ve got to take some action, Jackson.”
And honestly, the message that I got for me, was “What are you waiting for?” Some juicy stuff is coming down the pipe, all because I read this book and because I love Danielle so much.
If you want to get in on the pre-order for the Fire Starter Sessions, check out the bonuses here. The bonuses are only available until the book hits the stores on April 17th. You won’t regret it, and you’ll be on your way to making a movement of your own.
Happy reading and Happy Friday!
Let’s connect! Follow me on twitter. Follow me on Facebook. Check out my free video e-course on Working Smarter Not Harder here.
Michelle McCullough is the Managing Director for Startup Princess. Michelle became a partner in Startup Princess in 2008. She is responsible for event planning, marketing, affiliates, sponsorships and partnerships. Over the past 3 years she has coached women entrepreneurs and helped them grow their businesses from “dream in development” to established thriving businesses. Michelle is a speaker, strategist, success expert and a serial entrepreneur. She started Doodads Promotional Products when she was 19. And has also spent the last 12 years working in marketing and advertising. She’s worked in all aspects of the industry from production to creative and sales to management. On top of her full-time jobs, Michelle has cultivated her love for entrepreneurship by running Doodads as a successful side business. Today it continues to thrive. This year Michelle launched a coaching program called “The Life Balance Myth” to help busy entrepreneurs build thriving businesses AND meaningful personal lives. She believes that life balance is a myth, but she provides practical tools to achieve personal and professional success. You can learn more about Michelle at SpeakMichelle.com. Michelle has two children ages 4 and 2 and lives in Utah.
22 Ways to Create Compelling Content – Sweet Infographic
April 5, 2012
In the spirit of blogging week, I found this fun infographic and the code to share it here! Interesting stuff…take ideas from elsewhere and make them your own.
Like this infographic? Get more content marketing tips from Copyblogger.
Making the Most of Your Blog Posts
April 4, 2012
Were you on pins and needles waiting for the 3rd installment of the “blogging for business” series?
Well, here is some late night wisdom:
Share your posts.
Yup, sounds like rocket science, doesn’t it? But it’s surprising how many of my clients write posts and expect people to wake up one day and think, “Gee, I wonder what Michelle blogged about today.”
In my opinion, this is one of the greatest uses for social media. There are a lot of misnomers about what social media is for and how it should be used, and we’ll save that topic for another day, but you should appropriately share your posts through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other places where you have a community.
There are a couple of tricks to it that I want to share.
Tip #1 Instead of saying, “I just wrote a blog post about….” (they’ll find that out when they click on your link. Let’s let them be pleasantly surprised you have this in you.) Share your title (It’s catchy, grabbing and on topic, right?) and a link and that’s it. Hopefully your post and your title should have the goal to add value so people want to click on over and read what you have to share.
(Insider tip, there are sites that will automatically send your posts to twitter even without you having to do anything else. We have used twitterfeed.com before. Now, here’s a note: if you set this up to feed to your facebook account, it will pull random pictures when it posts on facebook. Sometimes you end up getting a 3rd party ad [if you have ads on your site like we do]. We stopped doing the facebook feed and now only do the twitter.)
I feel like I’m off on lots of tangents here, but it’s okay to post, “I wrote an article about…” on your personal facebook page. However, I think a catchy title and a link is best for twitter and on business facebook pages.
Tip #2 Go the extra mile by asking an engaging question in your tweet or post. For example:
Will Blog for Traffic – 7 Tips to Increase Your Posts For More Site Traffic http://bit.ly/HWSZYc How many times do you blog/month?
(Insider tip, bit.ly is a great site that will shorten your hugely long URLs to make them more user friendly for twitter so you can stay in your character count. It’s also great for analytics to see how many people you were able to get to click over from your social media efforts.)
The goal is to get people to engage with you. Some may not ever read the post, that’s okay, it’s still good for building a sense of community, and it also gets people personally invested in your article before they click over. Having them personally invested is good.
Tip #3 Share your post AGAIN later in the day on Twitter, using all new verbiage. I don’t suggest you share them again on Facebook, but since the landscape of twitter changes so frequently and since not everyone is on at the same time AND since some people will be drawn to different info try another point of view. For example:
Did you know sites that blog 20 times per month have on average 5 times more traffic? http://bit.ly/HWSZYc Yes, really.
(Insider tip: I read that updates that have links in the middle are more likely to get clicked, that’s why I put something after the link.)
Tip #4 If your post is about a popular topic add a hashtag to your tweet (but not necessarily to your facebook post). For example:
Did you know sites that blog 20 times per month have on average 5 times more traffic? http://bit.ly/HWSZYc Yes, really. #blog (What are you writing about? #cooking #fashion #sales, #marketing, #statistics, etc)
Again, it needs to be relevant, but this will open you up to new networks and increase your chances it will be seen by people searching for posts in that hashtag.
Tip #5 Include pictures in your posts and have the “pin it” button on your site. (oopsy, no picture in this post…) You can pin your own posts, in my opinion, but some people say you shouldn’t pin your own stuff, so at least make the option available for others to do so for you.
Tip #6 Share blurbs to recent posts in your newsletters. Just because they’re on your list, doesn’t mean they have seen your posts online. Give your network your knowledge via email, but only a blurb with a link back to your site. This will help you boost your traffic.
Tip #7 Finally, hopefully you have a way to capture emails when they DO get onto your home court. Help them become part of your network with ease so that you can send them additional information via email.
Well, there you go. Do you have any additional success tips for sharing your posts to grow your traffic? Let’s share!
Let’s connect! Follow me on twitter. Follow me on Facebook. Check out my free video e-course on Working Smarter Not Harder here.
Michelle McCullough is the Managing Director for Startup Princess. Michelle became a partner in Startup Princess in 2008. She is responsible for event planning, marketing, affiliates, sponsorships and partnerships. Over the past 3 years she has coached women entrepreneurs and helped them grow their businesses from “dream in development” to established thriving businesses. Michelle is a speaker, strategist, success expert and a serial entrepreneur. She started Doodads Promotional Products when she was 19. And has also spent the last 12 years working in marketing and advertising. She’s worked in all aspects of the industry from production to creative and sales to management. On top of her full-time jobs, Michelle has cultivated her love for entrepreneurship by running Doodads as a successful side business. Today it continues to thrive. This year Michelle launched a coaching program called “The Life Balance Myth” to help busy entrepreneurs build thriving businesses AND meaningful personal lives. She believes that life balance is a myth, but she provides practical tools to achieve personal and professional success. You can learn more about Michelle at SpeakMichelle.com. Michelle has two children ages 4 and 2 and lives in Utah.
Will Blog For Traffic – 7 Tips to Increase Your Posts + Traffic – Part 2 In our Blogging Series
April 3, 2012
This is part 2 of a 3 part series on blogging. Check back tomorrow when I’ll share how to make the most of your posts to increase your traffic.
Did you know that sites that blog twenty (20) times a month receive five times more traffic than blogs that don’t? FIVE. TIMES. That’s a lot more traffic. Do you want more traffic to your site?
This month on StartupPrincess.com we’re going to be talking about publishing. Both traditional and digital publishing. Though we’ll mostly be talking about helping you birth your books, we’re also going to talk about blogging for success.
Today I want to share with you some valuable tips that can help you increase the number of blog posts you have a month. Before I share the tips, I want to ask, do you know what kind of traffic you are currently getting on your blog? If not, you should get “in the know”. It’s easy to set up a Google Analytics account for your site, and it provides a great 3rd party resource if someone is asking about your traffic (sometimes the traffic numbers from WordPress or Blogger are unreliable).
Now, onto the tips. Here are the seven tips you can use to blog MORE to increase your traffic.:
1. Keep your posts short and sweet – There is no rule that you have to provide long posts in order for them to be good. In fact, sometimes the short ones are more likely to be read all the way through. When people come to your site and see a long post, they may think, “I don’t have time to read that now,” and they’ll skip it and move on. It will also help you spread out your expertise over a number of posts instead of packing it all into one. Now, obviously, you’ll have some long posts. I’m not saying they all have to be short, but don’t be afraid to put out some quick tip and be done with it. Seth Godin is a master at this. He produces one or two paragraph posts on most days, and they are super high quality.
2. Create a series of posts on a similar subject – Series can be a great way to get people back to your site for a continuation ofinformation. For example, you could do a Four Part Series on ______ (spring fashion, blogging, marketing, discipling children, etc). Tell your readers in advance that you are doing a multiple part series and how often you’ll be updating so that they make it a point to come back. For example, this is a 2-part series on blogging. Tomorrow I’ll be sharing tips for making the most of your blog posts to increase traffic to your site. 
3. Invite Guest Bloggers, where appropriate – You don’t have to do all the writing yourself. Invite other people in your field or closely related to your field to produce posts for you from time to time. This has really helped the Startup Princess site. We have 10 Fairy Godmothers that help provide posts and insights. It’s great for us to fill our blog feed, great for our readers to hear from experts and it’s great for our Fairy Godmothers to get exposure through a new network. We also take and post articles from guest bloggers from time to time. (Note though that you will always want to take UNIQUE posts that haven’t been posted any where else. Google will ding you for having duplicate content that appeared somewhere else first.)
4. Create a simple “Interview Series” where you can feature your readers or other experts on your site – We do this in our interviews section. We have a set number of questions that we can ask other Startup Princesses and we feature them on our site. It’s great to get to know and learn from other women entrepreneurs and because it’s a digital interview it’s easy to email off, and easy to upload. Get creative. It doesn’t have to be experts, but maybe a featured reader you can show some blogging love to. I love Allison Czarnecki’s “What’s In Your Purse Series” on PetiteElefant.com (My purse is famous! I was featured during week 50). Also, if the person you feature shares the post, it’s great for your site traffic.
5. Create “columns” that you can easily revisit on a weekly or monthly basis – Maybe you have a Marketing Monday, or a Wordless Wednesday (we’ll talk about this more in #6), or a Success Tip Thursday – you get the idea. Create a couple that make it easy for you to create a schedule and will help you fill your blogging pipeline. It also helps give you a framework so that you aren’t asking yourself, “What should I write about today?”
6. Use images – Images and photos will help you feel like your post is longer, and if a picture says 1,000 words, then it can help you cut down on your word count as well. Though this doesn’t always work for Startup Princess and business blogs. However, having a Wordless Wednesday where all you post is a picture and perhaps a short explanation, can be great for crafters and artistic type blogs. AND, we’ll talk about this more tomorrow, but images should be included in almost every post, if possible. Because of Pinterest, and the way people are sharing pictures online, you’ll want to have a visual that’s easy to pass around.
7. Schedule time in your calendar to write your blog posts – Set a regular schedule for writing your posts and uploading them. If you can get strategic and focused you could write and upload your posts for a whole week in one sitting. I know some power bloggers that blog a months worth of posts in one or two sittings so that it doesn’t feel like it’s something that overwhelms you each and every day. Once you create a schedule and make it a habit, you’ll be able to breeze your way through posts.
BONUS: Number 8 – In all of this remember that quality is more important the quantity. Don’t just produce a bunch of poorly written, inapplicable posts just to hit the 20 post count. You’ll lose readers if you are producing low quality content. If you can’t produce 20 posts a month without cutting corners, then create a consistent schedule you CAN stick to.
Want to take the 20 post challenge? Blog 20 times this month, then share with us how your traffic increased! The winner will receive a feature on StartupPrincess.com & 8 hours of Fairy Godmother magic for free!
Let’s connect! Follow me on twitter. Follow me on Facebook. Check out my free video e-course on Working Smarter Not Harder here.
Michelle McCullough is the Managing Director for Startup Princess. Michelle became a partner in Startup Princess in 2008. She is responsible for event planning, marketing, affiliates, sponsorships and partnerships. Over the past 3 years she has coached women entrepreneurs and helped them grow their businesses from “dream in development” to established thriving businesses. Michelle is a speaker, strategist, success expert and a serial entrepreneur. She started Doodads Promotional Products when she was 19. And has also spent the last 12 years working in marketing and advertising. She’s worked in all aspects of the industry from production to creative and sales to management. On top of her full-time jobs, Michelle has cultivated her love for entrepreneurship by running Doodads as a successful side business. Today it continues to thrive. This year Michelle launched a coaching program called “The Life Balance Myth” to help busy entrepreneurs build thriving businesses AND meaningful personal lives. She believes that life balance is a myth, but she provides practical tools to achieve personal and professional success. You can learn more about Michelle at SpeakMichelle.com. Michelle has two children ages 4 and 2 and lives in Utah.
Why Blog? – 3 Reasons You Need to Get Writing! Part 1 in our Blogging Series
April 2, 2012
I know it’s 2012, but you’d be surprised how often I’m asked, “Why should I blog for my business?” They think that blogs are reserved for pro-bloggers where blogging IS their business. That kind of thinking will have you missing out on opportunities to grow your business and create a community online.
Here are 3 Reasons You need a Blog for your Business:
1. Blogging can establish expertise – In my opinion, one of the most important parts of a blog is to establish YOUR expertise in your field. Readers can get to know YOU through your posts. You can provide tips and valuable information. If you are in a service based business (like coaches, consultants, speakers, authors, etc) then blogging on a regular basis is a MUST. In addition to tips, you can share where people can find you this week, case studies, and videos, just to name a few. This helps your audience get to know you and your knowledge so they are more interested in purchasing your services. If you are in a product based business, it can be a great way to establish your credibility as a company, showcase your products in various settings, and provide insights as to how your product can be used.
2. Blogging is great for your SEO – Search Engine Optimization is how search engines find and post content when someone searches for particular keywords. There are two ways blogging helps your SEO. First, one of the criteria search engines like Google and Yahoo! use is how often your content is updated. If you aren’t blogging very frequently your site content could be considered old or outdated, and your site can be forgotten in search engines. Secondly, you have the ability to use keywords in your blog posts that will help your post come up when people are searching for keywords that pertain to your business.
3. Blogging gives you “home court advantage” online and gets people back to your site on a regular basis – One of the key reasons why blogging is so important is that if done well, it keeps people coming back to your site on a regular basis. This is good news whether you are product based or service based. To help with this, strategically use posts that will encourage comments. People like to feel part of a community and they like to find places to connect with like minded individuals. Foster that environment on your site and people will come back again and again. Asking questions in your blog posts helps encourage comments. Additionally, share appropriate personal content about 10-15% of the time so that people can get to know you as a person.
These are just a few reason why it’s great to blog for business. For those of you who are currently using your blog, how has it helped you grow your business? Let’s share some tips with each other.
Also, join us tomorrow when I share the seven ways you can increase the number your blog posts and why it’s so important to blog more.
Happy Blogging!
Let’s connect! Follow me on twitter. Follow me on Facebook. Check out my free video e-course on Working Smarter Not Harder here.
Michelle McCullough is the Managing Director for Startup Princess. Michelle became a partner in Startup Princess in 2008. She is responsible for event planning, marketing, affiliates, sponsorships and partnerships. Over the past 3 years she has coached women entrepreneurs and helped them grow their businesses from “dream in development” to established thriving businesses. Michelle is a speaker, strategist, success expert and a serial entrepreneur. She started Doodads Promotional Products when she was 19. And has also spent the last 12 years working in marketing and advertising. She’s worked in all aspects of the industry from production to creative and sales to management. On top of her full-time jobs, Michelle has cultivated her love for entrepreneurship by running Doodads as a successful side business. Today it continues to thrive. This year Michelle launched a coaching program called “The Life Balance Myth” to help busy entrepreneurs build thriving businesses AND meaningful personal lives. She believes that life balance is a myth, but she provides practical tools to achieve personal and professional success. You can learn more about Michelle at SpeakMichelle.com. Michelle has two children ages 4 and 2 and lives in Utah.
Are You An Innovator? by Fairy Godmother Jude Anker
April 2, 2012
I’ll be fine…. I’ll be fine… It’s going to be ok. I can figure this out. It’s ok…
Know what? You can do this. Go forward, take a leap. But don’t listen to me, don’t listen to anyone. Just get real with where you are, and gurll… get on with it.
You know what the difference between an inventor and an innovator is? An innovator creates a positive change.
Innovators know the secret to unlocking where there demographic is and serving them into a glossy eyed bliss.
Innovators are my people. I bring products, services and considerate innovation to market. I’m kinda like the mid wife for the delivery of the vision you hold for yourself and your business.
As a business owner and a mother of 2 girls, plus I’m me outside of the mom thing. Oh, and then there’s my hunky husband, and my clients and my friends and my dog that needs to run everyday or he pulls the toilet paper off all the rolls in every bathroom. I’m all that and I know that there are many days when I think, I have been so busy all day I am exhausted, I need to pee, and think of what to fix for dinner, again… But what did I really do? Did I move the needle forward at all?
Thank heavens I have a clear 12 month plan. I created the formula to support product launch and it’s morphed over the years to be a system that I can plug into whatever I am doing and know where I am at all times.
I use this for absolutely everything and I only move forward with plans if it has a place to fit into this formula. When I train my clients on this, they always say, “wow, I have thought I was just a quitter, turns out I just needed a system.”
Twice a year, I offer a 4 week course that goes into detail about how to create your own custom product launch. It has been known to make six figures and even seven figures for those that apply the techniques. And, it’s been know to re-direct the trajectory of a product, that was headed for disaster.
Normally I charge $599 for this course.
But as a special Startup Princesses, offer. You can receive the entire course, plus recordings of all the classes for $299
Email me personally and tell me that you heard about the offer here, on Startup Princess.
Here is what your email must include to receive the $300 savings:
Your name
Mailing address
URL
Facebook, twitter, linked in
email address
The 3 things that are the most frustrating about business
Pay through Paypal, by using my email address Jude {at} judeanker {dot}com
In the note section, write startup
If you include your mailing address, don’t be surprised if you receive something from me.
Sign up now. I look forward to the high fives, hugs and celebrations.
Jude Anker holds that innovation simply isn’t as unpredictable as many people think—that intentional innovation in product development is a systematic process. So much so that she’s currently developing a playbook on how leaders and teams can best ideate, conceive, develop, test, roll out, and improve their new market offerings. With focused expertise in both sustainable design solutions and strategic business planning, Jude has guided both corporations and independent inventors, including Little Giant Ladder Company, Connor Sport Court, BullFrog Spas, and Soul Pole ski and trek poles. A true connector, Jude offers a network of potential resources and specialized talent via her relationships with proven vendors in the areas of product design and engineering, business banking, IP law, PR, marketing services, and website design and development.
Facebook Business Pages Are Changing – Are You Ready To Switch To Timeline?
March 27, 2012
Did you know that Facebook is forcing all business pages to go to the new Timeline by March 31st, 2012? Are you ready to make the switch?
The timeline changes the way you showcase your products or services, utilize tabs/labels, use pictures (instead of the long facebook image on the left, you’ll have a full cover photo like personal timelines) and it will allow you to send direct messages to your facebook fans!
Facebook expert and Startup Princess Fairy Godmother, Mandy Allfrey, has created a simple and easy to follow guide that will help small businesses make the most of the switch to Timeline.
This eight page white paper will not only show you how to make the switch, but it will help you MAXIMIZE this change for optimal results online.
Mandy’s Facebook Timeline White Paper is only $9! Once your payment is received, the white paper will be sent to your inbox!
Mandy Allfrey is a digital marketing professional, speaker, and blogger, having over 12 years of marketing experience in multiple industries. The founder and CEO of Social Media Architecture Company, The Buzz, of Salt Lake City, UT. Clients located across the United States, Canada, & the Caribbean. Mandy engages with corporations, clients, and groups teaching the value of social media and best structuring the best strategies for your business. She is also the founder of Cafe Grace, a positive, uplifting environment on Facebook (www.facebook.com/cafegrace) that makes a positive impact and creates influence in the lives of others. Mandy now lives in Asheville, NC
Three Tips To Increase Your Sales Instantly – Avoiding Sales Sabotage with Tiffany Peterson
March 19, 2012
Want to Become A Sales Master? + Review of “Sales Mastery” by Tiffany Peterson
March 14, 2012
My mom did me a huge favor when I was a kid. She refused to sell things for me, or take order forms to her office. If I wanted the prizes, I had to do the work. From a young age, she empowered me and gave me the confidence that I could do hard things, i.e. TALK to someone and SELL them something. :)
My earliest memory of selling was in elementary school. We had to sell Happenings Books and I was super motivated by the prizes they were offering. I had my mom take me to “the benches” one of the wealthiest parts of town, and I sold more than anyone else in my class.
But honestly, my mom’s decision really made the biggest difference in my life. I got over my fear of talking to people at a young age, and I learned that the worst people can say is, “No.” And usually, it’s a “No, thank you.” From those early beginnings selling Happenings books and Bruin Gold cards I went onto have multiple sales jobs that I enjoyed and thrived in. I sold marketing and advertising packages to large companies, sold software at Novell (then was promoted to be the training manager for a sales floor of 80 sales people), and I’ve also sold promotional products to every industry.
As entrepreneurs, each of us are in sales. Especially if you a business of 1, and you do most of the selling. Have you found this to be true for your business?
Part of that calling to sell lead me to read lots of books on the subject and attend many sales training seminars and events. I read everything I could on the subject. Some of my favorites include “The One Minute Sales Manager” by Ken Blanchard and “The Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gittomer. I’m much more confident in face-to-face sales, but when I went to work at Novell and had to call clients in New York, I wanted to master cold calling so I found, “Cold Calling Techniques (That Really Work)” and my phone game totally upleveled.
I share this to provide validity to the following statement:
Tiffany Peterson’s Sales Mastery audio training is THE BEST training I have ever read, heard, seen or attended. I’m not an affiliate for this product, nor do I get paid for saying this, it’s just the truth.
I bought Tiffany’s Sales Mastery CD set last year and loved it and now I recommend it to anyone who is in sales.
Tiffany addresses not just the sales conversation, but about the mental game that each of us go through in our head. She walks through some simple exercises that help you change the way you THINK about sales before she teaches you HOW to do it. It’s a powerful and effective combination. Tiffany’s sales mantra is “Mindset + Skillset = Results”, and her mindset piece is just as phenomenal as her skillset piece.
What I also like about Sales Mastery, is that Tiffany talks about selling from an authentic sales space. It’s not about trickery, bait and switch, or using gimmicks to sell your product or service. It’s about serving first and selling second. It’s about building relationships and letting the sales naturally happen.
Finally, Tiffany shares the 5 Gates of Sales. Five steps that every prospect goes through before they say yes, and how to walk prospects through those gates with ease, so that your potential clients sell themselves on your product or service. It’s genius and I only wish I had found this training 10 years ago. I would have saved myself a lot of time and money in less effective seminars.
And, to top it off, she is calm and soothing to listen to. That might sound cheesy, but have you ever heard a sales “expert” sort of sell to you or use the same tone that they use in their selling? Sometimes it comes off as pushy, salesy or just plain creepy even if the content is good. Or, some sales trainers are all about hype and pep, and then you’re so worked up, you can’t even remember your name. Not Tiffany. She’s having a calm sales conversation with you that will lead you feeling calm, powerful and ready to sell in your own unique voice.
Tiffany is just as real and authentic in person, and I have been delighted to get to know her over the past 12 months. I’m thrilled that she is a Startup Princess Fairy Godmother, and honored to be sharing this training with you.
Tiffany is offering Startup Princess members a discount for the month of March only. You can purchase Sales Mastery with code: SP12 and save $25 off! AND she’s throwing in free shipping! It’s an amazing deal on an amazing product.
Michelle McCullough is the Managing Director for Startup Princess. Michelle became a partner in Startup Princess in 2008. She is responsible for event planning, marketing, affiliates, sponsorships and partnerships. Over the past 3 years she has coached women entrepreneurs and helped them grow their businesses from “dream in development” to established thriving businesses. Michelle is a speaker, strategist, success expert and a serial entrepreneur. She started Doodads Promotional Products when she was 19. And has also spent the last 12 years working in marketing and advertising. She’s worked in all aspects of the industry from production to creative and sales to management. On top of her full-time jobs, Michelle has cultivated her love for entrepreneurship by running Doodads as a successful side business. Today it continues to thrive. This year Michelle launched a coaching program called “The Life Balance Myth” to help busy entrepreneurs build thriving businesses AND meaningful personal lives. She believes that life balance is a myth, but she provides practical tools to achieve personal and professional success. You can learn more about Michelle at SpeakMichelle.com. Michelle has two children ages 4 and 2 and lives in Utah.
Putting Your Fear of Sales to Rest
March 8, 2012
There are many passionate entrepreneurs who love their product or service and what it does for others, yet they don’t love sales, and perhaps even have fears and severe discomfort come over them when it comes to making the sale. You’ll often see an entrepreneur like this find themselves doing other things like organizing their office, changing their font style in their signature, or working on their vision board – anything, but making their sales calls and contacts to avoid the discomfort.
Fears of selling are quite normal and common, yet when not addressed and worked through, end up costing our awesome entrepreneurial dreams a lot of money.
The most common fears in sales are:
- Fear of being “salesy”, pushy or aggressive
- Fear of rejection or being told no.
- Fear of not being liked or accepted by others.
The great news is that all of these fears are based in a perception and not truth and therefore, can be altered or adjusted to help you relieve the fear and make more money in your business.
In coaching my clients, the foundational piece of becoming comfortable in sales is to switch their perception of Selling to Serving.
Consider this – what problem or challenge does your business solve for others? How does your product or service enhance someone’s quality of life, business, or results?
Make a list of all the ways that you are currently serving others and their lives through utilizing your business offering. Summarize this service and place it on a 3×5 card somewhere in your office where you will see it frequently. Anchor in and focus on the fact that you’re serving others and providing valuable solutions for them.
I had a coach of my own early on invite me to see that every sales conversation I had was presenting this person with a gift. Whether they opened it and loved it or chose to pass on the gift was up to them – I was simply in the business of gift giving. That was something I could get behind. You’re not responsible for their response – you’re simply responsible for sharing and serving others to the best of your ability.
I invite you to see the value you provide for others and focus on serving your prospects and clients. When we come from a space of service, we take the focus of ourselves and our fears and focus on providing value to others. Remind yourself daily that you are a Solutions Provider and that you are Serving to Sell. In doing so, you’ll make more money and experience more peace in the process.
Connect with Tiffany on Twitter @TheHopeGiver and on Facebook.
Tiffany Peterson is a seasoned Speaker and International Coach, guiding individuals, organizations, and audiences in creating thriving lives and businesses. Before founding her own company, The Lighthouse Principles, Tiffany worked with and for many popular brands: Franklin Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the world famous Rich Dad, Poor Dad series, and Jack Canfield, creator of The Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Tiffany has been responsible for managing and achieving sales budgets that range up to $40 million in annual revenue. She loves sharing her sales secrets and strategies with others to help them create a sustainable income living their entrepreneurial dreams. For more information about creating your ideal life and results, visit her website at www.TheLighthousePrinciples.com
