“The Way I See It” – Current. “Getting Out There” – before Aug 2023.
Finding Joy in the Absurd: A Different Take on Political News
This dialog with Marcus came out of my admission that I was spending way too much time watching and reading political news every day (often several hours). On the other hand, I felt that watching the monologs from the evening comics gave me something different…
Being an Ordinary Visionary in Challenging Times
Dear Reader: This is a conversation between me and my alter ego, Marcus. Marcus embodies all wisdom and has a knack for waking us up to our blindness. I invite you to listen in. Robert: Marcus, I find myself asking, “how shall we live in…
Dealing with the Despair of Yesterday’s Loss
After the very disappointing (for me) election loss of Kamala Harris and the win of Donald Trump last night, I was feeling some despair. But not being the despairing type, I called on my league of wise counselors, and an ageless stoic, Marcus, appeared to…
Vision, Words, and Actions for a Cause
With more than 50 Ordinary Visionary interviews conducted over the past seven months, I’ve learned a few very powerful things: – Visions propel creative action. – Words help to solidify the vision. – Vision, words, and action lead to results. Right now, we are in…
The only Quality that can Conquer Fear
As Ordinary Visionaries, we often underestimate the difficulties and challenges we will face when we embark on our journey. At first, our vision may help us feel confident, even invincible. But then we are faced with an action we know we must do but are…
This Quality Sets You in the Right Direction.
If you are committed to being an Ordinary Visionary, certain qualities are absolutely necessary. Last week, I wrote about patience as the underlying mindset that will help you stay on track and move forward with calm determination to make a difference. The next, perhaps more…
Patience – The Greatest Secret of Ordinary Visionaries
What is the great secret of Ordinary Visionaries? Is it purpose, passion, or persistence? Is it knowledge, creativity, or genius? Is it hard work, good luck, or good timing? Well, all of those certainly won’t hurt, but I believe, nothing is more important to an…
Don’t Talk to Strangers – Not!
Yesterday I went to see Dune Part 2. Fantastic movie and better than Part 1. As I was leaving the auditorium, I made a comment to a man who was walking out with me. I said something rather innocuous, “Wow, that was some movie!” And…
Do You Love to Give Back?
Yesterday evening, my wife and I had dinner with our friends Ann and Peter Young at their home in Ben Lomond. They are both wonderful people who I initially met while walking my dogs in a nearby park during the pandemic. Peter is a contractor,…
I’m in the Optimism Business
I watch a lot of political news. Too much, perhaps. And a large proportion of it consists of bashing the other side. There’s a lot of anger, blame, and polarization. Both Republicans and Democrats tend to do that, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. And after…
Steve Gets a New Home
This issue is part 3 of a series about my life in Boulder Creek. The first one is here. The second one is here. When you make friends with homeless people, you mainly want to see if you can help somehow. And you soon realize…
Homeless Thanksgiving at Junction Park
This issue is part 2 of a series. The first one is here: I had been walking my two dogs around the downtown area of Boulder Creek and past Junction Park for a few weeks. Every day, I passed an old, dilapidated Dodge van with…
My Boulder Creek Story
When I moved to Boulder Creek in 2002, I was on a roll with my business. I had published the InfoGuru Manual, and sales were strong. My wife, Saroj, was shipping out manuals every day. Soon after, I started my high-end group programs, and they were…
Welcome to Spring… and to Spring Cleaning!
Spring cleaning and organizing is a wonderful thing. As you clear your cluttered desk, you clear your cluttered mind. Dumping things you no longer need lightens your step. Organizing online files for easy access streamlines your work. My wife hired a home organizer a couple…
Opinions and Judgments
Many things in life are hard. Work is hard. Marriage is hard. Aging is hard. But none of these is as hard as not voicing our opinions and judgments. We all have an opinion or judgment about almost everything. This is not a modern phenomenon.…
What do You Like? And Why?
We all like certain things. But have you ever thought about what you really like? There’s a whole lot of things to choose from out there. What are your preferences? Below is a list of things that you may like. Just read each one and…
How Robert’s Getting His Groove Back
Have you ever started an exercise program, then quit, then tried again, and then quit again… Yeah, most of us have. It seems that this is the way most of us do it. I’ve been an on and off exerciser for more than 40 years.…
Are You an Ordinary Visionary?
An Ordinary Visionary is someone who generates creative ideas and consistently puts them into action and into the world. They recognize possibilities or opportunities that others often overlook, fueled by enthusiasm to take risks and bring their ideas to life. Are you an Ordinary Visionary?…
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of 2023
Well, 2023 has been one of the more interesting years of my life. I really don’t like to dwell on the past, but I thought it might be fun to share some of the highlights and lowlights of 2023 from my personal perspective. The Good…
The Early Death of All My Machines
A few months before thinking of retirement, I totaled our two cars. I ran my reliable, sporty Mazda 3 into a utility pole. Then I stepped out of my wife’s lovely Prius, and it ran down a hill and slammed into a tree. Was somebody…
The Magic of Acceptance
Serenity comes when you trade expectations for acceptance. – Gautama Buddha Accepting things the way they are is a very simple concept. Something happens in your world, and you either accept it or you argue with it. If you accept it, then you are dealing…
Developing the Art of Patience
Today's article is one in a series of many. These articles will be my take on expansive qualities we want to experience and express more in our lives. I will incorporate ideas from the wisest people in history to help me make my case. I…
A Thanksgiving Message of Peace
During challenging times, various paths unfold. Things generally trend upward or downward. They tend to sway toward either the light or dark side. The light embodies peace; the dark, conflict. Peace is straightforward. Perhaps overly so? Three actions can foster peace: 1. Engage in civil,…
When You’re Not Watching the News
With my declaration on Friday that I was NOT going to watch and read as much news, I asked what I could fill that time with. Reading was at the top of my list and I did read quite a bit. I did a lot…
Can We Sanely Consume the News?
The shocking and very sad news in Israel and Gaza this past week had me mainlining news practically 24/7. The net result: I am very informed and also very stressed out. Truthfully, I’ve been a news junkie my whole life. But I have to ask…
50 Questions That Will Get You Unstuck
Ever notice that you talk to yourself in statements that are often negative? Here are a few common ones I’ve heard from clients over the years: I can’t do that. That’s just not for me. I don’t know how. That would take me forever to…
Unleashing My Inner Geek
Last week I was listening to an interview with Wil Wheaton who played Wesley Crusher in Star Trek, The Next Generation. And he was talking about being a geek. He said, “That thing that we all have in common that makes us geeks or nerds, no matter…
The Five Wisest Sayings?
What are the ultimate wisest sayings? Sayings that when fully understood can transform our lives? Good question. Let’s see... Wise sayings, aphorisms, proverbs, adages, or maxims have been around for a very long time. If you do a little research, you’ll learn that there are thousands…
The Malignant, Not Enough Disease
In working with clients over the years, we often explored core beliefs that held them back. One of the most common (but least recognized) was, “I am not enough.” This belief can lead to a wide range of behaviors that tend to sabotage our efforts. Here…
The Politics of Harmony
These days there seems to be more and more friction between the major political divides in our country. This division is characterized by the World Famous ABCs: Accusation, Blame, and Criticism. These days a lot of people seem to be focused on how their side and…
15 Pithy Marketing Quotations
I love quotations. When I started my business, I compiled a hundred or more quotes about success and read them frequently. I own books of quotations and look up quotations online almost every day. Quotations are condensed wisdom. Read a few wise quotes in the morning,…
The Zen Master’s Bonsai
As you may have noticed, in my leisurely retirement, I am spending way too much time on ChatGPT. :–) Despite this descent into talking to a computer AI, I’m discovering many amazing uses for it, and, of course… I’d like to share one of my favorites.…
How Do We Find Balance?
Last week, I shared a simple idea that emerged from a ChatGPT conversation: “If each individual were to cultivate a consistent practice of empathy – the ability to understand and share the feelings of others – it could potentially bring about a dramatic and transformative change in…
How to Make Perfect Connections
I recently found a book in my Kindle Library called “How Clients Buy” by Tom McMakin and Doug Fletcher. I had bought and downloaded the book in 2020 but neglected to get around to reading it. Well, I‘m glad I finally did! One of the…
Is it Possible to Persuade Ethically?
If we want to grow our businesses and attract new clients, we need to learn how to persuade people. But how do we do that ethically, without manipulation? I’ve worked with many clients who have struggled with this issue. Nobody likes to be seen as…
The Three Keys to Getting More Response
I always emphasize to my clients that the most reliable method of determining the effectiveness of a marketing strategy or approach is through one thing and one thing only: RESPONSE. If your strategy generates a positive response, it's working. This principle applies to any marketing…
The Flip Side of Conflict, Blame & Anger
Have you noticed that there seems to be a lot of conflict, blame, and anger going around these days? And those feelings, states of mind, and actions are all working against our productivity, contribution, and thriving as individuals and as communities. This is something I’ve…
Why Don’t You Have a Newsletter?
In speaking to my Getting Out There Group last week, I told them that next month we would be working on creating an email newsletter for their business. As much as I talk about Proactive Marketing – I.e., getting out there, making connections, and having…
Be an Idea Partner
In the early days of my business in the late ‘80s (making me a certified dinosaur) I know I had to make new connections with business owners through networking and outreach. It was a matter of survival. So, I read a lot of books on…
How to Be a Thinking Partner
I have worked with clients for almost 39 years, and I have always done my best to help them. Sometimes, I have felt like my efforts were not enough, but I have come to realize that I was often wrong about that. It was more…
The Power of Stillness in Getting Out There
This weekend I bought an excellent book I wanted to recommend to anyone who is working to get out there as a self-employed professional. It’s called “Stillness is The Key” by Ryan Holiday. Holiday has achieved something very rare: becoming a bestselling author of books…
The Three Principles of Authentic Persuasion
Today, I’m going to write about one of the most important skills any of us can possess as self-employed professionals: The power of Authentic Persuasion. Ultimately, If you can’t persuade, you won’t attract many clients. But first, let’s get very clear: persuasion is not about…
The Diver and the Diving Coach
Once upon a time, there was a young woman who wanted to be an Olympic diver more than anything else. She read books and watched videos about Olympic divers as it was the most exciting thing in the world for her. So, she decided to…
More Ideas for More Meetings
The most important skill in attracting new clients? Getting more meetings and conversations with your existing network of contacts. Remember the 80/20 principle? When it comes to attracting new clients as a self-employed professional, getting meetings is 80% of the equation. Everything else is 20%.…
The Big Key to Getting More Meetings
How do you get more meetings with prospective clients? This is a topic I’ve written about a lot, but I want to emphasize one key to getting meetings that makes all the difference. Affiliations. Also known as connections, similarities, relationships, etc. In other words, it’s…
The Pothole Potluck – Ideas, Input & Insights
Are you getting tired of consuming media information? You know, email, articles, videos, social media, TV, streaming, news, podcasts, advertising… endlessly. All of this stuff is coming to us point blank every minute of every day. We all sit at our computers for hours on…
Take Small, Scary, but Low-Risk Steps
OK, let’s say you know exactly what you want in your business. For instance, to attract a certain number of clients and make a certain amount of money. Well, what is the fastest, simplest way to get from where you are to where you want…
Want to Get Attention? Try a Cartoon!
The first thing we want to get when it comes to attracting clients is: ATTENTION! If we don’t get the attention of our prospective clients (in one way or another) we’ll never get a meeting with them, let alone land them as a client. –…
Crossing the Prospecting Chasm
When I work with clients, we go through four main stages. 1. Clarification of their marketing message. 2. Development of their written materials about their services. 3. Prospecting to get meetings with connections and prospects. 4. Engaging in the selling process. Stage 1 & 2…
The Source of All Marketing Challenges
Last week, in my new Open Sessions Program, I asked the following question: “What is your biggest challenge in attracting new clients? (and what is the Source of that challenge?)” Well, it’s easy to come up with a challenge; it’s anything that you are trying…
Practice – The Master Key to Persuasion
Article #7 of the 12 Ps Series. Read #6 on “Your Step-by-Step Marketing Plan.” One of my favorite metaphors for successful marketing is putting on a play, let’s say Hamlet. OK, you land the part of Hamlet. Congratulations. So, what do you do next? You…
Your Step-by-Step Marketing Action Plan
Article #6 of the 12 Ps Series. Read #5 on “Preparation – Another word for Learning.” Since the words “Action and Plan” are in my business name, I obviously think planning is important! Planning is defined as, “the process of making or carrying out plans.”…
How to Banish the Fear of Marketing and Selling
One of the marketing practices I strongly encourage my clients to implement is to reach out to people, make connections, get meetings, and have conversations. If you can learn how to do that, you can attract as many clients as you need to your business.…
Preparation – Another Word for Learning
Article #5 of the 12 Ps Series. Read #4 on How Aware Presence Can Transform Your Life. “Good luck is when opportunity meets preparation, while bad luck is when lack of preparation meets reality.” – Eliyahu Goldratt It’s tough finding profound things to say about…
What Are Your Three Client Issues?
When you first meet with a new prospective client, what do you say? Some talk all about their services and their unique process. Others talk about their outcomes and results. But my colleague, Mark Thompson, always first talks about his prospective clients' “three key issues.”…
How Aware Presence Can Transform Your Life
Article #4 of the 12 P’s Series. Read #3 on Picturing What You Want. Living in the moment, at its essence, could be expressed as "Aware Presence, Here, and Now." In my opinion, it’s the most important trait to develop for Success and Fulfillment. But…
Picturing What You Really Want
Article #3 of the 12 Ps Series. Read #2 here. This weekend I watched the amazing movie, Everything Everywhere, All at Once. Three times! (It’s now on Amazon.) Yeah, I can be obsessive about some things! The movie was a perfect illustration of my topic…
Articulate Your Purpose – And Keep it Simple
Article #2 of the 12 Ps Series. Read #1 here. When you know what you want, you know your purpose. Last week I wrote about passion. And when you are clear about your passion, your purpose isn’t far behind. In last week’s Star Trek episode…
What are Your Greatest Passions?
What are you really passionate about? I mean excited about, turned on by, fascinated with? Do you know? A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the 10 Ps of Success and Fulfillment (now expanded to 12 Ps) and in presenting this model to my…
Marketing, Selling, and Loving Your Clients
Do you love your clients? I mean do you really like, appreciate, and cherish them? I do, and not just because they pay me and are the source of my livelihood. I love them because I really get to know them. In our work together…
The 6Ps of Getting Out There
On Friday, I watched a great new movie on Netflix: Hustle, featuring Adam Sandler. Not the goofy-type Adam Sandler movie, but an inspirational (and funny) masterpiece about getting out there and making it happen in the world of basketball. I highly recommend it! This wonderful…
Getting Out There!
This little weekly newsletter is 25 years old this summer, and I’m making a few changes. First the name. The first name of the newsletter was The Marketing Flash. That lasted a couple of years and then I thought it was a little too generic.…
Get More Done. In Less Time.
Many people write very long to-do lists every day. And they pride themselves on checking off a whole lot of items. And this makes them feel productive. Maybe you? I used to do exactly that for many years and then one day realized I spent…
Want to Play the No-Blame Game?
Have you noticed that there’s a whole lot of blame going around these days? People blaming other people, blaming companies, blaming politicians, blaming celebrities, blaming strangers, blaming anything and everything. Well, I have a little personal project called the No-Blame Game. Its aim is simple.…
The Know-Like-Trust Factor
You’ve probably heard about the need to build what’s called the “Know-Like-Trust Factor” if you want to attract great clients. But how, exactly, do you do that? Well, first of all, marketing professional services is very different than marketing most other products and services for…
Reading is Steroids for the Brain
Today, I’m posting a guest article by Matt Furey who sends out one of my favorite email newsletters. He’s the owner of Psycho-Cybernetics.com. All of his articles are thought-provoking and motivating. This one on reading I found particularly interesting. You can subscribe to Matt’s newsletter…
Stop Selling and Start Listening
Whenever you read about selling these days, it’s all about messaging, story-telling, and pitching. Thing is, those are wicked tough skills to learn. They take a lot of work and time. They take a ton of preparation and practice. They take a boatload of hard…
How Old Are You Really?
This New Rules video from Bill Maher was not only funny, but it was also very wise. Ageism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice in America I’ll give you the link after you read this: Why this rang such a bell with me is that most of…
The Strategy Session Process (and closing the deal)
In last week’s newsletter, I talked about what needed to be in place before you conducted a successful Strategy Session (or selling conversation). Today, I’ll give you an overview of the Strategy Session Itself which leads to landing a new client. When I do a…
Beyond the Icky Selling Process
I spoke to someone on the phone last week who told me he never sold. But yet he was quite good at getting new clients, so how is that possible? Well, it’s because selling has some terrible baggage attached to it. We think of it…
Facing the Terror of Reaching Out
It’s fascinating how many people love horror movies. It’s never been my favorite movie genre, but I can see the appeal. These movies trigger strong emotions – but you are ultimately not going to be harmed. If you gave people the choice between watching a…
Random or Intentional Connections?
While I was preparing the video for “Lots and Lots of Meetings” I remembered a conversation I had with a colleague years ago. I came across Andrea Nierenberg, a business relationship expert, in a newsletter where we had both published an article. So, on a…
Introduce Yourself (to people you don’t yet know… gasp!)
Let’s say you belong to a chamber of commerce or a professional organization and you believe some of the members may be good prospective clients. You’ve been to some gatherings (or these days, virtual zoom meetings) but you really don’t know any of the members…
How to Get More Meetings – Pt 2
Two weeks ago I wrote about how to get more meetings with past clients. Link here. Today, I want to share my favorite strategy and most effective approach to get more meetings with another kind of prospective client. Remember, first of all, that the key…
Reach Out and Touch Someone
For many of the clients I’ve worked with over the years, the most dreaded activity is reaching out to someone to speak with. The horrors of cold-calling loom large and it literally terrifies people to reach out and connect with someone. I’m not an advocate…
Why We Struggle with Marketing
There are two things that make us struggle with marketing. One is relatively easy to solve and the other is more difficult. The first thing is all the strategies and skills needed to market ourselves effectively. You know, writing good materials, getting in front of…
When You Run Out of Ideas
There comes a time in everyone’s business when they run out of ideas. You are working on a problem and have tried a number of things but none of them work and no new ideas are coming. Since this has happened to me a million…
I.S.C.G.I. Selling
A large percentage of self-employed professionals don’t like selling. But what about it don’t they like? – They don’t like to be seen as a manipulator. – They don’t like to try so hard to convince someone of something. – They don’t like the idea…
The Marketing-Selling Sequence
A lot of marketing is like throwing a bunch of balls in the air and hoping they land exactly where you want. Your balls may include: Your marketing message, email promotions, online services information, qualifying phone calls, social media, online articles, a marketing presentation, and…
5 Great Marketing Ideas
Every week for 25 years I've written this newsletter, The Fearless Marketer (used to be More Clients). I write about 50 articles a Year. But in the past few months, I’ve written what I think are some of my most practical, hands-on articles. Look, ultimately,…
The Amazing Process, Purpose, and Outcome Document
About 30 years ago I worked with a client – an executive recruiter – who was having trouble closing new clients. The problem seemed to be that her service was very much the same as other executive recruiters and she couldn’t differentiate herself from everyone…
The Magic of Warm Outreach
Gauging from last week’s article on Color-Coded Persuasion, I was reminded once again that the topic of communication and persuasion is central to attracting new clients. My definition of marketing for self-employed professionals is simple: “Clearly communicating the value of your services.” But that’s really…
Color-Coded Persuasion
Persuasion is a language art. That is, words and ideas are what persuade, more than anything else. The problem is, we communicate without noticing if we are expressing features or benefits in our messages. Features are what WE DO. Benefits are what THEY GET. Typically,…
The Success/Failure Fairy Tale
We all want to succeed and nobody wants to fail. Most of us can agree on that, right? But there are some really big problems with our ideas of both success and failure. And if you don’t get straight on them, you’ll continue to struggle…
The Way of Marketing Moderation
On a phone call with my youngest sister Sandy yesterday, we talked about her knee problems. Three of my sisters, between them, have had five knee surgeries. All three sisters did a lot of exercising in their lives – sports, running, walking, skiing. And that’s…
How to Get Client Testimonials
Does is make sense to ask for client testimonials? And if so, how exactly do you do it? Well, yes, client testimonials are a good thing. Here are some ways to think about testimonials and a number of ways to get them. What other people…
Join the “Make a Difference Economy”
I have been thinking of ideas my whole life about how to make the world a better place. Naive of me, right? But I can and do have an impact in my business. And the way I approach and conduct my business is the only…
The Art of Honest Influence
Marketing your professional services and your efforts to attract new clients to your business could be called “The art of honest influence.” First, a few definitions: Art: the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination. Honest: free of deceit and untruthfulness; sincere; fairly…
How to Write About Your Services
When it comes to writing about your professional services, there’s a good chance you don’t know what exactly to write about and how to structure your writing. Essentially, what you write should answer 10 key questions a prospective client has about how you can help…
You Are a Natural-Born Salesperson (Really ?!)
Many people think of selling as a talent you were born with. Is there any truth to that? Well, yes. In fact, everyone was born with the talent to sell from day one. You were born to ask for what you want, even if those…
A Masterclass on Selling
This past Friday I hosted a Fearless Marketing Mastermind session on Selling. Some of the material was so good, that I’d consider it a “Masterclass on Selling” and it’s summarized below. The selection below is from Mark Thompson, who has consulted on strategy for more…
How to Stop Procrastinating
We all procrastinate. And in many cases, it’s not a big thing – finally, we get around to doing what we were putting off. You know, things like tidying up your office, replying to your emails, or giving your dog a bath! But do you…
Dealing with Marketing Struggles
What is the biggest struggle you have with marketing your professional services? Is it your marketing message, creating your services/programs, clearly communicating your value, getting in front of prospective clients, the selling process, or something else? We all have different challenges, but I believe that…
What’s Your Most Valuable Commodity?
As a self-employed professional, what is the most valuable commodity that your clients pay you for? Is it your experience, your ideas, your insights, your expertise, or your time? Well, yes, but those are actually the building blocks of your most valuable commodity. Conversations. Your…
What’s your Favorite “P” Word?
You may have seen this famous quote at some point in your life: “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education…
Refining Your Marketing Message
Your marketing message is one of the most important tools in your marketing toolkit. But in my experience of working with clients on their messages for years, most self-employed professionals don’t have effective messages. What is an effective message? One that generates interest and response.…
15 fun ways to waste time and avoid marketing
Every once in a while, I post a free public service announcement here for qualified organizations. Today, it's from the “We Hate Marketing Our Professional Services Club.” Or the W.H.M.O.P.S.C. for short. Instead of torturing yourself by doing any so called… “community connecting and schmoozing…
Three Questions = New Clients
I have a question for you. Do you imagine that if you do good, effective marketing, that prospective clients will call you ready to do business with you? Well, that has never been my experience. Marketing for self-employed professionals is quite different from the marketing…
The Magic of Practice
Imagine that a talented gymnast hires a new coach. In their first session, the coach shows the gymnast the step-by-step moves for a gymnastic routine. With a little time and practice, the gymnast gets the fundamentals of the routine down. Then the coach says, “OK,…
A Shift in the Winds of Discord
There is no doubt about it. The year 2020 and first half 2021 have been traumatic to some degree for all of us. Let me count the ways…. Coronavirus hits in early 2020. People start to die from the virus by the thousands. The president…
What Do You Really, Truly Want?
Well, you could want a lot of things in your life, right? But, in your business, don’t you ultimately want to make a difference with the people you work with? And to make a difference you need to take action, right? Actions in working with…
Fearless Marketing Mastermind
I've been tweaking my new free/low-cost monthly program to make it simpler and more valuable. Here’s my update on the Fearless Marketing Mastermind: First of all, who is this for? Self-employed professionals offering consulting, coaching, or training services and programs (or a combination of these). What…
Networking with Dogs and People
Every day I take my dogs to a local park near my home. And tomorrow I’m going to my first live networking event since before the pandemic. What do these things have in common and what does it have to do with attracting new clients?…
Mining for New Clients
Why is it so hard to find the right prospective clients? Well, it really depends on how you look at it. If you think, “The only people worth meeting with are perfect prospects who can spend $X with me on this kind of project, and…
Ready, Fire Aim (?)
The term, “Ready, Aim, Fire” comes from the military, going way, way back. And then it gained popular usage in business and marketing. Ready: Get your marketing campaign in order. Aim: Clearly choose your target audience. Fire: Launch your campaign. OK, this makes sense, right?…
Proactive Experience Marketing
Recently, when I took a close look at the marketing that has worked best for me over the past 35 years, two things popped out. First, my approach was always Proactive. That is, I reached out in some way to my prospective clients. Second, was…
The Key to Effortless Marketing
My favorite definition of effortless is “achieved with admirable ease.” And wouldn’t it be cool if all your marketing could be (relatively) effortless? What would that look like? Is it even possible? And is this just more marketing hype? Well, let’s explore… Effort is defined…
Goal Setting Frustration
This morning, as I was preparing to write my newsletter article, I got my weekly copy of Matt Furey’s newsletter and I thought, “I can’t do much better than this today!” So, I decided to send it out to you. Enjoy. These are very powerful…
Take the Red Pill
This past week I discovered that I was living inside the Matrix. Well, not the computer-generated Matrix from the famous movie, but inside a particular Mind-Made-Matrix (MMM) that was shaping my perceptions, feelings, and actions. Living inside this MMM dragged me down, made me feel…
Take a HOLIDAY from Your Thoughts
Did you ever notice that you tend to avoid or struggle with certain marketing activities? Two big ones that come to mind are developing marketing materials of any kind and getting meetings with prospective clients. If you could move forward more easily with both of…
Did You Thrive the Pandemic?
I know you survived the pandemic this past year. You wouldn’t be reading this if you hadn’t. But did you thrive? But now, as we are slowly but surely coming out of the pandemic, I started an inventory of all the ways I thrived during…
The Myth of Perfect Marketing Materials
Someone in my current Marketing Action Group shared this: “I believe that bringing all my marketing into alignment is critical at this point. Would this be correct?” Marketing alignment would be having a marketing message, marketing materials, website, presentation, etc. all aligned and communicating a…
What Do You Actually Do?
This little question seems to have puzzled self-employed professionals since the beginning of time. Somebody asks you what you do and you make the terrible mistake of actually telling them. Like this: “What do I do? So glad you asked! I have this special methodology…
Getting in Front of Prospective Clients
Last week, I sent an email asking what your biggest issue was in attracting more of your ideal, high-end clients. I wasn’t surprised to see that the issue mentioned most often was “Getting in front of qualified prospective clients.” It’s true, if you could do…
Why You Need Proactive Marketing
I don’t think I’ve seen a tougher environment for attracting new clients than in the past year. The pandemic has definitely made things harder. Companies are tightening their belts, and clients are in a reactive, not creative mindset. Even in my business, it’s been slower…
Intentions, Not Goals or To-Dos
Do you have goals for your business and your marketing? Do you have a list of to-do items aligned with those goals? If so, great, but today I’d like you to think about intentions. An intention is defined as “an aim or a plan.” And…
Fishing, Marketing, Thoughts, & Action
I woke up last night thinking about the following question. (look, let me know if this makes sense to you OK?) “Who would I be if I couldn’t believe the thought(s) that stop me from reaching out in my marketing?” So, here’s one way to…
Who Are You, Anyway?
It's my 69th birthday today (March 9). And I’ve been thinking about what to write for a few hours. The topic of security and insecurity came up. Last week in my Marketing Action Group we were talking about how insecure most people feel about reaching…
The Four Keys to Creative Action
It's easy for our marketing to get stuck in a rut. We don't know why people aren't responding, let alone buying. Look, the pandemic, the economy, right-wing insurrectionists, vaccines, and God knows what else, has made marketing a little harder right now. We are all…
The Action Plan Marketing Model
When we think about marketing our professional services, we usually think about all the things we need to DO to get clients. But that is usually very limited because marketing has numerous components and also processes. Plus, marketing has outer and inner aspects. To be…
Share Results, Not Processes or Labels
I had a dream last night where I was working out the core marketing message or “ultimate outcome” of a product of some kind. As I woke up, I pulled out my iPad and wrote down the five “ultimate outcomes” of working with my clients:…
How to Give Sample Experiences
When I was intensively studying marketing in the “early days” of Action Plan Marketing, I read Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins. Perhaps the best marketing book ever written, published in 1923. Hopkins was the father of modern advertising and his clients included Goodyear Tires, Pepsodent…
Are You Feeling Worthless?
Nothing will kill your forward movement in life and in business more than a feeling of worthlessness. You know the feeling… You just don’t feel that what you are offering is worthy, good enough, or valuable. And when that happens you just close down. You…
Don’t Just Tell. Show. Like this…
Marketing is very simple. At its essence, marketing is communicating the value of whatever it is you’re offering. When people who need what you’re offering truly get what your value is, some of them engage you and work with you. And pay you! Is there…
Why You Need an Email Newsletter
I’ve been publishing an email newsletter each Tuesday for almost 24 years. Has it worked out for me? Well, let me count the ways… First of all, virtually ALL of my clients were first subscribers to my email newsletter. Second, writing this newsletter every week…
Winning is Not Everything!
A famous sports quote is “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the ONLY thing.” I’m rather ashamed to say that I’ve shared this quote many times. But this quote is not only wrong, it is malignant. In so many ways, winning has become the most important value…
How Will You Live Your Life?
In the new Disney movie, Soul, the hero, Joe, has just achieved his dream, playing in Dorothea Williams’ jazz band, and he says, “I’ve been waiting on this day my entire life… I just thought it would feel different.” And Dorothea replies: I heard this…
I Appreciate You!
Yeah, 2020, has been a really tough year. But you hung in there with all the challenges. And I want to congratulate you and appreciate you for all you’ve done. You’ve… - stayed cocooned in your home office for the past 9 months, - moved…
My Favorite Email Newsletter
Look, I get a whole lot of email newsletters, but one stands head and shoulders above the rest… and it’s unlike any other. It’s by my friend and client, Jerry Wistrom, and it’s called “Words of Wistrom.” It about old-school business and enduring values. It’s…
A “Thing” That Really Works
This year I realized that a "marketing thing" I’ve always been good at was not something I was actually teaching to my clients. Perhaps I took it for granted and just recommended that they do this particular thing, without giving them much guidance or direction.…
Ending Your Struggle With Marketing
Why I’m writing my newsletter as poetry, I have no idea. (See last week's here) But this idea popped into my head when I woke up this morning and I went with it! It points to something that’s both obvious and easy to miss. My clients…
Do You Want Success or Happiness?
We all want success and happiness. And our culture encourages us to search for both. Well, what if it was easier than that? What if you didn't need to seek for either? These are some thoughts that just came to me last week and I…
How Are You Staying Sane Right Now?
The combination of the presidential transition and the growing coronavirus pandemic is throwing life as we know it into confusion and uncertainty. I’m doing my best to stay sane, but it’s not easy. I am… …actively working with two group marketing programs right now, …watching…
Trump: The End of an Era
Well, it's over. And in celebration, I'm featuring the videos of the comedians who have kept me sane and laughing over the past four years. Stephen Colbert Trevor Noah Seth Meyers Jimmy Fallon Jimmy Kimmel James Cordon Bill Maher John Oliver Samantha Bee Dave Chapelle Saturday…
Are you a Loser, Struggler, Con Artist, or Winner?
When it comes to persuading a prospective client to buy your services, it ultimately comes down to two big things. Honesty – That is, does your service actually deliver the results you say it does? And… Persuasiveness – Are you able to convince your prospective…
Decoding the Marketing Puzzle
Everyone has done a jigsaw puzzle. And you know it takes a lot of time to put all the pieces together. It can take hours and hours. But what if each piece was numbered on the back and the numbers went from left to right,…
13 Things a Prospect Must Know About Your Service Before They Buy
Let’s say you have a professional service that is very powerful; it really delivers the results your clients are looking for. And you have a prospective client who desperately needs those results but they can’t seem to get those results on their own. That’s a…
Come With Me if You Want to Live!
This line by the Terminator, as played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, is the best sales pitch of all time. Why? Well, let’s look at it! He’s making a request for something very important to the person he’s saying it to. That person, Sarah Connor (played by…
Make Your Life and Marketing Simple
Simpler is better. And if you can make your life and your marketing simpler, you’ll be happier and more successful. But how do you do that? It starts with the realization that everything in life can be reduced to the most important things. And those…
My Newsletter Returns to Weekly Edition
Well, after the experiment of sending out my eZine daily for the past month, I’ve decided to go back to the tried and true weekly edition on Tuesdays. Why? Well, it sure seemed like a good idea and I really enjoyed writing it, but it…
Boulder Creek Fire Evacuation Update
Below are all the email messages I sent to my list starting Tuesday, August, 18 when fire hit Boulder Creek, our home in the Santa Cuz Mountains. I wrote a letter every day, mostly to preserve my sanity! Monday, August 24. Fire still burning but…
You’ve Got Some ‘Splainin’ To Do!
Like Lucy Riccardo (Lucile Ball), you’ve got a lot of ‘splainin’ to do. About your business. ‘Splainin’ is another way of saying, “Making a case for why someone should buy your services.” And until you get better at this, why should your clients buy your…
Webinars: Your Best Promotional Tool
Last year, my wife and I sat in the office of a Functional Doctor* to discuss my wife’s many health concerns. About an hour later, we left after handing over a $6,000 check for six months of services. Why on earth did we do that?…
Seven Secrets to My Marketing Genius
I recently sent an email to those in my current Marketing Action Group Program sharing about my, ahem, “Marketing Genius.” I seem to have a knack for attracting new clients, filling my programs, and keeping my head above water in good times or bad. In…
The Magic of Your Best Idea
What is your BEST IDEA? Not just a good idea, a brilliant idea, or an idea that works. No, Your BEST IDEA. Look, everyone has one. We can have dozens of brilliant ones and a ton of good ones. But you can only have one…
Is it Time to Sell Yet?
During the pandemic, selling has been tricky. We don’t want to be seen as being self-serving, wanting to close a deal (with the client’s needs being secondary). That makes sense, but why not sell with the client’s needs being primary? After all, you are in…
OK, Now What?
“How can I attract clients right now? Why are things so hard? I seem to have run out of ideas. Why can’t I create some momentum?” If you’ve been thinking thoughts like this recently, you’re not alone. When I think of the enormity of what…
Three Ideas for Marketing Outrageously
According to Jon Spoelstra, in his book, Marketing Outrageously, businesses need to embrace the concepts and practices of Marketing Outrageously. He should know. He practiced this as the general manager of several sports teams such as the Portland Trailblazers and the New Jersey Nets. He helped…
What Exactly is Fearless Marketing?
I got so many responses from last week’s article about marketing mindsets, that I wanted to go a little deeper into the topic. My first main point was that marketing is difficult for many of us, because of our neurotic fixation on our fears, doubts…
Why Do Marketing and Selling Suck?
What, pray tell, inspired me to write an article about how awful marketing and selling are? First of all, it’s 100% True, right? Marketing and selling do suck. They are manipulative, dishonest practices, devoid of ethics, or any redeeming qualities. Marketing and selling suck big…
Response to Your Input
Last week, I asked for your input. I wanted to know what your issues were when it came to attracting new clients to your business. I got a ton of responses and my head is still swimming with everything you told me or asked me.…
Can I Get Your Valuable Input?
Instead of just reading today’s Fearless Marketer, I’d like to ask for some input from you. And I’ll make it fast and simple. Can you please respond to this blog post by telling me what you are looking for these days when it comes to…
This Will Move Your Business Forward
What do you want and need in your business right now? What can move your business forward in these challenging times more than anything else? Do you need information, inspiration, or insight? Information is cheap these days. And good information is everywhere. With a little…
What’s The Next Pivot in Your Business?
This Friday, I’ll be hosting my final “Going Radically Virtual Webinar.” I hope you can attend. (make your reservation here) My guest, Lisa Nirell, was one of the first people to go through my Marketing Certification Program in 2008 and has gone on to a…
YOU are Your Own Superhero!
I had a very interesting dream last night about a “Female National Super Hero” who supported us all through the coronavirus until things were better. But apparently, no such hero exists. There is nobody who is going to save us and make things better. The…
What We’re All Missing Right Now
Quick, what is something that you know better than anyone else, but take for granted? It’s a skill, an ability, something you are brilliant at but you fail to leverage. Are you drawing a blank? This week, while driving home from my monthly trek to…
4 Things That Are Required Right Now
In last week’s Webinar on Going Radically Virtual, I did a poll to measure what the participants were doing in their marketing during the pandemic. The results were telling: 1. Are you reaching out each week and getting meetings with past clients and business associates?…
Marketing Yourself Now and Post Pandemic
Are you starting to think, “How will I market my business after the pandemic is over?” This Friday, I’ll be holding my 4th Going Radically Virtual Webinar to explore this in more depth. At the end of this month, we can expect to see some…
My Not So Brilliant 6-Step Action Plan
The month before the pandemic hit, I was working to fill my next group program. Enrollment was coming along slowly but surely. But then, the s*it hit the proverbial fan. My plan went up in smoke. The program was half full and I needed to…
Dare to Be Foolish
Right now we need a big infusion of creativity in our business and marketing. What got us here won’t get us where we need to go. Let’s get real. The coronavirus pandemic has collapsed the economy. And nobody has ready-made plans in their back pocket…
How Will You Move Forward?
Are you wondering where you should put your business and marketing focus right now? "What should I send to my network? How can I be of service? Where should I be putting my attention?" This quote came through my email today from Marketing Week Columnist,…
The Connection – Development Process
Are you wondering how to keep up the momentum in your business during the coronavirus shutdown? Today, I want to share a powerful but simple model that can keep you moving forward. I’ve been talking a lot about the importance of ramping up your business…
I Have No Frickin’ Idea
Now that the majority of the population of the US and Canada (and soon the World) are self-isolated and are starting to accept we’re in for a long journey, what’s next? I’ve already shared my conviction that ramping up connections and conversations and going Radically…
Going Radically Virtual
Wondering how your business can survive and thrive during the Coronavirus pandemic? The solution: Take your business Radically Virtual. In this article, I’ll talk about how, as a self-employed professional, you can stay put in your home office, work with existing clients and attract new…
Living Your Business Values – Interview with Paul Zelizer of Awarepreneurs
Here’s our second monthly interview with a leading-edge business professional where I speak with someone smarter and wiser than me to figure out what being in business is all about. This time I interview Paul Zelizer on expressing and living your values as a business…
Report from Social Media Marketing World
I’ve been at the humungous business conference, Social Media Marketing World since Sunday. There, I’ve been absorbing ideas like a sponge and I’d like to share a few insights. More than 4,000 participants have been asking the question: “How do I use social media to attract…
One Big Key to Attracting More Clients
Every week in my group program I coach the participants on one or more of the 8 Marketing Keys to Attracting More Clients. This coming Thursday, I’ll be presenting a webinar with a scintillating outline of these 8 Keys. Reserve your space here. But hey,…
How to Have a Marketing Breakthrough
My wife and I have been watching a wonderful show on Netflix called Chef’s Table. Each episode is an intimate peek into the life and work of one remarkable chef. The very first episode about brilliant Italian Chef, Massimo Bottura, and his restaurant Osteria Francescana…
How to Change a Bad Thinking Habit
For the past several weeks I’ve been writing about and teaching how to get more meetings with prospective clients and those who can connect you with prospective clients. How to Get 100 Meetings More Meetings = More Clients Apparently it’s a hot topic. More than…
The Incomparable Expert – Interview With Jason Leister
Introducing a new monthly interview series with leading edge-business professionals. This has been in the works for some time. It’s based on the premise that ultimately engaging in business and marketing is about BEING who you are. I’ve spent the majority of my weekly writings…
A Humane Approach to Marketing
Last week I did a “webinar demo session” on how to send very simple emails to get meetings with prospective clients and those who can lead you to prospective clients. You can get a copy of the session here. And then the feedback started to…
What to Say Once You Get a Meeting
I’ve been writing a lot about the importance of setting up meetings with prospective clients and those who can lead you to prospective clients. How to Get 100 Meetings More Meetings = More Clients But what do you actually say in such a meeting that…
More Meetings = More Clients
What is the purpose of marketing? It’s to attract new business, right? Well, not if you're a B2B Professional. The purpose of B2B marketing is to get meetings with prospective clients. What’s the difference and what does that mean for your marketing? Well, just think…
How to Get 100 Meetings
When we think of marketing our professional services, we often think about all the things we need to do to be visible and get known. “I need to have an online presence, post regularly on social media, write articles for LinkedIn, join organizations, and network…
The Amazing Fable of Bubble City
There once was a magnificent city named Bubble City. It was a wonderful place. Everybody knew everyone else. And all its inhabitants felt familiar and safe. It was a bustling city full of life, energy, and businesses that met their every need. And was called…
How to Deal With Marketing Resistance
What’s something you want in your business right now? It could be a number of things: You want to make more money, you want to attract more clients, you want to improve your website, you want to get your LinkedIn marketing on track, you want…
The True Spirit of Mr. Rogers
On Thanksgiving day, My wife and I went to see the Mr. Rogers film, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. This is one of those rare films that can create a shift in one’s perspective about life. In many movies, we experience a hero or…
How to Increase Engagement on LI
Last week I talked about having “Human Conversations” on LinkedIn. You know, simple, conversational, authentic. Like you’d talk to someone you met at a party: “Hi, what do you do?” “I’m a consultant in the field of intuitive leadership.” “Wow, that sounds exciting. How long…
Have Human Conversations on LI
Last week I shared some ideas about connecting on LinkedIn. Today I want to share in more depth about having "human conversations" through LinkedIn Messenger (as opposed to robotic conversations). The first thing to realize is that very few people are actually having human conversations…
How to Connect on LinkedIn
As wonderful as LinkedIn can be to find and connect with your ideal prospects, most of us have no idea how to actually turn them into paying clients. This is the first of a few articles on how to do that. This is based on…
My Oh So Challenging Month
It’s been a challenging month in many ways. First, we lost power for four days which I wrote about last week. Then a few days later my main computer died. Thank God I have a laptop! Then my wife informed me that the place we’re…
Power Outages and Mindsets
Here I am sitting in my 54-degree frigid office, typing with numb fingers. The power has been out since Saturday evening and we're not sure when it will be restored. But thanks to my trusty new WEN generator (above), I have power to my computer,…
What Are You Really Selling?
If you’re a self-employed professional, you know what you’re selling, right? Management development programs, executive coaching services, communication skills training, financial planning, etc. Right? No, wrong. Those are your services, but that is not what you are selling and not what your clients are buying.…
Mastery of Marketing Campaigns
The majority of clients who have come to me over the years want to know how to get more clients faster. And they’re often looking for a “silver bullet” that will draw new clients to them magically. The closest thing I know to a silver…
The Secret to Winning the Marketing Game
Marketing is a game. And the whole point of a game is to make something more important than something else. What we make important in the marketing game is attracting great clients, earning good money, and making a difference. There are two important secrets to…
Imagination is Actually Magic. Seriously.
What would be real magic? Making something instantly appear out of nowhere. Or disappear. And we know, according to proven scientific principles, we cannot transcend the physical laws of the universe. We can’t turn the moon into the sun with a wave of a wand…
Stories You Tell Yourself About Marketing
Why does marketing often feel like a struggle, a challenging and not very fun to do? I want to suggest that it’s mostly because of the stories you tell yourself about marketing. If you haven’t noticed, you are always telling yourself stories. And the first…
Navigating the Rapids of Your Mind
Imagine you’re in a kayak paddling down a river. It’s a beautiful day and you’re feeling great. But then, up ahead, you see a fork in the river. To the right, the river is flowing smoothly; to the left, you see rapids and rocks. So,…
How to Make Your Marketing More Proactive
Several years ago, I was meeting a participant in one of my group programs. We were discussing his speaking plan. “Jeff, I’m glad to hear that you’re getting speaking engagements and that people are enjoying your talks. But what are you doing with the cards…
How to Market Without “Bad Manipulation”
This past week, someone sent me this question: “Would you take some time to answer how good marketing is not emotional manipulation/controlling?” Great question. When you really think of it, marketing is simply a process of getting people to respond to you favorably. You have something…
20 Ways to Make Your Marketing More Likable
Quick, what do people respond favorably to? Simple, everyone responds favorably to stuff they like. And conversely, people respond unfavorably to stuff they don’t like. And that, dear reader, is the complete story of human psychology in a nutshell! Just think of all the marketing…
A Marketing Plan for an Ex Nun
One of my most rewarding clients was a nun. Patty Grasher was a nun who lived in a convent for 28 years. And I was rather surprised when she signed up for one of my programs about 15 years ago. She blew away my pictures…
A Little Story about Ice Fishing
I want you to introduce you to an Eskimo boy named Tulok from Inukjuak, Canada. Although born in the Arctic, he didn’t spend a lot of time living there. Because of his high intelligence as a child, he was lucky enough to get a scholarship…
Why Your Marketing Plans Get Stalled
In working with the participants of my group marketing programs, one issue comes up over and over again. “I don’t know how to do that!” Are you familiar with that one? It’s often an unspoken issue with a lot of emotional baggage. We want to…
An Email Written From the Heart
Today, I got a wonderful email from Rene Safier, a wonderful singer in the folk/rock world. Rene also happens to be the wife of my best friend, Patrick Summar, and she’s a dear friend. And I've always been enthralled by her resonant and soaring singing…
LinkedIn Connection Secrets
I’m not a LinkedIn Expert. More like a LinkedIn Dummy. Watch my quick video on this. But I’m learning, and looking at how to get more out of LinkedIn. Last week I interviewed my friend, Ted Prodromou who is most definitely a LinkedIn expert and…
The Four Secrets of Getting Attention
For someone who is essentially an introvert, I sure talk a lot about getting attention! But if you want to attract new clients, it all starts with attention. And these days, attention is harder to get than ever before. In 1996 when I launched my…
How to Write a Great Sales Letter
In the ABDO (Attention-Based Direct Outreach) Marketing process there are five main components: 1. Getting your list of prospective clients together. 2. Getting attention via email or other marketing activity. 3. Getting a meeting and initial conversation with your prospective client. 4. Directing your prospect…
Marketing Plans – From Subscribers
Last week I put out a challenge to send me your plans for getting new clients as quickly as possible. I got a number of responses and three are posted below. What I was looking for was the simplest, fastest, most effective strategy to get…
A Client Attraction Thought Experiment
Imagine this: You are parachuted into a city where you’re a stranger. And you have one mission: Find some clients to work with. You have a few tools: A phone, a laptop, email, the Internet, your marketing message, and even a website. And you have…
How do you implement your marketing consistently and successfully?
It would be nice to think that there’s a secret strategy for implementing your marketing both successfully and consistently. But the longer I’m in business (going on 35 years) the more I realize that this is a complete fantasy. Yes, there are marketing systems and…
What’s the Hardest Part of Marketing Yourself?
In my Fast Track Marketing System I divide marketing into seven very specific modules: 1. The Game of Marketing 2. The Mindset of Marketing 3. Marketing Messages (Your Value Proposition) 4. Marketing and Selling Conversations 5. Written Marketing Materials 6. Marketing Strategies 7. Marketing Action Plans All of these have their particular…
Marvel’s Endgame or How to Be a Superhero
I don’t know about you, but I happen to be a Marvel movie superhero fanatic. I’m one of those weird people who has watched all 22 of the Marvel movies over the past 11 years, several of them more than once, including the latest, Endgame.…
How to Make Your Outreach Campaign Work
I was speaking to a client last week about her marketing plan. She had developed a somewhat complicated plan to get the attention of her prospective clients. It had to do with networking within an organization, getting attention and credibility and then setting up appointments…
The No Joke System for Attracting Clients
A few months ago I re-tooled my system for teaching people to attract new clients. It’s a new take on an old approach. I've been writing about it for the past two months, but here's a cheat sheet to summarize this approach. I called it…
I’m Starting a New Religion – Want to Join?
Disclaimer: This article is my lame attempt at humor. This is something I came up with a couple of weeks ago that I couldn’t let go of. If this offends your religious beliefs, then this is definitely not the religion for you. Please forgive me.…
Using Cartoons to Get Attention in Emails
Ready to dominate the world? You're not alone. A lot of that going around these days. So I thought I'd write a breezy ezine/blog that shared some nifty tips to dominate the world with cartoons in your emails. Shocking, I know, but somebody's got to…
All the Serious Objections to Writing Funny Emails
OK, the gloves are off. I’ve been haranguing you for more than a month about writing funny emails. But you’re still skeptical, to say the least. Here are all your serious objections: 1. I can’t write funny. It’s hard. I can’t do it. OK, I…
Why is Writing Funny So Hard?
Quick, answer this question: “When you think of a stereotypical salesperson, what do they sell?” Scroll down to see the answer virtually everyone gives. I’ll wait. Used cars right? Gee, did I give it away? I have no idea how that picture got in there.…
How to Renew Old Clients with Funny Emails
Most emails sent to renew past clients are as dull as stagnant pond water: “Hi, haven’t been in touch for some time since the Grimley project. Hope you are well. I’ve been having some great successes with recent clients and would love the chance to…
What Marketing Strategy Is the Best for You?
If you pick the right marketing strategy, you’ll be like that little guy in the middle of my diagram above. Yes! Winning! Fist pumps! The problem with marketing today is that there are way too many options and it’s much too confusing. It makes me…
Marketing Writing: From My Dog’s Perspective
For the purpose of this article, there are only two things you need to know about me: 1. I’ve been writing in my business for 35 years. And pretty much regularly, once a week for 22 years. 2. I own two very adorable, wonderful dogs,…
The Story of The Drunk Marketing Letter
Ever since I can remember, I’ve enjoyed reading funny stuff. As a kid, we subscribed to the Reader’s Digest. And I would always go through and read the jokes in the funny sections: Laugher is the Best Medicine, Humor in Uniform, and Criminals are Hilarious.…
How Can You Be More Creative?
Is it true that some people are more creative than others? And even if that’s true, can less creative people be more creative? More importantly, can YOU be more creative? These are important questions that smart people have been asking for millennia. So, of course,…
The Fearless Landing
Imagine that you are the pilot of a cargo plane during wartime. And you’re coming in to land your plane on the base’s runway. But as you approach, on the runway you see burned-out tanks, overturned trucks and crashed fighter planes. Obviously, the base has…
Fearlessness is About Being, Not Doing
When we think about fearlessness and about fearless marketing, we think of things like courageous, bold action. We think of taking risks, doing creative things and really swinging out there. And all of that can be very inspiring. But have you noticed that it usually…
The Fearless Marketer. A New Focus.
After 20 years of sending out my weekly, eZine, More Clients, I’m making a big change. It’s still a weekly eZine about marketing your professional services, but with a new name and focus. The focus will be on what I call Fearless Marketing. But what…
What Do Creative Marketers Look Like?
Above is a picture of Judy Clark and the staff of HR Answers in Portland Oregon. Judy is one of the most creative (and effective marketers) of her professional services that I have ever met. Not only that, she's really enthusiastic about her marketing. When…
How to Get Your Articles to Millions of Readers
A couple weeks ago I did an interview with an independent professional that just might rock your marketing world. Her name is Teresa Riccobuono and she’s a business consultant and coach for financial advisors. When she explained one of her marketing strategies, I thought, “Wow,…
Rock Stars Start by Knocking on Doors
In the past couple of weeks, I’ve watched two remarkable films: A Star is Born with Lady Gaga and Bohemian Rhapsody about Freddie Mercury and Queen. There’s always a lot to learn about success from rock stars. The most successful ones put in a huge…
Celebrating 50 Years of the White Album
As long as I can remember, music has always been important to me. And at the tender age of 10, I (and several million others), discovered The Beatles. That started my record collection. I especially remember Beatles ’65, Help, Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sgt. Peppers.…
R.I.P. Stan Lee – 1922-2018
Where would popular culture be without the great Stan Lee, creator of Marvel Comics? As I kid, I used to love Thor and Spiderman Comics, and more than 50 years later I (and umpteen million others), are still watching Marvel Movies. One thing about Stan is that he…
Habits – The Big Secret to Marketing Success
What do you think you need more than anything else to attract more of your ideal clients? Many people will say, “better information to show me how to do what works.” Others will say, “more motivation and drive to implement what I already know.” Another…
Change Doesn’t Come Through Anger and Hate
These days, the political landscape is incredibly divisive. I spent some time browsing through Facebook this past weekend and was surprised to see that more than half the posts were political in nature. And many were downright nasty, ridiculing those in the opposing political party.…
The one thing about fulfilling your potential that almost nobody knows
Today’s Article is by Dr. Amina Aitsi Selmi. Amina has been a client of mine and publishes the Wise Wednesdays ezine. It’s my favorite read every week. I’m taking a few days off this week and asked Amina if I could publish this article from…
How to Select the Best Marketing Strategies for Your Business
I’ve probably had more conversations about this topic with clients than any other: How to choose the best marketing strategies for one's professional service business. This is the fifth of five articles about the 5 Pillars of Marketing, my marketing model that helps get your…
Nail Your Marketing Message in Your LinkedIn Profile
Your marketing message communicates to the world what your business is about. And your LinkedIn profile is the perfect place to both develop and spotlight your most focused marketing message. This is the fourth of five articles about the 5 Pillars of Marketing, my marketing…
Where Friggin’ Exactly Are Your Perfect Clients?
Is the search for your perfect clients making you feel a little bit crazy? Well, the deal is, your perfect clients aren’t hiding from you. The problem is that it’s hard to get their attention, let alone get them to buy from you. And this…
How to Turn Intangible Concepts into Tangible Services
What are you actually selling? Some say a concept, an idea, a benefit, or value. But one thing is for certain, if it’s not tangible, it can’t be sold. This is the second of five articles about the 5 Pillars of Marketing, my marketing model…
A Different Approach to Goal Setting
We all know that it’s important to set goals. Unfortunately, the way we think about goals tends to reduce the chance that we’ll achieve them or that they’ll fulfill us. This is the first of five articles about the 5 Pillars of Marketing, my marketing…
Marketing or Football… Which is Harder?
Being a professional football player is a hard job. But you’re more likely to succeed as a professional football player than you are at marketing your professional services. Let’s look at what it takes to become a successful football player. You’d engage in the following…
John McCain: Honoring the Value of Persistence
As I hit my 34th anniversary of being in business, and this morning, inspired by the news stories of John McCain’s life, I was reminded of the tremendous importance of persistence in life and business. John McCain persisted through 6 years as a prisoner of…
The Five Pillars of Marketing Success
Does the following give a pretty good picture of your current marketing activity? You have a website but you’re not really satisfied with it. You go to networking events once in a while. If someone asks you to give a talk, you’re happy to do…
The Hardest Thing About Being Self-Employed
Being self-employed isn’t easy. Not only do you have to develop, market, and deliver professional services at a very high level, you also need to accomplish all of this in relative isolation. The majority of self-employed consultants, coaches, and trainers run their businesses from a…
Why Most Online Marketing is a Waste of Time – What Works Instead
When it comes to growing your business these days, all you hear about is online marketing. After all, if more prospective clients simply found your website online, you’d get more business, right? Well, it’s not so simple. After engaging in online marketing for more than…
How to Dramatically Increase Your Email Response
Is it possible to use personalized emails that get a great response, and ultimately, new clients, from those in your network? I’m not talking about mass direct emails, but sending individual emails to people in one’s network, LinkedIn connections, past clients, etc. for the purpose…
How to Successfully Meet the Three Biggest Marketing Challenges
I like to think I’m a pretty good marketer of my professional services. After all, I’ve been at it for 34 years, read hundreds of marketing books, thousands of articles and studied with the very best marketing gurus. But marketing is still challenging for me…
How to Get Beyond Paralysis by Analysis
My internal dialog started in 2008 when I decided to write another book to help me market my services. Here’s what my mind used to say: “Yeah, that’s a great idea for my second book! Let me think about it for awhile.” Then a day…
How to Go ALL IN on Your Marketing
His first version of Amazing Grace was very good. But then the workshop leader suggested a new scenario to help take the song to a whole new level: “Imagine you were greeting your uncle after he just got out of jail.” The next version of…
Action Plan Partial Sabbatical Update
Last month I announced that I was taking a “Partial Sabbatical” from working with new clients or conducting programs. What I’m attempting is to take enough of a step back to determine what I want to do with my business for the rest of my…
Stop an Addictive Habit – And Replace It With an Inspiring One
Other than substance abuse, what is the most destructive habit or addiction facing American Society? Since mid 2015, I believe the top destructive addictive habit for many Amercians has been following national political news. And I’m not just throwing around the word addiction casually. According…
The Genius Formula: Plan, Promise, Schedule
Gay Hendricks, in his book, The Big Leap, says one’s Genius Zone is, “the set of activities you are uniquely suited to do… that draw on your special gifts and strengths.” The formula, according to Hendricks, for discovering our own Genius Zone is to answer…
Working Your Business From the Zone of Genius
At the end of 2012, after a long string of business successes, I experienced burnout and dramatically scaled back my business. My first big success in 2000, the publishing of the InfoGuru Manual, brought me wide attention and a dramatically increased income. That led to…
The Amazing Power of Accountability
I found myself saying to Keith, “OK, I’ll go to the gym 3 times a week, starting on Friday. And since that time, almost three weeks ago, I’ve gone eight times. I do a one-hour circuit using the gym’s weight machines. I’m already feeling stronger,…
A Guarantee: The Most Powerful Brand for your Business
I’m working with a client right now who does high-end sales training. And we’re currently working on the messaging for his website. In the course of our conversations, he mentioned that 82% of his clients got a 10:1 ROI on their training investment. That’s both…
Is Your Business a “Service” or a “Brand”?
Do you remember the early cell phones? The first one was made available to the public in 1984 (the year I started my business). It weighed an unimaginable 1.75 pounds and earned the nickname “The Brick.” It cost $4,000 and had a battery life of…
The Long Lost Art of Being Discovered
One of the most fascinating of Hollywood legends is the discovery of film actress Lana Turner at the soda fountain in Schwab’s drugstore in Hollywood, by director Mervyn Le Roy in 1936. Wikipedia tells a different story, saying that Turner was discovered by The Hollywood Reporter…
For GOD’s Sake, Just Try Something New!
I really admire successful people. And over the years, I’ve studied many of them, read their biographies and books and tried to emulate their strategies. These books have helped me, but it wasn’t their strategies that gave me the most valuable insights. I discovered the…
What are Your Business & Marketing Intentions?
I’ve just returned from a week-long vacation in Cancun Mexico (see above). And I took some time to reflect on the future of my business. I’ve had a good run – coming up on 34 years. But there won’t be another 34. Perhaps 10 if…
10 Obsessive Ways You’re Undermining Your Business
Roger is an independent professional creative, much like you and me. He does his own specialized version of consulting, coaching, and training. Roger is great at what he does and has had many successes, but he often feels unfulfilled and dissatisfied with the progress of…
Why Nobody is Reading your Marketing Content
Almost every week I’m telling a client there’s a big problem with their marketing content. It’s not the subject matter, their writing style, their grammar, or even typos. The problem is that their content is simply hard to read because of the way it’s formatted.…
How to Find Your Marketing Sweet Spot
Ever feel you’re making a lot of forward progress but don’t really know where you’re going? Today a client brought this concern up in an email to me. She’s been doing really well at attracting new clients but wants to get a different kind of…
How to Use Follow-Up to Renew Past Clients
Everyone has heard a thousand times that it’s easier to renew an old client than to find a new one. After all, the marketing has already been done, the relationship has been established and, if your work with the client went well, they like and…
Website Insights for a Site That Attracts More Clients
This week I launched my brand new website: You're here! Over the last 20 years, I’ve designed and launched a total of seven different versions of my site. In the process, I’ve learned a number of things, made a lot of mistakes and gained some…
Fighting Truthiness and Hype in Marketing
In 2005, Stephen Colbert, in his TV show, the Colbert Report, coined the word, “truthiness.” "Truthiness is the belief or assertion that a particular statement is true based on the intuition or perceptions of some individual or individuals, without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination,…
Money – Four Ways You Can Increase Your Prices
This is the final in a series of four articles about getting paid more money for your professional services. In recent weeks I’ve talked about money beliefs that may be holding you back, knowing what your true value is, and how to use bonuses to…
Money – Increase Your Sales by Adding Bonuses
Today’s article is the third in a multi-part series on making more money in your business. In a practice known as the “baker’s dozen” a baker throws in an extra muffin or cinnamon roll when you buy 12. We all love to receive some kind…
Money – Discovering Your True Value
Today’s article is the second in a multi-part series on making more money in your business. The main reason I’m writing this series on making more money is that, in my experience, most independent professionals are simply undercharging for their services. Last week I talked…
Money – And How to Make More of It
This is the final in a series of four articles about getting paid more money for your professional services. In recent weeks I’ve talked about money beliefs that may be holding you back, knowing what your true value is, and how to use bonuses to…
Make a Difference Before You Make a Profit
This article is the seventh and final in an eight-article series on the Seven Laws of attracting Clients. See the first article at this link. My seventh law of attracting clients states that “you must make a difference.” One day, many years ago, I was…
Why Storytelling is Key to Attracting Clients
This article is the seventh in an eight-article series on the Seven Laws of attracting Clients. My sixth law of attracting clients states that “you must be able to tell a story.” On Sunday, my wife and I attended a party with about 30 family…
How to Communicate Like a Human Being
This article is the sixth in an eight-article series on the Seven Laws of Attracting Clients. My fifth law of attracting clients states that “you must communicate like a human being.” Since attracting clients is 100% about communication, it really helps if you communicate…
Nine Ways to Make Your Business More Visible
My Fourth Law of Attracting Clients states that you must be visible. Imagine that you woke up one morning and discovered you were completely invisible. And nobody could hear you either. If you sent an email, nobody would even see it. Not such a great…
Marketing With Logic and Emotion
A couple days ago our refrigerator conked out. A repairman showed up today to take a look. The verdict? We’d need a new freezer coil. The cost was close to $1,000 and would take almost a week to get the parts. A new refrigerator was…
What a Sasquatch Can Teach You About Attracting Clients
More than 29 Million people have watched this Youtube video about the Purple Mattress Protector pitched by a female Sasquatch. You can see it here. The creators of this video understand that you can’t be boring if you want to get attention for your product or service.…
YOU are the Killer App
This article is the second in an eight-article series on the Seven Laws of Marketing. Law #1 – You must be very good at what you do. Once there was a consultant who was the top expert in his field. And he traveled around the country…
The 7 Laws of Attracting Your Ideal Clients
Recently I asked myself what was really important in attracting clients and growing a professional service business. And what I realized is that it had nothing to do with marketing strategies and techniques. Sure, those are important but they're a moving target. They are always…
Do You Live in a Marketing Fantasyland?
The new book, Fantasyland, by Kurt Andersen is the most interesting book I’ve read in years. It’s a 500-year history of how America went haywire through magical thinking and substituting facts with whatever we wanted to believe was true. From imaginary gold rushes promoted by Sir Walter…
How Real Professionals Market Themselves
If you’re a management consultant, business coach or corporate trainer, your marketing is different than other service businesses. It’s different because it needs to be more professional, more personal and more, well, serious. Your buyer is the owner of a company or a top-level executive…
When You Don’t Know What to Write
Some Mondays I don’t know what to write in this weekly eZine article. Other Mondays I’m more prepared because I’ve been thinking of a topic for several days. Today is the former. No idea what to write about. I, like everyone else in the U.S., has…
How to Multiply Your Creative Energy
Bobby Previte is a jazz drummer with a difference. He’s not cool and laid back, but a boundless ball of creative, brilliant energy. Since he started his career in 1985, he’s published close to 50 albums and played on or partnered on about 100 others. I downloaded twelve(!)…
8 Tips to Get Over Marketing Overwhelm
When it comes to marketing one’s professional services, the most common emotion isn’t fear, it’s overwhelm. My friend, Jill Konrath, has an overarching description of prospective clients these days: Everyone is “crazy busy,” she points out. And this is why it can be so hard to reach…
How Marketing is Much Like Cooking
Do you see marketing your professional services as hard, difficult, perhaps even unpleasant? If so, you’re not alone. We may see marketing as hard because we worry the worst will happen: We have a marketing message that is unclear and confusing, turning people off. We…
The Million Dollar Consultant’s Most Important Concept
Alan Weiss is known as "The Million Dollar Consultant" based on his book of the same name. In today’s More Clients I want to talk about one of Alan’s most important concepts as it touches on everything in your business and marketing. That concept is VALUE. The…
How Wise People Deal With Disappointment
I clearly remember the earliest disappointment in my life. I was about four years old and was expecting to go to a party. But then I was informed that I was not invited. And I took it very personally. That’s all I remember, but as…
20 Success Secrets Designed to Move You off Your Duff
“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell OK, Secretary Powell, but I think there’s a little more to it than that. Here’s what I came up with: Twenty ideas I’ve found that have worked…
How to Discover Your Genius
We’ve all been duped about genius. We see the genius as a brilliant intellectual who comes up with ground-breaking ideas and discoveries. We think of Leonardo, Einstein, Goodall, Hawkins, Jobs, and Musk. Most of us can’t imagine ourselves being in the company of such people.…
How to Make Cold Calls Hot
I’ll get right to the point. I’ve developed a model for direct outreach marketing that shows you how to get more conversations and meetings with prospective clients by turning cold calls into hot calls. In marketing, there are two very important factors that get more response…
The Power of Asking: 5 Simple Asks You Can Make
There I was in a restaurant, dishing out servings of my wife’s jasmine rice, garlic spinach and turkey curry to eager customers. My wife has recently started a part-time catering and home meal service and once a month she joins eight or nine other chefs at…
The Simple, Consistent Way to Get More Appointments
A couple weeks ago I asked one of my Clients in England (I have two) what he was doing to track his direct outreach marketing activities. His answer both surprised and delighted me. "Well, what I'm doing is keeping track of my direct outreach activities with…
What is the Purpose of Your Marketing?
If I asked you the purpose of your marketing, what would you say? Most people I’ve talked to give answers such as: “To get more exposure for my business," "to get referrals," "to connect with the right people,” or “to build up my list of…
What Kind of Business Are You?
Imagine attending a lively business seminar where people are having animated interactions between sessions. And you overhear a conversation in a group of three business owners talking about the purpose of a business: Person 1: What do you think the purpose of a business is? Person 2: The…
5 Tips to Turn Contacts into New Clients
A past client of mine once mentioned that she knew of a store that needed some marketing help. That captured my interest so I asked her about the store, the owner, and the marketing issues they were experiencing, but she had no more information. “All…
5 Tips for Learning to Love Direct Outreach
When I started marketing my business many, many years ago, I remember a response I got to a follow-up call I made: "Robert, I have no idea what you're offering, what it can do for me or why I should talk to you. When you're clearer, you're welcome to…
8 Steps to Creating New Clients
Close to twenty years ago I was meeting with a client in my office in Palo Alto California. We were talking about where he was in the process of attracting a new client. I started to spontaneously draw a picture that turned out to be…
Turn Your Business Model into New Clients
Have you ever found yourself trying to explain your business to a potential client, but you're not getting through? First, you start with concepts: "We use a proprietary process to optimize your management priorities for maximum buy-in." Well, it might mean something to you, but probably not…
Six Steps to Converting Prospects into Paying Clients
One of the most frequent comments I hear from my clients is: "If I could just get a meeting with a qualified prospect, I know I could turn them into a paying client." Well, last week, I shared how to Reach Out and Touch Someone and get meetings…
Reach Out and Touch Someone
Remember the old television ads for AT&T – "Reach out and touch someone." Well, the idea of reaching out is important, but it takes more than that if you want something to happen. No, your a goal is a meeting and, ultimately, a new client. Some…
Direct Outreach: A Marketing Strategy That Works
There are a lot of ways to market your professional services and more of them are being promoted every day. Unfortunately, many of them are overly complex, take a huge amount of time and require a lot of technical expertise. When I work with my…
Marketing Yourself in the NOW!
Many people wonder why marketing themselves is such a struggle. They experience marketing as hard and unpleasant. Is that simply the nature of self-marketing? Or can it be easier and more fun? I've said many times that the essence of marketing is communication – the simple but…
No Marketing Ideas More Important Than These
Here's a scenario I imagined today... It's twenty years from now, and I'm in my mid-80's. My granddaughter, Colette, now 24, is considering starting her own consulting practice. That might be rather young to become an independent professional, you'd think, but she's brilliant, a quick learner…
Hate Disapproval? Join the Club!
Many years ago I remember applying to the Art Academy in San Francisco. I wanted to take some classes and improve my design skills. I was already designing business identities, brochures, and fliers. I thought I was pretty good at it. My clients even paid me well. But the…
The Tyranny of “Shoulds”
This Saturday I called my youngest sister to wish her happy birthday. We spent some time catching up before the conversation drifted to the topic of her art business and how she felt bad that she procrastinated a lot, didn't have goals and overall wasn't…
A Marketing Lesson from Boomerangs
Everyone knows that if you throw a boomerang it will come back to you. When I was a kid I got a boomerang for a birthday present. And I remember vividly how excited I was to give it a try. I went out into a big…
Marketing Possibilities – Beyond the Comfort Zone
A client of mine faced a conundrum after getting what should have been good news from a client of hers. Her client had found their work together very valuable and had suggested that she do some further sessions with his leadership team. But as soon…
20 Marketing Questions and Answers
This past week I conducted a wrap-up session for the Marketing Action Group I've been conducting for five months. We did a question and answer session where I asked the participants 20 questions about marketing and they gave the answers. We then discussed each question in some depth.…
Embracing the Shadow Side of Marketing
Have you ever felt you had "everything together" in your marketing, but you still weren't getting the results you wanted – meetings with qualified prospects that turned into new paying clients? This was the case for my client, H.C.K., a brilliant Irish Leadership Consultant who lives and…
How to Learn the Right Marketing How-tos
In the mid-eighties when I started my business, I literally had no clue about how to market my services. I had heard of a number of things I should do, but very little idea of how to actually do those things. "How-to" became a central word…
The Big Key to Improving Your Marketing Skills
Did you know that Benjamin Franklin's biggest passion was playing chess? A chess-player for 50 years, he practiced even more as he grew older. And although his chess skills were way above average, he never truly became a chess master, comparable to the best European players.…
The Power of Silence in Marketing
If you asked people their definition of marketing, many would answer with one word: NOISE! I often react that way as well - I'm tired of the noise. Last year my wife and I disconnected our cable service and no longer watch TV with commercials.…
Sell Your Outcomes, Not Your Services
"What do you do?" is one of the most common questions someone can ask you. And if you're in business for yourself, you want to say something that grabs the attention and interest of the person you are speaking to. Almost everyone fails at this.…
Make Intro Calls, Not Cold Calls
A cold call is calling a stranger and trying to convince them to do business with you. An introductory call is calling someone you have a connection with and discovering if it's worth exploring more. Many Independent Professionals don't think there's much difference between the…
How to Get More Prospects to Meet With You
This is one of my favorite stories about marketing, but I don't think I've shared it with you in this space. Several years ago I worked with a client named Carole. She and her partner, Sue, had developed a training business based on using theater and…
Has Your Marketing Become a Box?
I recently started to do something different in my marketing. On holidays (such as the 4th of July) and vacations, I don't write this eZine/Blog anymore. I actually take a break and relax. I used to think that I SHOULD write this thing every single week with…
A Counter-Intuitive Way to Get Unstuck
I’ve noticed that some of my clients have great marketing energy. And others don't. Marketing energy is displayed when you are in the flow of marketing, making plans, creating materials, getting out there and having fun connecting with others and sharing your business. I'm working with several…
10 Powerful Marketing Thinking Tips
In May I took one-month vacation from writing More Clients. It was a useful break and helped me get clearer about what I want to write about in the following months (Years? Decades?) My insight was this: I’m kind of tired of how-to tips articles. I’ve written hundreds of…
How to Prove Your Professional Services are Valuable
One of my current clients shared a very powerful new marketing idea with me and then I passed it on to some of my clients. It's too good NOT to share it with you! As I said in my email yesterday, marketing is 100% communication. And…
Create the Perfect Marketing Plan
We expect perfection in everything these days. Perfection in our schools, healthcare, government and business. And, of course, in ourselves. If it's not perfect it's just not good enough. And, of course we want our marketing to be perfect, too. We want every marketing activity to work flawlessly every single time…
Six Tips for Think Different Marketing
I just read that Apple's ad budget is more than a billion dollars. That's more than the economies of some small nations! Although they spend a lot on advertising, it's never been a secret that Apple has exceptional and successful marketing. So what do they do…
Here’s Why Trying Doesn’t Work
Fitz's wife is asking him to stop drinking and gambling. And Fitz replies halfheartedly, "I'll try…" But Fitz is not your run-of-the-mill drunk gambler. He's a brilliant police psychologist from the mid '90s English drama, Cracker, starting Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid from Harry Potter). But as brilliant and insightful as Fitz is, he seems…
8 Ways to Unstick Your Marketing Writing
I guess I'm lucky, but I haven't had writer's block for a long time. When I think of something to write, I just write it. But that isn't true for many of the people I work with. A current client, "Rhonda," is really struggling with an…
7 Ways to Apply Authentic Marketing
Janice was upfront with me when we first talked about marketing her professional services: "I want to market my services but I just hate hype; I don't want to seem pushy or manipulative and I definitely don't want to seem desperate when I'm marketing myself.…
Ready for Your Marketing to be Exciting?
Last week I wrote about how many of the processes of marketing can be boring. And when you can accept the boring tasks for what they are – and just get them done – you can produce some very good results. However, there are certain aspects…
The Virtues of Boring Marketing
I just started working again with a former client who has signed on as an Investment Director of a Private Equity Firm. He's looking for established businesses who want to grow through the acquisition of other companies. We figured out the best method for marketing was to approach potential clients…
Does Marketing Ever Get Easy?
The answer to this question is Yes and NO. One way to talk about this is to compare marketing to getting fit. Right now I'm doing a daily strengthening routine. I use high-tension resistance bands instead of free weights. Every morning I do a series of…
How Not to Freak Out When Things Go Wrong
At the end of 2012, I freaked out for about a day. I had set something in motion that could have dire financial consequences in my business and life. I had decided to stop holding my Marketing Mastery Groups for a time. I’d put so much…
A Marketing Recipe Book
Quick, what's the best marketing thing to do right now? No idea right? Well, today I'm going to share a simple "recipe plan" to help you know what marketing to work on each week. But first, a little bit about my culinary habits... For quite…
Balancing Passive and Proactive Marketing Activities
Imagine this common scenario: You are scrambling around like a mad fiend, completing that blog post, fine-tuning your website, returning a call from a potential client and sending out an email blast to your subscribers. All at the same time. It may feel like there are…
How to Reduce Marketing Stress
Is marketing inherently stressful? Given all the comments I've heard from clients over the years, you would think it was. I regularly hear comments like: Marketing is overwhelming It takes too much time It doesn't work, I'll just be rejected I can't fit it into…
The Marketing Glue that Attracts More Clients
You know what it's like when you're trying your best to put your marketing into action. You're calling to book speaking engagements, networking at your local Chamber of Commerce and putting together a webinar with help from a few JV partners. But haven't you found,…
Is There a Perfect Marketing Approach?
Wouldn't you love to know the perfect marketing approach for your business, you know, the one that brought in droves of clients with ease? Well, of course, there isn't ONE. Then how about the most effective approach to marketing, one that at least gave consistent results? The…
How to Create Marketing Momentum
In a teleclass program last week someone asked me how I create momentum in my marketing. That's a good question because a lot of success depends on momentum. Momentum is defined as: "The impetus gained by a moving object." And the object that is moving…
Got Marketing Discipline? Sorry, it doesn’t work!
When you struggle with your marketing, you know how it goes: You think about things over and over and can't decide what you should do. It's agonizing. Finally, you set your mind on getting a project done, writing that letter or setting up some speaking…
What should you write about in your ezine and blog?
Every Monday at about 10 or 11 am, I sit down to write my weekly eZine and blog (actually the same thing, through two different channels). The question that everyone asks me is, "How do you decide what to write about?" Good question! Let me answer it…
How Do You Explain Your Business When it’s Unexplainable?
Today, Paul Zelizer, the founder of the Awarepreneurs Facebook Group, posted about a common perception that many independent professionals complain about: "I do REALLY, REALLY deep work and therefore people don't understand my work and that's why my business isn't thriving." But this isn't just a…
10 Things You Must Do to Get New Clients
A typical interaction with one of my clients: "Robert, the foundation of my marketing is solid, I know my message, and I have a website and some written materials. Now what exactly do I do to get new clients?" And I reply, "Well, there's the marketing side and the…
Lessons you learn after 31 years in business
Thirty-one years ago this week, (August 1, 1984) I started my business in San Francisco CA. It's been quite a ride and sometimes I can't believe I'm still at it, as committed as ever and having a blast. Over the years, other than a few assistants…
The 5 Best Email Subject Lines to Increase Open Rates
When I wrote my email newsletter last week, I gave it the headline: "What Marketing Identity is Holding You Back?" I thought it was one of my stronger articles, but it didn't get a good open rate - about 1,000 less than usual. So asked myself: What…
The 7 Essentials of Proactive Online Marketing
I can't tell you how many times I've heard this comment from a client: Client: "I'd like to set up some passive online marketing where I earned money from a product when I wasn't working. Could we do that?" We'd all like to attract more…
How Professionals Can Get Beyond Impostor Syndrome
"What's holding you back from marketing your consulting services?" I asked my client. After a long, in-depth conversation, we discovered it. "I believe I'm an impostor," she told me. "I really don't think of myself as an expert, despite all my credentials and experience. And as…
Attract More Clients with a Core Issue Article
Ross Blake, a client of mine in New York State, is having pretty amazing results every time he gives a talk. At the end, he asks the participants if they'd like a copy of his article as he holds it up. Hands shoot into the air…
How to Make Change Happen Faster
For the past 30 years I've had problems with lower back pain. I won't go into all the gory details here, but suffice to say, it's been a real distraction in my life to be in pain most of the time. Sitting (which I do a lot of)…
How to Ensure better Client Results
A couple years ago I got the "Dreaded Email." It was from a past client who had done my 9-month marketing program, and he was asking for his money back. My stomach sank as I read his email accusing me of not delivering what I…
How to Leverage Random Business Connections
As I've said a zillion times, most marketing is random. Most professionals don't have a step-by-step system for attracting clients, despite the fact that this is the only approach that works. So they just do marketing activities in a random, unplanned way. But an organized…
How to Ask without Fear of Rejection
When I started my business, I was deathly afraid to ask. I'd get cards from prospective clients but rarely followed up with them. Because, of course, I thought I'd be rejected. Just the thought of that made me feel terrible. I was OK talking to people…
How to Make Your Customers Love Your Business
On a short vacation to Lake Tahoe last week, the weather wasn't ideal with both snow and rain, but on our last day, Saturday, we made a quick stop at Truckee and brightened our holiday measurably. Truckee was founded in 1844 and it still has the…
Surviving the Dread Marketing Mistake
When I got up yesterday morning and looked at my email, I realized I'd made a marketing mistake. The night before I'd cued up my email to promote my new Next Level Marketing Courses when I looked at my email, there were very few signups.…
Why Marketing Tips Aren’t Enough
When I started my business many years ago, I soon realized I needed to market my services. So I started to read books on small business marketing. And I read a LOT of them – perhaps 300 or more over several years. Yes, I gained…
How to Build Your Business Faster
In a recent post on Facebook, I outlined my basic system for growing your business faster. Here it is: 1. Work on developing a really good marketing message that embodies how you help your clients. Make it clear and easy to understand and that makes them…
Where Should You Focus Your Marketing Efforts?
Tom was frozen in his marketing. After he'd left the corporate world about three years ago and started his own consulting practice, he found it very difficult to attract enough clients. "It's not that I haven't been doing marketing activities," he told me. "It's just…
Lists That Will Help You Manage Marketing Overwhelm
This past week I found myself in a difficult spot. Not only did my fall last week slow things down quite a bit (what with lots of naps and TV-watching), I found myself overwhelmed by all the things I had committed to do but couldn't manage.…
7 Traits for Marketing Breakthroughs
If you really think about it, wouldn't you love to have a marketing breakthrough? A breakthrough might start with one good idea or insight that ultimately turned into strategies and plans that, when implemented, attracted lots of your ideal clients and a substantial increase in income.…
A Little Less Information, A Little More Action
As I pulled my rental car into the very busy parking lot of the Hanalai Bay Beach a few days ago on my Kauai vacation, my wife remarked, "It looks like everyone in Hawaii is at this beach," to which I quipped, "Yeah, we might even find Elvis…
Why do We Resist Asking for Money?
This weekend I was looking at something I was resisting. I had sub-contracted a website design over a year ago. I had paid the web designer, but I still have failed to bill the client. And it wasn't a tiny amount. It was $3,000. So why…
How to Launch a Book That Grows Your Business
On August 1, 2014, I started the process of writing and launching an e-book, The Unstuck Process. I thought you might be interested in everything it took to bring this idea into reality. It took 2 1/2 months of working on it between all my…
Creating a Powerful “Audio Logo”
I remember clearly when I formulated my first really effective marketing message: "I work with Independent Professionals who are struggling with their marketing." It was simple, nothing fancy, but it communicated two things very clearly: who I work with and the reason they needed me.…
Secrets to Giving Away Free Stuff
Sometime soon after launching my website in 1996 I learned about the concept of giving away "free stuff" to people who visited my website. I launched my More Clients eZine in 1997 and gave away my "Marketing Plan Workbook" and grew my eZine list to 50,000+ people…
How to Make Your Marketing Flow
Making your marketing flow is something most Independent Professionals would welcome. We’d all like our marketing to result in a flow of new clients. But exactly what would that marketing flow look like? You’d have no resistance to marketing, no fears, no avoidance, no stuckness. You’d come up…
Openings and Closing in Marketing
In Rolf Dobelli's amazing book, "The Art of Thinking Clearly" he enumerates 99 thinking mistakes we all make and how they affect our lives. But it wasn't until the Epilog that I grasped an idea that could change your marketing forever. Dobelli states: "We cannot say…
What to Do When You Get a Lead
It can be a lot of work to get the attention and interest of a prospective client. It takes time and effort to put out the word about your services, to say nothing of getting a qualified lead. The purpose of all your networking, speaking, social…
Fighting Fundamentalist Marketing Beliefs
Sam Harris, author, and famous atheist, has taken a firm stand against the dangers of fundamentalist religions. He asserts that they are not only delusional but harmful to both individuals and society. On the extremes, the hate-cult of Westboro Baptist Church and the suicide bombings by Islamist extremists come…
Ho to Turn Follow-ups into New Clients
What do you do after you've met a prospective client at a networking or social event? What do you do after giving a presentation to a business group and collect several cards? And what do you do if someone suggests you call an associate about your…
How to Write a Client-Attracting Article
I keep getting questions about how to write client-attracting articles or reports. One of the most important marketing tools you can have is an article that you give to prospects once they are on "First Base," that is, when they have shown some interest in your services and…