When building a business, tasks and work can pile up and make you feel overwhelmed. It can also be hard to say no to more work, and the cycle continues.
All of a sudden you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed, tired, bored or lethargic - you have lost your spark and we don't want that!!
Once you lose your mojo, it can be challenging to find the motivation to reclaim it and a downward cycle can creep in.
Marketing is essential to any business, brand and service. Done well, marketing will be the pivotal link between you and your potential clients.
In fact, I will argue that if you don't learn to get your message SEEN by those who need it, you are doing them a disservice.
They can't magically know you exist if you don't first tell them.
No marketing = no clients = no healing.
With many, many options out there for marketing, advertising and promotion, what strategies should you focus on for the biggest bang for buck?
Here are 3 marketing strategies that I believe are MUST-DOs in your business…
Building great business relationships is key to every entrepreneur’s success. Major corporations now employ Relationship Managers, and their sole job is to keep these clients loyal to the business - and with good reason - relationships are KEY!
If you want to have strong relationships with your clients, potential clients, collaborators and colleagues then you are going to have to nurture and maintain them.
But how do you do this? Read on to find out!
I can honestly say I love my relationship with my clients and almost every part of my job. My work with them brings me deep gratification and the inspiration that in turn feeds my own creativity.
I often reflect on how far my clients have come in their quest for entrepreneurship and business ventures, and have a sense of gratitude towards what they bring to my own goals, as well as guiding them on their way to success.
But sometimes I witness clients so eager to build their coaching businesses that they can be so focused on where they want to be and not so grateful for how far they have already come. This is a missed opportunity in my opinion!
Recently I read an article on Lifehack that I found really inspiring, detailing the 10 traits new millionaires have in common.
The world’s idea of who and what a millionaire is has changed.
When we conjure up an image of a very wealthy person, we are imagining less and less a stodgy old man sipping branding in a wing back armchair, and instead, more and more what we envision is a young, energetic entrepreneur.
The internet has paved the way for anyone with a good idea and the ambition to see it through to become rich and it is increasingly common for the successful people among us to be young and driven.
Last week I spent time offline at a remote 'restorative retreat' in New South Wales and it really hit me just how much 'work' has gone into growing my business the last few years.
While away I was reflecting on some key intentions I set in January this year.
I am super committed to self-care, health and fulfilment in all areas of my life (Primary Foods anyone?) And so in January I had so much fun planning grandiose goals of 'non-work related' activities for the year.
The last few years have been very work-focused as I got my business up and running and I was craving new experiences.
'THIS is my year of LIVING in all areas' I declared!
But, as I lay in restorative poses for most of last week I reflected on having been so clear on my intentions in January, but the difficulty in actually fully playing that out as the year has progressed.
On one hand, I want even more time for me, more time for family, friends, yoga, sleep-ins...
And on the other hand, I love my business baby so much that I could work 24/7 birthing the endless stream of ideas I want to share with the world.
Can you relate?
Do you sometimes feel like you have two parts to you as well? One as an entrepreneur building a thriving business and another as you; the friend, the parent, the carer, the partner…the every day you?
For most of us, building our own business and becoming an entrepreneur is a life we work hard to achieve. Sometimes it can become all-consuming, and you find yourself thinking, talking, breathing about your “business baby”.
I will never be one to pretend the road to success as a coach is all rainbows and lollipops! The first few years can be hard-going and truth be told, most of us love that when it is all shiny and new.
But if we are not careful, too much focus on any one area of life can be detrimental.
To maintain a healthy, balanced life, it's important for you to schedule fun, mindlessness and improving your life balance, which in turn will sharpen your business brain.
Do you worry that if you’re not working 24 hours a day, your business will suffer? It sounds so obvious, but is easier to fall into than it sounds.
Dropping this fear will naturally bring more productivity and a sense of satisfaction as you will enjoy your work.
Quite often I send my private clients home to 'do nothing' for a week - burnout is the quickest ticket to a boring and unsuccessful business. And last week while away at the retreat, I scheduled social media posts, and course work for my clients ahead of time and nobody even noticed I was gone!
It is important to schedule in time for activities that allow you to recharge and add value to your life.
Some ideas include a walk at lunchtime, a regular chai tea with dynamic friends and reserved time for family activities.
These scheduled times will give you fun times to look forward to and, as you’ve booked them in, you’ll be more motivated to keep your plans.
After last weeks retreat, I set up a new little 'Restorative Nook' in my apartment and now have restorative time booked in between the end of the working day and family evenings.
Having access to so many communication devices is awesome as an entrepreneur but we can become too attached!
Allocate a day (Sunday is my fav) or time period and switch off your phone completely – you will be amazed at how much you can get done without this added distraction and how present you can be in other areas of your life instead.
You need to separate work and life, which starts with freeing your mind from everything to take time for yourself.
When hanging in the bush retreat last week it was so freeing to never pick up the phone to 'check' on anything - and guess what - the world didn't even fall apart!
Is this post inspiring you to add more self-care into your routine? Then grab my FREE Design Your Own Life Worksheet to help you create your dream day! Click the button below to grab your copy now!
Expand your knowledge whilst firing up your brains pathways by learning something new.
When we take on a role as coach or teacher, it is also important to take time to be the student.
Take a short course or weekend retreat like I did, read a new business magazine, try learning a musical instrument or enrol in an online program.
Scheduling this time for you ensures time away from the computer and as you’ve made a commitment to participate, this will ensure you shut off and remain present.
I learnt some wonderful new yoga practises, spiritual concepts and made beautiful new friends, all in just a few days of stepping into being the student.
Being an entrepreneur, your business relies on your alertness to capture opportunities and ability to focus.
Make sure that you are putting yourself first by eating well, getting enough sleep and exercising.
Schedule workouts in your diary and make sure you fit it in. If not, you’ll most likely regret it when you start seeing a negative impact.
While I eat pretty cleanly by anyone’s standards, it did amaze me how full of energy I felt after the retreat after eating super duper clean and nourishing food for only a few days. My brain feels so clear this week as a result!
Remind yourself that those things are critical to thinking, creating and performing at your best, and make sure you stand firm to your commitments to all three.
Often we find much of our time bogged down by tasks we don’t have the expertise in, including bookkeeping, marketing and admin work, but for many your budget doesn’t allow you to hire full-time help.
Odesk is a great resource for outsourcing small business tasks with no commitment and can free you up to do tasks you love.
Consider also delegating more of your “life” duties including childcare, cleaning and grocery shopping to your partner. Having that extra bit of help will give you more time to spend with your family and friends and reconnect.
It took me a while to convince my husband that we needed a housekeeper and a chef but hey, he now loves it more than I do and our weekends are spent together not cleaning!
There’s a good chance you’re a Type-A and overwork yourself when you are building a business. (I make that guess as your ambition has no doubt driven you to pursue a new career in business!)
But to avoid overworking and burn out, schedule in YOU time just like you do meetings and appointments.
Ideally, 30 minutes each day should be dedicated to slowing down to allow your brain to relax and ideas to flow.
Try meditating, going for a walk (leave your headphones at home), sitting with a cup of tea or just simply being still.
For me, it's often as simple as picking up an Almond Milk chai in the middle of the day and sipping it by the beach between clients - a 20 minute 'me time' break can feel like I've had hours to myself!
Let me know in the comments below how you implement Self-Care while being the super-driven business owner you are!
Love,
Amanda xx
PS. Ready to design your own life as a health coach? Download my FREE worksheet to help you build a business that makes money AND matches your dream lifestyle. Just click the button below to get started!
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I love talking about the importance of keeping your entrepreneur mindset sharp and connected for opportunities in your business, but how can one exactly do that?
It’s so important to keep yourself healthy to maximise your ability to shoot for the stars in your life and business. And wellbeing starts with you.
I first discovered some of the biggest learnings in wellbeing from Tony Robbins and it completely shifted my mindset on the link between health and big success.
The following are ideas that have been researched and developed to help you keep a healthy mindset.
We’ve all seen the ads that pop up in our news feed and some of them can be pretty annoying right? So how do you create a Facebook ad to attract your tribe, traffic and potential customers without turning them off?
When advertising on Facebook, the dynamics of traditional marketing are turned upside down.
Most of us don’t have the budgets to splash out on a social media agency to create our ads, so these are our top tips to advertise your brand in the Facebook jungle:
As a new entrepreneur, the issue of money can come to the forefront pretty quickly when that cushy regular pay-check has all too quickly become a distant memory.
Perhaps for you, the fear of financial uncertainty is the key reason you haven't yet taken the leap towards the career you daydream about each and every day...
I am a firm believer that to be healthy on all levels we need to also heal our relationship with money! And there is nothing like taking that step forward into our dream career to bring the issue of money quickly to the forefront to be healed.