Some Disturbing News

Most of the time, celebrity news is just a fun distraction from real life, but occasionally it becomes so disturbing and relevant that it actually makes sense to mention it here.

Because I believe so strongly in the body-mind-business connection, I can't help but comment on the situation with Rhianna and Chris Brown. Both are famous singers (their business). About two weeks ago he apparently beat her up (her body). His business suffered severely as sponsors and fans pulled back, horrified. Now, the breaking news is that Rhianna and Chris Brown are "working things out" and are back together.

This demonstrates the challenge of the mind. Even when someone abuses our bodies, sometimes we go back for more. This is a function of the mind clinging to the hope that the person can change; that it was a one-time occurrence; that love will conquer all. That is simply not the case in domestic abuse.

Interestingly, while Chris Brown's business will probably recover somewhat based on their reconcilliation, hers will likely be damaged. Sadly, this is usually how domestic abuse ends.

If you or anyone you know is a victim of domestic abuse, please take care of your body, mind and business by reaching out for help. The National Abuse Hotline is a great place to start: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).

Meditation Thoughts

Some weeks, meditation is like a beautiful flower. Other weeks, it feels like a burden; a difficult requirement in addition to all of the other tasks on my plate.

This is such a week: I have to push myself out of bed to conduct my daily practice. It's hard!

Hopefully next week will be better ...

I just have to remember that meditation is an important part of my mental health, and hold onto the memories of transformative days when I discover new avenues of my brain that I never knew existed.

Target Audience Marketing

If you're freaking out about your business right now, you might be starting to flail around, wondering whether you should drop your prices or add more target audiences.

Avoid this temptation: it will only dilute your energies and discount the time, energy and money that you have already invested. Rather, get even more focused on the customers you serve best, and find new ways to entice them to utilize more of your products and services.

Here are 5 key questions to ask about your target audiences:

1. Which type of person (i.e. target audience) do the majority of my revenues come from?
2. Of that population, how do those people find me?
3. Which aspects of my product/service do they rave about most?
4. How can I reach more of those types of people?
5. How can I bring even more value to the products/services they buy most?

Answering these questions will help you create a strategic marketing approach based on what's happening NOW, not just what you think might happen someday. In this economic climate, such an approach is simply the best course of action.

Pay Peanuts; Get Monkeys

My dad grew up in Zimbabwe, and has a great saying: "if you pay peanuts, then you can expect monkeys." Now, don't get me wrong - I love monkeys, and they are incredibly intelligent animals. That said, the saying nicely illustrates the challenge with pricing your service - price too low, and your customers perceive that you are not very good at what you do.

Products are usually a little bit easier: when you're selling a product like a banana, you know that you are going to eat it, and when you eat it, you'll have food in your belly. It's pretty simple, and most bananas are pretty much the same in terms of taste and quality. This means that pricing a banana can be based on simple economic factors like supply and demand.

Services, on the other hand, are much more complicated. Often the customer doesn't know what you are going to get, and it's hard to know whether you're buying "the best" or "the worst" because there are few benchmarks available. That's why pricing is so critical. You don't want to price yourself out of the market, but at the same time, if you price yourself too low, you automatically create an assumption in your customers' mind that you are not as good as higher-priced professionals.

Think back to the concept of supply and demand: the higher the demand, the lower the supply and the higher the price. Thus, someone with higher fees is perceived to be in high demand and, thus, the human brain deducts, must be really good.

I'm not saying that service professionals should over-charge their clients, but it is really important to remember how critical pricing is when positioning yourself.

Let me know if you have any experiences with this, either as a consumer or in business.

Opportunities Abound!

One of my greatest challenges is that I am constantly coming up with new business concepts. It's almost a daily occurrence. In fact, just last night over dinner, my husband and I dreamed up a complete new business that I believed was brilliant! Then, this morning, I thought up a new product to add to one of my existing businesses.

The joy and the thrill I get out of the process of coming up with and thinking through these ideas is difficult to explain fully. It is intensely exciting and fulfilling.

I become crazy-motivated to do the new idea vs. all of the "brilliant" ideas I had yesterday, last week, last month, last year, etc. Ah, yes. Those "old" ideas quickly lose their luster in the presence of such a bright, shiny new idea.

And there is my challenge: I must allow myself the great pleasure of dreaming up ideas, but at the end of the day, I also must manage these dreams to ensure they don't encroach upon all of those that came before them.

Does this happen to you? Do you struggle to keep your focus on existing plans while being constantly tempted by new ideas? Let me know if you do, and especially if you have any great ways to manage the balance!

Your E-Newsletter

I meet a lot of people who are interested in having an e-mail newsletter, so I thought I would review the benefits and best practices.

Benefits of an e-newsletter
1. Your clients, prospects and partners remember that you exist - this is the single most important aspect of an e-newsletter: it provides critical recognition that you are around and available.

2. You can share information about what you do that others might not be aware of - a lot of times, our contacts stick us in a box based on what they personally experienced when they worked with us. By writing informational articles about the broad services you provide, you are able to make that box bigger.

3. People will like you - when done correctly, an e-newsletter builds trust in your consistency, follow-through and integrity. In other words, it will make people like you, and everyone knows that people buy things from people who they like.

Best practices of an e-zine

• Building your list - don't randomly add everyone you have ever met to your list. Build it slowly, and make sure that you get permission to send information to someone's inbox. An easy way to do this is to 1) ask people if you may add them to your list, or 2) add a line to your e-mail signature inviting people to sign up. Also make sure that signing up for your e-newsletter is really easy on your website.
  


• Sending policies - how often you send an e-newsletter totally depends on the business you are in, but general practices usually suggest a range of once-weekly to once-monthly. Some people are very successful with sending an e-newsletter daily, while others send e-newsletters just once quarterly. How often you communicate depends on your market and what your list members expect from you.


• Content - the best e-newsletters feature information that matters to their target audience. Although the ultimate goal of an e-newsletter is to convert people to buy from you, you don't want to make your e-newsletter all about buying. Remember, one of the main benefits of an e-newsletter is that you can get people to like and trust you. Don't damage that by being overly promotional.

Good luck! Oh, and if you would like to sign up for my monthly e-newsletter about marketing, please click here :-)

Best Laid Plans - Part II

Shortly after my last post, which detailed how Monday was derailed by a sick nanny, I fell sick. Ah, the beauty of the body's ability to stop business!

Thus, after 2 days in bed, I am behind on almost everything, but am thankful to be almost completely better. And here is how the power week turns into the power weekend ;-)