The Financial Guru & Online Entrepreneur

In a “changing tide” economy, you need to understand at a deeper level that business owners focused on delivering greater value digitally via the internet are truly reaping some amazing rewards. Why? They have innovated, transitioned and positioned themselves to extend their “value line” by  providing even greater solutions to their clients and prospects.

So, what is a “value line”?

Well, simply put, the amount of free knowledge, expertise and solutions via tips, tools and resources about the benefits of your services and/or products that you as a business owner offer digitally and automatically.

In the old economy, this is what the free value line looked like, especially online:

Free value———-> = Client Conversion + Repeat Business

In the new economy, if you understand that the free value line has now been extended, you can align your approach for unrivaled marketing and business success. Here is what the free new value line looks like:

Free value, Free Value, Free Value, Free Value———-> = Client Conversion + Repeat Business

So, if you need to bring more value to your prospects and clients today to continue to grow as a business, how can you do that easily and effectively via the internet?

Take your knowledge and expertise (aka, the capital in your head) and provide valuable insights about the solutions/benefits your services and products provide, and share those golden nuggets with your ideal demographic.

Please find below four time-tested online strategies that will extend your value line and help catapult your business income. I  can attest that once I started implementing these proven success formulas, my business began to really boom.

Online value-added strategy No. 1. Offer a weekly or biweekly e-zine. What is an e-zine? It’s an online newsletter delivered through an e-mail service provider into the e-mail box of your prospects and clients. My e-zine is Insights on Business Success. Let’s face it, you know so much that others would like to know.

Take the time to share some of your knowledge and expertise on a consistent basis via this low-cost, user-friendly publishing format, and you will quickly see a transformation not only to your bottom-line income but also on your conversion rate of prospects into clients and added repeat business from your current clients.

Online value-added strategy No. 2. Add some video to your website. Research tells us that more than 60 percent of what is being searched for online is video and that over 200 million videos are consumed per month in the U.S. alone. Get yourself a Flip Video camera and create 5 to 10 videos approximately three minutes apiece, whereby in each video you answer one frequently asked question you get about your services and/or products.

Now be sure to share those videos with all your prospects and clients online and– bam!–you’ve just moved your free value line to the right again!

Online value-added strategy No. 3. Write a Free Report. List five, seven or 10 questions that your prospects and clients should be asking you about your services and/or products. Now, answer those questions and edit these pieces into a five-, seven- or 10-step free report. Once the free report has been written, take your word doc and turn it into an unalterable PDF digital file.

When you have new visitors to your website, share this free report with them via automatic delivery for leaving their name and e-mail address. Now you are automating building a relationship with your ideal demographic, adding extra value for your current client and, again, extending your free value line to the right. Want to see a good example of how this has been done? Visit DesignKrew.com

Online value-added strategy No. 4. Post on a blog. Truth is, people buy from people they know,  like and trust. A blog offers you the opportunity to share more of you and your expertise in an ongoing format. If your visitor likes one blog post, she can scroll down to read others. The more you bring value via an ongoing blog post, the more you extend your free value line. Plus, every time you post content, the blog directories pick up your stuff and help drive traffic to you.

Further, when others comment on your postings, it becomes “social proof”–thus creating a community of people who know, like and trust you who are raving fans and will refer other people to your services and products.

The other piece about a blog is that your visitors tell you what they like and what they want, so you can set yourself up for great success and give them what they want! Wow, what a concept!

These four strategies are the most relevant to extending your free value line today online. Practice these time-tested formulas, and you will love the results. Plus, it is fun to be building relationships with your prospects and clients 24/7 via the online world, ‘cuz it never takes a vacation and is always working to extend your free value line even while you sleep!

Upon reflecting on my business growth in 2009–all the new projects, strategies and, ultimately, expansion of profit–it struck me that I had several new insights that have the opportunity to guarantee that I scale for even greater growth this year. Here are three of my Business Success 2009 take-away tips for you to enjoy.

Tip No. 1: The Power of Positive Business Partnerships and Alliances

Good business is built on relationships. Having the right relationships can help you fast-track to greater results. This is why, as a business owner, the power of positive business partnerships and alliances is extremely important.  Making a good business connection with an individual and creating organic synergy will create a great level of emotional, mental, spiritual and physical support for you as a business owner.

When you find valuable business connections, don’t hesitate to run with them becausethey can only foster the growth of your business. When seeking business partnerships and alliances, think about vendors and other people in business who share the same target market that you are looking to reach with your products and services. Business owners who service the same demographic and offer the same complementary services are ideal individuals that you should seek in creating these partnerships and alliances.

I believe that building powerful business relationships is about quality, not quantity.  In addition, finding business alliances that are in the right stage of their business cycle is important to the growth of your business. It is imperative that you and your business alliances desire the same things. Finding a business owner in the right stage of  her business cycle may lead to a really strong alliance that has the capacity to help you scale for tremendous growth in your business quickly.

Creating short-term goals with your alliances facilitates relationship building and produces immediate results together that you can build upon. Ultimately, it is better to share a piece of a bigger pond than to just be focused on doing business in your own little pond when it comes to expanding your business for profitability.

Tip No. 2: Look To Industries And Industry Leaders Outside Your Own

Find industries and industry leaders outside your own. Why? Many people look to their own industry to set the standard. Although modeling after other successful business owners in your industry is valuable, in this market cycle with the new economy and the market shifting of how business is done consistently, you must look to acquire new insights to innovate how you do business by looking to industries outside your own.

Other industries illustrate how you could be scaling for growth, packaging your products and services, marketing, funneling prospects and clients into sales and, ultimately, converting your clients into raving fans.

When you look for outside industry influences, you must ask yourself a few essential questions. Are these individuals having success? What changes are they experiencing in their industry? What does their gross income look like? All of these questions are relatively simple but very important and valuable when considering outside influences for your business.

Stationary business owners and old-school business practices will not thrive in today’s economy. This is why looking to industries and industry leaders outside of your own will help you innovate and guarantee your growth in today’s ever-changing marketplace.

Tip No. 3: Referrals and Repeat Business

You must create deeper and wider relationships with current clients on your list. Putting attention and energy into creating ongoing contact and providing additional ongoing value to your current clients offers you the opportunity to build an entirely new level of “know, like and trust.”

After all, people do business with people they know, like and trust. So, let me ask you, when was the last time you told your clients that you really appreciated the opportunity to work with them?  When was the last time you sent your client a thank-you note for her business or a bonus thank-you gift?

Building a deeper and wider relationship with your current clients assures that you are able to access the lowest-hanging fruit in your sales funnel.  Why?  It is infinitely easier to convert a current happy client into repeat business or receive phenomenal referrals from your happy client than it is to prospect for cold leads.

When focusing on referrals and repeat business, you must ask yourself a few necessary questions to ensure success, such as:  How can I deliver my products and services with more excellence? How can I provide more value to my current clients? How can I innovate to create a more successful system to service my clients, repeat business and referral business?

Repeat business is essential for your business to scale growth. One of the greatest gifts any business can receive is the opportunity to work with clients’ referrals.  Why?  Referrals arrive trusting that your services or products provide value and are often way more appreciative of the opportunity to do business with you than a cold lead.

In order to ensure you are rockin’ out to great referral business moving into 2010, you must ask yourself, what is my system of prospecting for referrals? If you can implement a tasteful strategy to educate your current clients and prospects on how valuable their referral business is to you, then there is no doubt your repeat business and referral business have the capacity to flourish.

Take time to build powerful business partnerships and alliances, seek to innovate your business through outside industries, and don’t miss the golden opportunity to nurture repeat and referral business.

High-powered businesspeople know their people. Meaning they know how to pick out the individuals as small-business owners with whom they can build powerful relationships for their small-business success.Why? These elite entrepreneurs understand that good business is built on empowered relationships and seek to only align themselves with other successful small-business mentors, vendors and a general circle of influence that is in alignment with the essence of who they are! Successful entrepreneurs do this because it makes their life easier and helps their small-business marketing efforts succeed, as well as their small-business solutions and techniques.Plus, it elevates the quality of their lives as business owners and human beings. Every human being alive today faces challenges and triumphs in his or her daily, weekly and overall life’s journey.

These savvy, successful individuals understand that if they are surrounded by customers, prospects, colleagues, friends and family who are “their people,” they will have far less drama and far greater results in all areas of their lives–especially with their small-business success, because they have a hefty circle of influence that includes a loyal list of clients and prospects who truly are their people.

However, on the other side of the street, if you look closely, you will find that most small-business owners struggle  just to get by or stay alive with their small business. These individuals who struggle with their small-business plans and oftentimes with their life spend an extraordinary amount of time trying to do business and create a fulfilling life with others who are not “their people.” They are fighting an uphill battle trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Perhaps this is an area that needs a little tweaking for you?

Let me ask you: Do you feel appreciated and valued by your current customers? Do you feel like you have small-business mentors who see you in the best possible light–no matter how messy you and your life may be at times? Do you have small business solutions to call upon at a moment’s notice that have your back?

It’s funny, I kicked off this year with some super exciting projects and also found myself calling upon certain vendors that provide specific expertise with their small-business solutions. It made my business flow and life so easy to have “my people” on my team at a moment’s notice–offering their small-business strategies to helping support my needs along with a true genuine know, like and trust. I love that about small business success and growth, being supported and uplifted by “your people” on an ongoing basis.

We as small-business owners can forget that we are not just building a business that experiences greater growth and profitability in our lives; we are building our lives at the same time. That’s interwoven into building our small-business success.

And I know how easy it can be to fall victim to trying to convert NOT your people into your people. Why? Because this is how most people focus their time and attention–oftentimes without being aware of it.

They focus on the one person who, for whatever reason, does not get who they are, the value of their business and then, ultimately, berate or belittle themselves for not making that connection with that one small-business vendor, small-business mentor, smal-business solutions provider or even small-business prospect. This can be exhausting and self-defeating. In business, you must expect that not everyone is going to be one of your people.

In fact, if you are good at what you do in business today, expect that a good majority of people will not be your people. Having an opinion and being visible in a strong, empowered way will serve you best, as it will allow your people to find you with less effort and easily embrace the opportunity to work with you sooner. While at the same time, it quickly sifts out those who are SO NOT your people.

How many new people in business do you meet each day? Do you celebrate the opportunity to connect with your people or do you focus the majority of your attention on the ones who are not your people?

Like I said yesterday, having a list of happy, satisfied clients who buy from you over and over as well as refer you great new clients is an enormous asset. Add in a system to convert your current prospects into customers consistently, and you’ll be unstoppable in your growth and ultimate profitability as a business owner. This little nugget of information I just shared with you has the power to transform how you think about your business moving into 2010 in powerfully positive ways.

What is even more fantastic about this little nugget is that how we do business today has changed, and it will continue to change as we move into 2010 based on one of the fastest-growing industries out there–a little thing called the internet. More than ever, you as a business owner have the opportunity to utilize simple tools and techniques to grow your list (clients, referrals and warm prospects), as well as implement time-tested formulas to convert both your prospects and customers into ongoing big paydays for you.

Here is the rest of the list: Nos. 5 through 7

5. A trade or official affiliate agreement. A simple, old-fashioned trade: The trade partner promotes you and your biz to its list, and you will do the same for your partner. This can be done as an affiliate relationship (where a predetermined referral fee is paid for a new client signing up for service or purchasing products) or a strict joint venture whereby simple cross-promotion is worked out with no money exchanging hands on the back end.

I do this often for vendors I work with who provide excellent service and great value for my list. Oftentimes I will make a recommendation to my list that is a goodwill gesture to the vendor I work with. Meaning, there are no official affiliate arrangements in place, but an organic cross-promotion is consistently taking place between our synergistic businesses and our similar target market.

6. Membership programs. Another opportunity is to connect with monthly membership clubs and continuity programs online that have your ideal demographic. Most of these programs offer a guest expert call each month, which means they have to find compelling guest experts to provide valuable knowledge to their subscriber base via monthly teleseminars, feature articles or even offline events.

They are motivated to get experts booked and, in many cases, don’t want any reciprocation. Why not find more of these programs that already have a warm relationship with your target market and get them to endorse you, giving you a guaranteed way to grow your list with the right prospects?

7. Just for asking. This is my favorite technique of all seven listed. Why? It offers the opportunity for innovation and exploration when it comes to building your list. With my students, I am constantly inviting them to review their ideal demographic, to determine who really needs what they are offering and figure out how to effectively reach this demographic.

When it comes to building your list, you need to just keep asking questions about all the above and stay focused on the task at hand. I assure you, the gold is in the list.

List, you say? Yes, I say, “The gold is in your list. If you comprehend this, you profit quickly as an entrepreneur. Why? The value of your business is directly proportionate to the value of your list of current clients and prospects. So you say, “How does that work? And I say, having a list of happy, satisfied clients who are practically “raving fans’ who buy from you over and over, as well as refer you great new clients, is an enormous asset. Plus add in a system to convert your current prospects into customers consistently, and you are unstoppable in your growth and ultimately profitability as a business owner.

This little nugget of information I just shared with you has the power to transform how you think about your business moving into 2010 in powerfully positive ways. What is even more fantastic about this little nugget is that how we do business today has changed, and it will continue to change as we move into 2010 based on one of the fastest-growing industries out there–a little thing called the internet. More than ever, you as a business owner have the opportunity to utilize simple tools and techniques to grow your list (clients, referrals and warm prospects), as well as implement time-tested formulas to convert both your prospects and customers into ongoing big paydays for you.

Here are four sensational techniques to grow your list:

1. SEO. Ensure that your website has been optimized organically to drive targeted traffic to the site, which gets your phone to ring (make sure to grab the prospect’s e-mail address when she calls) or offer your warm prospects the opportunity to opt into your list upon visiting your site. Voila! You are building your list.

2. Endorsement. In your immediate circle of biz influence, all you have to do is ask. In fact, it will make some of your biz colleagues happy to help you. Why? Because they know, like and trust you and value your business offerings–either services or products. Why not let them help you?

They know you offer something valuable. And good business today is about adding greater value to your clients. So see if it would be a fit for them to promote you via offline referral with your business card or, even better, send out a warm endorsement of your service to their online list that directs prospects to your website.

One of the greatest time-tested styles of marketing offline has been through the power of word-of-mouth. Online, you get to practice this tenfold through the click of just one button to an entire list of your biz colleagues.

3. Offline targeted expos, conferences, networking meetings and events. Business conferences of all types that are frequented by your target market are a great way to make a personal connection and build your list. At certain times of the year, Team Vanessa is onsite at specific events–meeting and mingling with our ideal demographic in order to build our list.

If you don’t ask for referrals, you need to start ASAP! Clients who love you love to refer business to you–as they appreciate doing business with you and the opportunity to support your success.

When it comes to building your list, you need to just keep asking questions about all the above and stay focused on the task at hand, building your list. Because I assure you, the gold is in the list.

4. Referral. By far one of the most coveted ways to grow your list is via referral. Why? Referral business is generally easier to service because the referral already trusts and values the opportunity to work with you. Oftentimes business owners overlook a booming opportunity to quickly grow their list and tap into additional sales quickly via the referral business just waiting to be unleashed right under their feet.

Stay tuned for technques No. 5 through 7 techniques for building your list.

I was recently chatting with a really exceptional Online Marketing Academy seminar guest about the opportunity to move into working with me in one of my business consulting programs just launched in our Live Your Ideal Vision Millionaire Entrepreneurs Club.

In the process of having this heartfelt chitchat, I had some new aha moments myself about the true difference between a successful entrepreneur and one who is struggling just to stay in business. One big aha really caught me by surprise, and a few others may surprise you as well. I have listed for you the top five key differences between, in essence, success and failure in business.

1. An investment vs. an expense. Successful business owners have the ability to quickly review an investment opportunity that is presented to them and make a decision to commit. Why? Because they understand that they are making an investment, and that with good investments come great returns.

Whereas a struggling business owner doesn’t even see spending money on a marketing promotion, a crucial employee, a business consultant and many other types of money-making investments as just that–spending money to ensure she makes more money. In other words, an investment. And that is one big reason  some entrepreneurs thrive while many others struggle just to survive.

Because I get the incredible opportunity to work with many women business owners, I find it is vitally important to help them understand that when they have the opportunity to invest in a coach or a mentor, an important piece of marketing or even adding another key employee on their team–spending money in this way is not like buying a Prada pair of shoes or a Michael Korrs designer dress. These clothing items are true expenses.

In today’s new economy,  ask yourself, while your competitors are making investments to upgrade their knowledge of marketing and business systems to adapt to the new needs of their clients and prospects through making savvy investments, are you doing so, too? Or do you view them as expenses and shy away from them altogether? Not sure? Just review your business results and ask yourself: Are your results in line with the level of investments you have made thus far?

In truth, oftentimes they are. Take heart, model successful business owners, and embrace the opportunities mentioned above to invest in your business and you. I guarantee you will reap the rewards.

2. No risk = no goodies. Successful business owners train themselves to take risks–risks in every area of their business, including marketing, growth, investments and overall actions. And they consistently make more money. When I first started in business nearly 10 years ago, I wanted all the benefits of a successful business: happy, awesome clients; great services and products that provide significant value; and lots of revenue.

But here’s the catch: I didn’t want to pay for marketing. I didn’t want to have to learn from other successful business owners how to be successful. I didn’t want the responsibility of hiring people and paying them for their work. I didn’t want to pay to market for good leads, and of course I was broke and struggled painfully for many years when I was first in business for myself.

Through almost going out of business six years ago, I got up from a prayer on my knees and hired my first business coach. That led to my first seminar, which led to the first marketing campaign I paid for, which led to my first year of profitability. And so the story goes and continues.

Successful business owners take risks, because that is where the love, happiness, money and goodies are. What risks are you taking today? How are you stepping up to play bigger and claim your goodies?

3. Big money requires big action. Yep! Money likes speed. So how speedy are you? Successful business owners gather information and make decisions; they don’t waiver. When you waiver, you waste time. And time is money.

I think only in the past few years have I really come to understand in business that with big action come change, transformation and greater profitability.

Struggling business owners don’t tend to take a lot of solid actions. Oftentimes as a struggling business owner, instead of taking action I wavered about making decisions and figuring out how to spend less money and beat the system.

I could have spent all of that lost time and energy learning how to have my business make money in the next 30 days, 60 days and 90 days to ensure my continued success as a business owner.

TodayI take big actions, and I am consistently rewarded with bigger income. I know that if I do exactly what I did in my business last year, I am guaranteed not to grow and not to increase my revenue. Today, with this handy tool, and by surrounding myself with other successful entrepreneurs, I reap the reward of “big money requires big action”–and you can, too.

4. Resourceful vs. resourceless. Successful business owners are resourceful. Struggling business owners are resourceless. Successful business owners focus on solutions, possibilities, innovation, big actions, alliances, big vision, consistent revenue growth, expansion, faith, trust, embracing new responsibility, adding more value with their products and services and filling a greater need. They are always turning the direst situation into a huge win for themselves and their team.

When it comes to not having financial resources for a project or a specific direction for their business that will make them more profitable, they find a way–no matter what–to get access to resources. Struggling business owners focus on lack, fear, not enough, less than, playing small, being risk free, shying away from responsibility and minimal action.

Yet the big problem for me when I was a struggling business owner was that I wanted all the benefits of a successful business owner, yet I didn’t behave like one in all the most important areas just discussed. At my recent seminar, a super nice service-based business owner approached me wanting to enter one of my elite LYIV Millionaire Entrepreneurs Club coaching programs but solely on a trade basis. Wow. It really took me back.

But what I thought most revealing was that this business owner really believed she had a project that was about to pop and would change everything with regard to her financial situation. To the degree that she asked a successful business owner, in essence, to work without payment.

Let me clarify: When I first began in business, I thought some big project was going to make it all right for me in business and bring in the riches. What I had to learn the hard way over time is that 99 percent of the time, that never works. Success in business is about learning to make money consistently by establishing a system for doing business. A system that, in effect, becomes your greatest asset because it is quickly scalable for more growth that leads to greater profitability and, ultimately, an exit strategy for financial success.

Successful business owners do not trade their services or work for free because they are too busy doing real business, which in my book is: delivering great value, providing excellent services and products, and making money.

5. Value adder vs. value taker.  Successful business owners focus on bringing value. Struggling business owners focus on extracting as much as they can for themselves with their vendors, their clients and even when they attend important business events such as seminars. Successful business owners are genuinely interested in bringing significant value for their clients through their business’s services and products. Because of this, they are rewarded greatly if they deliver on that level.

I always say to my clients, if you want to make more money, especially in today’s economy, Add more value by filling a greater need. The businesses in your industry that are thriving–especially today–are the ones that are doing this well, along with adapting quickly to powerful online marketing tools never available before to scale for growth and profitability quickly.

Struggling business owners make it all about themselves and see business only as a way to get. How can I get more clients? How can I pay this vendor less or not at all? How can I take this shortcut and still get the same result? These business owners are in fact all about extracting value in all their actions vs. bringing value–and they have the financial results to show for it.

If you’ve found yourself on the struggling side of the fence as a business owner right now, take heart; things can change quickly if you make different choices. Focus on adding value and filling a greater need, taking a few risks, getting super resourceful and making smart investments, such as hiring a fantastic business coach, incorporating new marketing tools (such as the sensational online tools I teach) or even hiring a key employee part-time so you can spend more time marketing for more sales. Such actions can  produce significant new results quickly,  in the immediate future and on an ongoing basis.

The ultimate goal for us as business owners is not to have a business that makes money right now, but to have a system for doing business that is quickly scalable, repeatable and expandable.

I just came back from a leisurely jog around the neighborhood. Seems I may have left my MP3 in Mexico, but it was sure nice to hear the birds chirping and experience vibrant life and living all around me while I trotted along lovely, tree-lined streets and even through our local park.

I am now back at my desk for just a few minutes to tell you that I have a fun and value-added complimentary call planned for Wednesday! I am going to be sharing intimate stories and juicy details about the signature catch phrases I find myself practically chanting over and over again when I work with clients to help them “Make Mo’ Money.”

I am making these catch phrases available to you on Call  No. 3 in my Online Marketing Academy preview teleseminar series.

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A FREE Teleseminar Event For You:

“5 Vanessa-isms to Make Mo’ Money!” with Vanessa Summers

Wednesday, November 18, 2009, at 8 p.m. Eastern (5 p.m. Pacific)

(This is PART 3 in my free preview series for my upcoming event Online Marketing Academy: Discover Your Skyrocketing Revenues)

Learn more and reserve your spot now.

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Best of all, these tools are timeless, powerful and effective. Plus, you will get an inside glimpse into my business world and hear success stories of clients of mine who have applied these catch phrases to impact their growth and profitability quickly!

The tele-call is part of my Online Marketing Academy Preview Call series.

Learn more details on what I’ll be sharing on this call and reserve your spot here now.

P.S. Feel free to invite biz colleagues and friends to the call, but don’t forget to reserve your spot here first!

Offering valuable articles, with juicy tips, tools and resources to your list through publishing an online newsletter (known in the internet world as an ezine) is an amazing way to automate marketing your business to increase your revenue and grow your biz. When you offer your business expertise and know-how in this format, you are literally tapping into the NEW economy–the information economy. Meaning that sharing valuable tips, tools and resources with your ideal demographic is literally the new currency that is driving incredible successes for business owners in all industries today. So go ahead: It’s OK to share the capital buzzing in your head and watch the sales role in as you build credibility, and your prospects and clients come to know, like and trust you while you establish yourself as an expert.If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed at the thought of what you are going to publish in your upcoming ezine, enjoy these seven easy (and effective) publishing ideas when you are having a brain freeze:
1. Offer real-life client stories.
Think of recent clients that have utilized your services or products successfully. Give an outline of a problem and then go onto to describe how you solved your client’s issue. This is an opportunity to showcase the value of your service or product, as well as offer more general advice.

These “case studies” help your reader understand more fully the value of your services or products without you having to explain it yourself. Ultimately, these real-life client stories position you in your readers’ minds as an expert.

2. Focus on a short list of key areas you want your prospects and clients to view you as a resource for.
Move into creating focused content in these key areas. For example, when I first started in business years ago, I published in my early days my first book, “The Girl’s Guide to Money & Investing” because I really enjoyed working with women to help them manage their finances better.

At that time, to help encourage my list to hire me to help them “step it up” with their money management, I published several articles on how to budget and invest more successfully.

I now specialize in working with real business owners on how to implement simple, time-tested online marketing strategies to skyrocket their business growth and income.

3. Make a short list of questions clients have recently asked you.
I bet there is a short list of questions your clients ask you on a continual basis. Think about addressing each one of these questions in a brief article. If you publish biweekly, that could be a few months’ worth of valuable content that you know your ideal demographic will love.

I have little color sticky notes on my desk as I write; when I chat with clients, I make notes on their questions; and when I write articles or even create training materials, much of that is based off of interactions with my clients.

4. Be on the lookout for new innovative information from expos, conferences, trade publications or even online.
The cool part of this publishing idea is that you can find valuable content outside of yourself. No one expects you to do it all alone. Give opinions, offer advice or even make noteworthy comments on an article, but be sure to acknowledge the source of the information. Your list will value your candor.

I like to go out of the box and even give feedback on lifestyle tips or something else I find interesting. Remember, if you find it valuable and it speaks to you–it will most likely speak to your ideal prospects and clients.

5. Offer a list of your top seven tips on a specific topic
It’s easy and time effective to offer your list value-added content on a specific topic vs. writing long, wordy articles (not online-friendly). These tips are also much easier to consume as an online reader.

Keep in mind, your most valuable tips should be featured at the beginning of the list to wet the appetite of your reader and encourage them to keep reading. Hmmm, did someone say this article has seven tips?

6. Recommend resources, such as vendors, books, websites.
I love to offer a review of cutting-edge services that can help my list market more successfully, make more money, save money, save time and upgrade their lifestyle. Your readers will love these recommendations, since they get not only the recommendation but a place to go to put the resource to good use.

This article has been recycled. But I am always going “deeper and wider” with my own tools, and I always feel inspired to add new insights to freshen up a recycled article so it really speaks to me. And if it speaks to me . . . there’s a good chance it will speak to you.

I was out for an early-morning run and this topic really sang to me. The birds were chirping, the beginnings of daylight were peeking through the skyline, and things seemed harmonic in that moment. For many of my students, they know I have been on a fast track to some incredibly exciting business results in the past few years, especially this year.

Of course, with much growth come hiccups–and with hiccups come many more opportunities to learn golden nuggets on how to track, test and tweak to make whatever happened an ultimate win for the growth of the organization and yourself.

Having said that, the headline,”Where Do You Go When You’re Blue?”‘ just popped into my mind on my morning run this as I reflected on some of the recent hiccups, changes and golden opportunities that have cropped up over at Vanessa Summers Companies in recent weeks.

I believe for us as business owners, we often have to walk through our worst fears in order to grow ourselves and our revenue. Sometimes, in the process of that journey, there are moments when the obstacles you are facing seem bigger than you are. Tony Robbins said it best: “When it seems  impossible, victory is near!”

I have a short list of where I go when I am blue, and I thought I would share it with you. I think if we are to grow fantastically on all accounts with our business success, especially financially, we will have moments of feeling blue. “Blue” meaning off balance, extreme discomfort and fear, and even a little sad as we process through the changes we are walking through into our new desired results.

Having a good support system and positive ability to travel through these turbulent moments are essential to continue to leapfrog forward with your business. Here are some juicy support systems I definitely reach for when I am feeling blue:

1. A notepad: Three simple questions get flushed out right away between me and the page. What is good about this? What is great about this? What could be better? I love this tool when I am”whacked out” about something or simply on overwhelm. I can get an instant perspective and regain my footing pretty quickly. Plus, it feels so pure. I kinda think it is just me and God hanging out, having a mini powwow!
2. A trusted colleague or friend: I have a small but deceptively powerful network of very successful business owners who break it all down for me within minutes. These are entrepreneurs who have been ‘tested in the trenches and each has his or her specific area of expertise. A five-minute call can really make a huge impact on my mind-set and outlook. Plus, I just feel so darn supported by such fantastic individuals.I have learned that it takes courage to be vulnerable. At times, including when I’m a bit blue, I wear my vulnerability with humility and transparency. I not only know these trusted individuals have my best interests at heart, I also know they have a true knowledge of successful entrepreneurship, ‘cuz they are successful themselves.

   I can’t emphasize enough: Take guidance, advice, feedback and support when you are blue from individuals who have been there and done that, and who have incredible results in business to show for it. It makes a phenomenal difference in how you travel through your hiccups to BIG BUSINESS RESULTS.

3. Movement: I am the 10-year yoginni turned runner. Yeah, a runner. Which is not who I saw myself as a year ago. What I love about movement in general, and running in particular, is that it forces me in a fantastic way to consistently sweat it out to live outside of my comfort zone, knowing that that is where all the great amounts of love, money and happiness are–not in my small. limited comfort zone.I love pushing myself in an unconscious/conscious way with movement such as this. I feel invigorated, enthused, powerful and pumped to grow bigger than any obstacle that arises in my day.
4. Call Mama: Yep, I have a great mom. She dishes out some pretty darn sage advice. She is a savvy biz lady who is whip smart and calls it as it is. Somehow, every once in a blue moon when I hit an unexpected big road bump with my biz, I call my mama. And wow, she can serve me up some sensational perspective and feedback that grounds me to my core.Perhaps my little girl just loves that worst case scenario. I’ve got Mama on my side. Who is on yours unconditionally?
5. Have a shot: Uhhhh Haaaa. I really said that. Every now and again I will kick back a tequila shot (after a tough long day) of my favorite brand, Patron Silver. And you know what? It works. The key here is to do it only every once in a long while. When I was living in San Francisco during the dot.com boom, I accidentally fell into a very elite crowd of geniuses who all graduated from Stanford’s MBA program and went on to start companies such as eBay; Hotmail, the first free e-mail address on the internet, and bring companies public that made millions on their first day of  listing.One of these gentlemen taught me that blowing off steam every once in a while is essential to operating at a peak performance level. Blowing off steam doesn’t always mean kicking  back a shot of tequila, but sometimes it does–and I believe this works for me.  What works for you?
6. Clear, clean, complete and delete: I believe nature abhors a vacuum. The more I organize, de-clutter, let go of things, and upgrade my overall environment on every level possible–the more I magnetize achieving/receiving my new desired results in my biz and life. Hence, I love to do a clearing when I am blue. It is cleansing and, I believe, preps me to embrace change and reminds me that change is the law of life.When was the last time you deleted your e-mails? Cleaned out your computer files? Emptied your closet or kitchen cabinet of things you no longer use? Or how about shredding those old docs in your file folders that are obsolete? To name just a few.
7. My family. My son Thor is 2 and my husband is my best friend in every sense of the word, along with my life partner and lover. These two beings are my everything. They are my home, my compass, my forever loving welcoming after a long day in my office. No matter what twists and turns may make me blue, I love my daily reminder of how lucky I am to have such great LOVE and JOY in my life with such a wonderful son and hubby!
8. Prayer. This is so easy and so essential for me. For example, I awoke at 1 a.m. to a BlackBerry text. It was a piece of biz news that was unexpected and upset me greatly. Often, with so much growth in my biz, I am facing new challenges that I don’t always feel prepared for, and it at times causes anxiety. You know, the kind of anxiety where you can’t sleep. So sometimes I just lie in bed alarmingly awake and pray. I grew up Catholic, and although I don’t practice this particular religion today, I will recite  the “Our Father” in my mind’ several times.You see, it takes great faith and trust to leapfrog forward with your business. Praying when I am that far out of my comfort zone is an enormous reminder that I am not alone–and that little reminder is a HUGE comfort. Do you ask for guidance beyond yourself?

Not sure where you go when you are blue? Hopefully these eight tips will inspire you to create a support system to help you leapfrog you and your business forward–no matter what new obstacle or opportunity the day brings.

Think about it; change is inevitable.  At this very moment I am experiencing some big changes in my business, and just this week I was presented with an unexpected change that seemed extraordinarily challenging. In the last 24 hours I found myself asking some very powerful questions about what this exact change was going to look like for my business and life in the short run–and ultimately, how was I going to successfully embrace it?

I even reached out to my biz partner Jairek for a quick emergency chat to ensure I stayed on track with my peak performance mental mind-set. (On a side note: When I texted him that I needed an emergency chit-chat, he immediately called to asked if it was the kind of emergency where I cut off my big toe or what? Hee, Hee, Hee).

During 20 minutes of phone chit-chat, I discovered  that I was still reaching for a habitual tool from childhood when big change occurs–that is, asking myself questions such as, “What did I do wrong?” “How could I have avoided this situation?” “Why is this happening to me?” “Oh my gosh, this is awful.” Do you notice a theme in this line of questioning? I sure do now. These questions ignited a perspective of doom and gloom, fear, change is not good, it is scary, what is wrong with me, why couldn’t I do it better?

As I was having this mini-discussion with my business partner, I realized that this old mental habit did not fit me anymore, that I was in dire need of a mental upgrade for when BIG change occurs. And you know what? I got it! Through the power of suggestion from Jairek, I started asking questions such as, “What is the adventure in this?” “What is loving about this?”  “What is fun about this?” And, of course, “What is good about this?” “What is great about this?” and, ultimately, “What could be better?” And WOW, it shifted every emotion and even my perspective for me to one of excitement, faith, hope, possibility, opportunity and just plain being bigger in my thinking, along with creating space for more.

I believe God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves–and really, I believe this is a change for the better for all involved and really a great big gift from the universe because this change is surely going to ensure catapulting my business into an entirely new stratosphere.

How do you respond to change? I think it is an incredibly important topic if you are truly going to be a successful leader and entrepreneur, because a lot of change is going to continually occur–and how will you show up for it? Think about it, your body and cells are changing right now.  The earth, the economy, technology, how we do business and even how we communicate are changing.

You can choose to resist the changes that are always afoot and ultimately be swept away by them.  Alternatively, you could choose to cooperate with change, adapt to change and benefit from change, all the while stepping into greater levels of your prosperity.

I believe most people resist change, often without realizing it.  They have unconscious and sometimes conscious fears, resentments and perhaps even anxiety that arises when change occurs.  Although they seek a more prosperous life, both financially and in their lifestyle, they end up doing the one thing that cannot ignite this new result, resisting change.

When you consciously embrace change wholeheartedly as an inevitable part of life, and align your focus to creatively seek ways to utilize new changes to make your life more abundant, easier and fulfilling, your life will have a more graceful flow.  You will experience change as an opportunity for growth and new experiences.  You will energize your spirit and higher self with possibility and wonderment.

In an effort to help you practice this prosperity tool wholeheartedly, I want you to remember a time when you experienced a change but resisted.  Perhaps it was a move, a job transfer, a change in heart, a change in how you do business, or even a shift in your family dynamics–a change you were going to have to deal with, and you thought it was the worst thing in the world.  What happened once you surrendered to the change?  Did your life eventually improve?  Can you look back now and say, “Wow, I’m grateful that happened.  Look at all the good it eventually brought me?”

If you can always remember that you’ve been through changes in the past–and that they’ve largely worked out for the best–you can begin to approach each new change with the excitement and anticipation you should.  To help embrace any change, ask yourself the following questions:

• What’s changing in my life that I’m currently resisting?
• Why am I resisting that change?
• What am I afraid of with respect to this change?
• What am I afraid might happen to me?
• What’s the payoff for my keeping things the way they are?
• What benefits might there be in this change?
• What would I have to do to cooperate with this change?
• What’s the next step I could take to cooperate with this change?
• When will I take it?

Highly successful entrepreneurs appreciate and embrace change as a universal law of life. They understand that if they are not changing and growing, they are not creating more space to accommodate the new desired levels of financial success they wish to have in their business and the prosperity they wish to receive in all areas of their life.  With this NEW economy well under way, ask yourself what new results you would like to see unfold in all areas of your life, especially financially, and then ask yourself what changes you would need to embrace to see these results manifest.