The Financial Guru:

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!

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.

Do you relate to the word leadership? It seems kind of like a masculine term but, boy oh boy, is this a powerful term today for me as a business owner. The more I immersed myself in the understanding of what a true leader is and how important it is for me to be a leader to double, triple and quadruple my revenue over and over–the more my business began to soar.

I think a lot about the following six ways to lead your industry and how impactful they have been for my business. Without leading as a business owner today with these tools, I would suffer over and over financially, not achieving the desired results for my business.

Hence, I have laid out these tools to make them easy to consume and, I hope, easy to practice over and over with hugely profitable returns.

1. Knowing The Road Ahead: You see, great leaders/entrepreneurs know that every business goes through cycles, and every successful business plateaus to ultimately be reinvented when the market shifts.

A leader’s job is to foresee the changes ahead when the market shifts and when she does, she needs to take pride in three things:

• To see things as they are, not worse than they are. Did you see things worse than they were when the economy shifted? ‘Cuz most people do–well, at least the ones who are not leaders.

• To see it better than it is. Leaders have a vision. When everyone else is complaining about how bad it is, they are seeing possibility, hope, evolution, and much more.

• To make it that way. Leaders go first, and then they bring it to others who are fearful. Tony Robbins said to me last spring, “The challenges we are facing now are HISTORIC but not insurmountable.”

You see, as a business owner in today’s marketplace, to thrive you need to create a new muscle of  “leadership” in practice. So even when the market, business owners around you and your clients are in tremendous fear for their financial livelihood, and they have lost perspective and are seeing things much worse than they really are, your job is to LEAD today and to embrace your newfound leadership role through your conscious daily understanding that as a business owner you must see it better than it is and make it that way. You must lead.

2. Solving problems. A leader’s job is to solve problems. In fact, a leader may not have to always solve the problems herself, she can delegate solving these problems to someone else. But she does have to solve problems.

As a small-business owner moving into a quickly growing business, I used to really mentally beat myself up, ‘cuz it seemed like I was always solving problems and, once I solved one, I had another one.

But once I learned this leadership tool and kept it in my back pocket, I could run with the ball and be a LEADER, leading my industry. Why? I understood that this was part of my role as a leader–to solve problems.

In truth today, the more my business revenue soars, the more problems I have. However, when the problems show up, I don’t berate myself or feel victimized. I instead embrace whatever problem is on the table and, in fact, often revel in my ability and responsibility to lead. I think, too, because I have clarity as a leader, it makes it easier for my team to have me be their leader.

I think today “Team Vanessa” feels truly invigorated by my ability to lead, as we are always moving to new successes, which creates new opportunities for them as team members. And of course, this energy and excitement trickle over to how our clients feel, how the business is represented and the great many opportunities that arise to do business!

Embrace your problems, embrace being a leader and knowing it is your job to solve them and watch what happens!

3. No Risk = No Goodies. This little jewel is deceptively powerful. A leader takes risks. If you look up entrepreneur in the dictionary, it is defined as  someone willing to undertake projects and risks to produce a profit . . . or something to that effect. When I reflect on my early years of struggling as a business owner with little or no leadership qualities to speak of, I wanted all the rewards with taking zero risks.

I wanted lots of clients, big sales, along with tons of revenue . . . but I wasn’t willing to invest my own money to learn how to be successful in my business by hiring others who had gone the road before me (e.g., mentors, coaches, seminars). I wasn’t willing to invest in my marketing (e.g., pay for a lead or even referral fees), and I didn’t want to step out of my comfort zone. I wanted guarantees every step of the way.

In hindsight, when I reflect on this stage early in my entrepreneurial days, I didn’t want to take any risk, I didn’t want to pay for anything and I attracted prospects and clients who were exactly like me.

Today I take risks, I celebrate being a leader, I invest money in myself–sometimes slapping down tens of thousands of dollars to learn the best possible tools for my own growth and the growth of my business. I pay for marketing whether it be vendors, mailers, referral fees, venues, etc., and I work with clients who are the same caliber. I think often that because I deeply understand that leaders take risks and if I am unwilling to lead that means I don’t take risks–I don’t grow, the business does not grow, and there are NO GOODIES in that scenario for myself or anyone else for that matter.

4. Personal time. Leaders take time for themselves. I have clients who tease me about my short-term ideal vision being eight weeks of vacation a year. Hey, I did live in France as a teen fashion model way back in the day and that is somewhat standard, right? But seriously, leaders know that if they burn the candle at both ends and do not pre-book and pre-schedule their down time as a part of their daily routines, they will not be able to successfully lead.

Many of you know that I am a mom, a wife and a busy business owner. Taking time for myself and also taking time with my family is a priority that does not get downsized, nor do I allow myself to feel guilty about scheduling family luxury vacations or even personal spa days.

If for some reason I do succumb to a momentary lapse of guilt over leaving my son with the nanny for too long or for taking a quick trip to see a family member for a long weekend, I remind myself that God and the universe are working for me and my business overtime while I am away. And you know what? I see all the time that they really are.

Funnily, getting to the new stages of business growth I am experiencing has really helped me understand how important letting go of all the things you don’t need to create more space for the things you do desire.

If I am not in a peak mental, emotional, physical and spiritual state, how will my business grow robustly and lead my industry? I always say, it’s not about working hard, it’s about working smart. As a leader today, are you giving yourself ample downtime to be a vibrant leader?

5. Mental mindset. Did you know business success is 80 percent psychology and 20 percent having the right business tools? We have a policy in my office that when something goes wrong or not according to schedule, we ask three simple questions. What is good about this? What is great about this? What could be better? And you know what, we are always practicing CANI.

What is CANI? Constant And Never-ending Improvement. There is always a silver lining no matter what is happening and, as a leader today, I am always asking myself these three questions to help myself, my team and all around me focus on CANI along with improving my mental mindset.

You see, most people focus on what is wrong, bad, not good enough. These individuals never quite get into leadership gear, and leading their business into ongoing successes is almost impossible. Write it on a sticky note. Write it on a bulletin board. Write it somewhere you can see it every day as you do business. What is good about this? What is great about this? And, What could be better?

It’s funny, my good friend and biz partner Jairek Robbins (he taught me this tool, by the way) and I are always pre-framing all of our chit-chats with this type of questioning, and it makes for such a deep quality connection that is infectious for growth and positive advance–plus amazing results in your business.

What do you do on a daily basis to upgrade your mental mindset for yourself and your business?

6. “When it looks impossible, victory is near.” Don’t you just love that? If you do what’s easy, if you do what’s comfortable, how much growth are you going to really get? You must remember that to succeed in business today, you must be a leader: to not see it worse than it is, but to see it better than it is, and make it that way.

Think about it, whatever you focus on is what you experience. As a leader, it is vital that you focus on the right things; growth, innovation, possibility, opportunity, technology, flexibility, falling in love with your clients and much more.

I too loved the reminder that we have seasons in climate, just like we have seasons in our business. When you know what season your business is in, you can take advantages of opportunities. What season is your business in? If it’s winter, remember there are still sunny days in winter and after this season comes spring.

I know that getting to your next level with your business and as a leader sometimes feels impossible. But I have had enough great successes in business to date to know that it is in the extremely challenging moments when the greatest shifts and gifts are about to be given to you and your business. So keep going.

Ask savvy business owners today what they are doing to take their business to its next level in this current economic climate and you will soon find out it’s all about the online world. These peak performers have identified a golden opportunity to expand market share while also reducing cost through applying simple online marketing strategies.  The most exciting part of this skyrocketing industry is that you can easily participate too!

Research tells us that there are more 1.5 billion–yes I said BILLION–online users today, and every three seconds someone new joins the internet community. Statistics tell us that in the next 10 years the online world will create more multimillionaires than ever in history. Will you and your business be one of them?

The funny thing is, once you  know the formulas to online marketing, it all seems rather obvious. And every time you log onto your computer, whether it be to visit a website, read an e-mail or a blog, view video or tweet–you understand the online marketing strategies that you are viewing.

For one thing, you can see the mistakes other business owners are making with their online marketing that is costing them time, clients and, ultimately, MONEY.

To help you avoid making some of these costly mistakes, take a look at these six simple tips I put together for you:

1. KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid is the acronym, right? Well, in the online world, “A Confused Mind Will Always Decline!” For example, something simple is your business e-mail address. You need to have an e-mail address that matches your business name. No yahoo or hotmail e-mail address such as, Jane@hotmail.com. If your business web site URL is www.janesmith.com, then your e-mail address should be something along the lines of jane@janesmith.com. What does your business card currently say?
2. Credibility. Build it, and they will come. You always want your business address, contact telephone number, fax number and e-mail address listed on every page of your website and all of your correspondence via e-mail, blog, Twitter, home page, etc. so your prospects and customers can find them easily. Don’t make them search for it. Why? Credibility. You want to build trust with your prospects and customers–to help them understand your product/service and that you are a real business. Let them know you really exist.
3. WIFM: What’s in it for me? Your website and online marketing efforts need to be geared toward WIFM. One of the biggest mistakes most people make with their online marketing efforts and website is that they make it all about themselves. Your site and correspondence needs to be about giving your ideal demographic of prospects and clients what they want as quickly and effectively as possible. For example, take a gander at your home page on your website today. It should have 75 percent “you” and 25 percent “we,” “I,” and “us.”
4. Have a professional picture. Branding yourself and your specific service and/or products is essential. Don’t scrimp on a great head shot that you believe will resonate with your ideal demographic. This head shot will be viewed multiple times in different areas on your site, e-zine, blog, video, social media networks, information products, etc. This picture is a representation of you and your business–and has the opportunity to quickly attract or turn off your online prospects and customers. If you don’t have one, make a plan to get one today.
5. Fonts. Use a single font on your online marketing promotions and website. Too many fonts and sizes will confuse the eye and make them difficult to read. Think of clean, clear and easily consumable when you think of your online promotions. Remember, if you make it difficult or distracting to consume your website content, e-zines, sales pages, blogs etc., you will most likely not have an impact with your online marketing efforts.
6. No “know, like and trust” to be found. This is a big doozy for many folks who jump online and start sending out random promotions or post a website that is really just one big, fat brochure. Old-school mistakes. In the online world, one of the secrets to success is building your “know, like andtrust” factor with your prospects and clients. One of the easiest ways to do this, but least often used, is getting a little personal. Most businesses completely miss the boat on this one. It’s all business with no personal,  “humanistic” note. My students have told me the first thing they read is my little personal note when they open their Insights issue each week.

As a business owner, you have surely experienced countless times that people buy from people they know, like and trust. So go ahead, get a little personal and let your prospects and clients know, like and trust you a little bit more.

Drum roll, please: Believe it or not, successful business owners network differently than most others in business. When they seek to make a potential connection with another successful business owner, they initiate their conversation or initial contact with an “atypical’ response.”

Instead of asking for something, focusing the attention on themselves or making the initial point of contact about them, they do the exact opposite. What do I mean? They first approach you and ask, “How can I help you?”

For example, I awoke not too long ago to an e-mail in my inbox from a woman from the East Coast whom the No. 1 marketer on Facebook had introduced me to last week via e-mail, saying the two of you should meet, as I think there would be great synergy with your businesses.

So let’s back up for a minute: The No. 1 relationship marketer on Facebook was also applying this savvy tool with me as she, too, had offered up several individuals I should know via e-mail with, of course, the intention being, “How can I help you?”

So back to the woman from the East Coast and her e-mail. It said this below: “X has told me such great things about you!

I’ve had the opportunity to visit your website and see the wonderful things you’re doing. X also mentioned you’re planning a live event.

I welcome the opportunity to connect with you as a point of networking. If there is any way that I can be of service of support I am willing to offer my helping hand.

Let’s connect by email and if you’d like to identify a time in your schedule for us to talk; I’m open to making it happen.

Until then…
Signature
Title
website

P.S. Watch my latest media appearances online at: special website”

You see, most successful business owners get approached and approached “mucho” often. Why? Because they have a viable business model and, in order to achieve their level of financial results with their business, they have gained a great deal of knowledge, tools, wisdom, contacts, resources, systems and other goodies along the way.

Just the opportunity to hobnob with an accomplished biz owner, especially in your related industry, could offer you tremendous opportunities to shift your perspective on how you run your business and catapult your money-making–which ultimately saves you time and makes you money a whole heck of a lot FASTER!

This is why the secret language to get in the door with a VIP in your industry and differentiate yourself from others when approaching your ideal business contacts is to start with “How can I help you?” Most business owners seeking to get to the next level are looking to get something, but haven’t answered the question, what can I give? How can I serve? How can I help you? Of course, you need to be sincere about wanting to help, but when you are, prepare to watch the floodgates open with how other successful business owners respond to you.

The other side to this great networking tool is that you quickly learn what is most important to these savvy, successful business leaders. What are their top-priority projects? What are they most passionate about and why? As well as a much larger glimpse into who they are as human beings and why they have made the decisions to grow their businesses the way they have. Plus a ton of other valuable goodies.

“Team Vanessa” is in the midst of several VIP conversations with leaders in my field and, oftentimes, the door to possibility is first opened with this exact approach: How can I help you grow and achieve even better results?” while all other possibilities flow from that space.

So next time you are seeking to make a business connection with a VIP in your industry, start with asking, “How can I help you?” And I promise you, the floodgates of possibility will soon open for you!!

When you mail your ideal demographic offline, research tells us that your conversion rates jump to more than 300 percent. Why? Because you become more real and you are touching your ideal demographic in a new medium, which helps convert prospects into clients and clients into repeat clients.

I have listed a rather large postcard image to the right to share a few key points to ensure your direct mail gets noticed and what results to expect.

1. Find a Creative Way to Build Know, Like and Trust. In the direct mailer promotion at the top right you will see that I have a non-traditional photo of me and my son Thor. It is one that sings to me about what I love and value most: love, family, fun, beach, etc. I have learned that my ideal demographic is mainly female entrepreneurs, and they too value not just business success . . . but also, love, family, fun, etc. Hence, I am already building immediate Know, Like and Trust if I am reaching my ideal demographic with this direct mailer vs. a sterile corporate head shot. Plus, I am being more memorable, as I stand out from all the boring other canned promotions that arrive via snail mail.

When placing a photo on your direct mailer, think about who you are seeking to reach and what would be memorable to them . . . while helping you build-up your Know, Like and Trust factor. After all, people work with people they Know, Like and Trust.

2. Identify Clearly Who Your Ideal Demographic Is. As you can see, at the top of the direct mailer we have placed, “Attention Women Business Owners.” This really helps pique the interest of your ideal demographic. Simple, yet powerfully effective.

3. A Captivating Headline. As you will see, our captivating headline is along these lines at the top of the postcard.

“It’s not too late to make 2009 great! Let me show you how any business owner can use e-mail, the internet, video and social media” to increase revenue . . .

Although our Women’s Online Entrepreneurial Day will include many more benefits than just what is in our headline, we really want to make sure that our headline helps our ideal demographic quickly consume some of the added value of what we are offering at this event. If it is confusing or they don’t see the immediate benefit to them, you can be sure it will hit the trash ASAP.

4. Make Your Offering Clear and Simple. As you can see in this direct mailer, we have listed the event name, day, place, and even that lunch is included. Again, easy to consume and easy to understand what the direct mailer is about.

5. Make Your Call To Action Extremely Clear. Underneath our event logistics, we have listed our event website, where you can learn more and get registered. This is a big part of having a successful mailer–a clear call to action. If your ideal demographic has to search for it, your postcard will bomb.

6. Give Them A Reason To Take Action Now. You will see an “earlybird” discount coupon code for $30 off. We love our early-bird offerings, as they entice our prospects and clients to enjoy a nice discount for taking action. Try always to give your ideal demographic a reason to take action now.

7. VIP Your Graphics. If you aren’t excited about your visual pieces, I can assure you your ideal demographic won’t be either, and you will see that reflected in your response rates. I love my graphic designer; she rocks. If you don’t have one, prioritize finding one. It’s important to making your promotions effective.

Remember, in your direct mailer, you don’t need to give them everything you have; you just want to share the golden nuggets to entice your ideal demographic to log on to learn more or call the number listed–or whatever the call to action is.

Depending on which industry you are in, your conversion rates will vary. Typically a 2 percent to 3 percent response rate is standard for a mailer to an unseasoned list.  Because we build relationships with our prospects and clients via multiple mediums both online and offline– including telephone, direct mail, e-zines, audio, video, blogs and more –our response rate is much higher.

If you are going to take the time to utilize the power of a direct mailer to grow your biz, take the time to ensure it includes these 7 key ingredients for your ultimate response.

Making decisions and making choices as a business owner are really important.

Napoleon Hill, who wrote Think and Grow Rich, interviewed 500 of the wealthiest people of his time to see what traits they had in common.

He found 15 traits that the 50 wealthiest people have. What is so interesting is that none of these people was born with these traits! They were all traits they had learned.

Sometimes in the earlier stages as an entrepreneur, you can see other business owners and find that they are well on their way to new levels of success that they have created for their business. Sometimes it’s easy to think that it comes easily to them. But the reality is that all of those who are successful as business owners, who have created significant relationships, have done it consciously. They have taken the steps one-by-one to get where they are. They have taught themselves how to create the level of success they want.

For me, in regard to Money Likes Speed, the opposite was modeled for me when I was growing up. I love my mother to death, but there was a lot of indecision in growing up with my mom. She would make a decision and then go back on it and make another decision.

This was a big “aha” moment for me. In my business it’s so important to make decisions. My mom did the opposite: She would make a decision and then hem and haw about it. She would lose sleep over it.

Business owners need to make decisions, and they need to commit. When they do, they create a whole new level of space and another level of energy because the universe likes action.

The more we make decisions and the more we commit, the more we open up possibilities of what can happen next.

Today I know when I am working with a business owner who makes a half million or more in revenue it is because he or she makes decisions and they commits. Successful business owners understand that this is a really important habit.

People in your world can show up on an entirely different level for you because you are someone who makes a decision and you commit.

When you are committed, everyone else can commit to you at his or her next level.

When I have a student commit to work with me and he or she is 100 percent committed to the process of working with me, I feel more valued. I feel more appreciated. I know I can give that much more.

In turn, when other people come in to coach and consult me on how I can grow and commit to the next steps of growing my business, I try to give the same 100 percent commitment. Because of the commitment I give to them I get the best possible results I can from all of the value that they have to bring.

Another story of “Money Likes Speed” comes from Russell Simmons. When I interviewed him for 20 minutes I had another aha moment regarding one of the habits of really successful people. Russell had three words that he lives by that led him to owning a $1 billion empire.

Those three words are….

Persistence overcomes resistance.

It was a life-altering moment for me the way Russell Simmons showed up for that interview. His whole energy, his perception of his world, the way that he saw his vision of his life and the level of commitment that he held changed me. I realized that if I just keep taking action and I keep putting myself forward to my vision of what I want for my business and my life, I am surely going to get there.

I began to notice immediately after that interview the way people responded to me started to change. This was because of the way that I committed and the way that I showed up.

There are definitely moments where there are total walls of fear where I ask myself what it is that I’m doing. A new thing for me is adding members to the team, and it is not very comfortable. The fearful thoughts get in. I think, what if they don’t work out? What if this or that happens? But I know that taking action and moving forward in this way are essential to accomplish the goals that I am creating for the business in the next three years.

Taking action and committing to the action frees up a lot of time and space.

I used to say that sometimes the hardest thing is just getting out of the house. I used to do a lot more seminars in other locations and I found that my mental chatter got in the way. With that chatter, at times it would be hard just to get out of the house. But once I took action to get out of the house, get into the car and get to the seminar, an entirely new perspective opened up.

Believe in: ACTION, FEEDBACK and CORRECTION.

Take action, get feedback and then correct.

When we take action, new levels of opportunity open up in our business.

In these shifting times, I find that really significant entrepreneurs will find themselves not just getting by but growing their revenue. There is also a trend emerging with shifting your business online, practicing with the new marketing tools and adding new revenue.

It is very important with all of the things you juggle as  a business owner that you are also making decisions about where you want to be.

A few years ago when we were buying wireless terminals for our office, the merchant asked whether we wanted to buy one or two. At that time, buying two was a little bit of an extra investment. It was something I didn’t just jump into. However, I was doing consulting with a colleague who was an attorney, and he said: “Buy two! Grow into being bigger!”

This was something that really stuck with me. It’s something that I really think about with most decisions we make in  the business.

Ask yourself:

Am I making a decision based on where I want to be? Or am I making a decision based on the short term?

If at all possible, I try to make decisions from a bigger vision of where I want to be. It ends up fast-tracking me getting to that result.

When I think about this, I also think about decisions that I have made in investments and creating personal wealth. It dovetails with the business because I teach and have taught wealth creation, as well.

When we bought our house in the marina it was right before the market shifted, and the sellers understood that the market was changing. It was difficult to find something that was great value and made us feel that we were moving forward in a consolidating market.

We had a vision of the property that we wanted to buy. We were very specific about what we wanted for that next property. Moving into the property a few years ago was definitely a step up and a step forward, but really all I could think of as we were buying was that this was one step closer to where we wanted to be.

This has also allowed us to have a whole new office space that is synergistic with the lifestyle that I want to build as I am building this business.

I think of the online business today and I know that many of you are taking your next step into the online world. I realize that it is a bit daunting to get your business going with these new online tools and the 7 Steps that we will cover. I want you to know that when I started in the online world a few years back, I worked with an Indian programmer. There was no real system out there as successful as the systems now available to you. There was not the plug and play technology you have today.

I worked with this Indian programmer about four years ago and it was painful trying to create a custom program for booking our orientation. It took a ton of my time, and it was exhausting. It was also difficult because we were communicating on Indian time, so it took us about three or four months to complete the program. I knew that having that software in play for booking our business would create a whole new level of growth for our business and also our perception and our value.

That little system and making the decision from where we wanted to be ended up creating easily a half of a million or more in revenue within a very short period of time. So this had tremendous value for us.

In some of my recent experiences with the online world I have participated and tried different pieces of marketing that could potentially have brought me to new places that ultimately I wanted to be with the business. Some of the time I had to work for free to do it.

Jessica knows that I have a mantra in the office, which is, I do not work for free! But if I am doing something that I think is going to help get me to where I want to be in growing with this business, then I will do it to effectively grow faster.

I think that this is where a compelling vision comes into place.

Some of you have seen me share a compelling vision that I created and overhauled for 2009.

The compelling vision is such a great way for you as business owners to be really clear about making decisions based on where you would like to be with your life and with your business.

This is a really strong compass. Another part of the vision is annual planning. Just sitting down and doing annual planning with the numbers really creates a lot of clarity.

Ask yourself:

Who do you need to bring on? What needs to happen?

The numbers really tell a story!