by Angela Taffs | Jul 27, 2016 | Personal and Lifestyle
The scary moment when you realise you have no motivation left
Deep breath time as I am out of my comfort zone and have a confession to make.
Last month I had no motivation for my business. Phew – I said it!
I had a lot going on last month and was left both physically and emotionally drained. This created a downward spiral that I struggled to get out of. I am normally full of energy and motivation and the one who is keeping everyone else buoyed up. But suddenly I was the one needing help and I simply didn’t know where to turn.
I was having a mini-meltdown!
I didn’t want to get out of bed and when I did, I didn’t want to work. Everything I did was half-hearted and felt like I was wading through treacle. I had no motivation to carry on with my business. I was having a mini-meltdown!
I was afraid of admitting how I was feeling as people expected me to be the leader. If I wasn’t coping and asked for help, how would people view me, especially clients? I was scared of them losing faith in me and not wanting to work with me again. If I had no motivation, how could I motivate them?
I had been struggling alone with a major family issue that sprung up out of the blue. I started to feel ill and all I wanted to do was lie in a darkened room and cry. I actually felt like I was in mourning. I was mourning my old self that felt like it had died with no chance of being resurrected.
Missed opportunities
I missed a number of valuable opportunities that were right under my nose but that I either missed until it was too late, or quite simply, didn’t have the energy or inclination to take advantage of.
I felt desperate. I felt alone. Two weeks went by and then something happened. A video popped up in my inbox from the wonderful Sarah Marshall from Tapping Into Money Girl. I felt compelled to stop everything and watch. And it was as though she was talking to me personally.
I was self-sabotaging!
Self-sabotage
My business had been going so well that I had got scared. I had hit a money block of taking it to the next level. The self-doubt has started to creep in, who was I to be earning that level of money? What if I hit a level that I couldn’t sustain? Would people expect more of me if I took things to the next level?
Once I had taken a step back after watching Sarah’s video, I realised what I had been doing. I had been shortcutting tasks. I had been talking myself into a feeling of self-despair. I had stopped taking care of myself and as the two are so intricately entwined, my business was suffering.
This was such a huge admission to make to myself, but it had to be done.
Time to recharge
I took a couple of days out to recharge my batteries. I took a cold hard look at my business and knew things had to change. I had to stop giving so much of myself away for free. I had to practice what I preached and start charging my worth. I had to take this business to a whole new level. I owed it to myself and to my clients who needed what I had to offer.
And now, a month on, I am so much happier. I have taken on the support I needed to really move the business forward. I have had a brand refresh, I have had a price review and I have new packages to offer.
And wow! What a difference it has made. My business is now rocketing once again and I am in exactly the right mindset to enjoy it and make the most of it.
If you are feeling stuck and you have no motivation, please don’t do as I did for so long and suffer in silence. Speak to someone, get support, drop me a line if you like and use me as a sounding board. That first step of reaching out for help is the hardest but you will be so glad you did.
by Angela Taffs | Jul 26, 2016 | Business IT, Sales and Marketing
Recently, a member of the Absolutely Fabulous Business Women Facebook group asked me about email etiquette for her home based business. She asked if she could send her newsletter to contacts in general, past colleagues and friends in addition to targeting former clients and prospects.
Email etiquette is such an overlooked subject and so many female entrepreneurs fail to understand the implications of getting it wrong.
If you have a list of people that you want to contact but are unsure about email etiquette, here are a few tips for getting it right.
Email etiquette tips
Firstly, I would never recommend sending a newsletter to anyone who has not subscribed. If you are using mailing software such as Mailchimp, this is strictly forbidden and if recipients report that they did not subscribe, you may get blacklisted.
It is also bad manners to automatically assume that someone wants to receive this newsletter and inviting yourself into their inbox without seeking permission first. They may already have an overflowing inbox and your addition to this is likely to cause offence. It’s like walking into their home without knocking and sitting down in front of them with no introduction and starting up a conversation.
Plain rude! And likely to get you in to hot water legally ……..
Legal email requirements
Secondly, in the EU you need to be aware of legal restrictions in spending unsolicited email under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.
This states:
Use of electronic mail for direct marketing purposes
22.—(1) This regulation applies to the transmission of unsolicited communications by means of electronic mail to individual subscribers.
(2) Except in the circumstances referred to in paragraph (3), a person shall neither transmit, nor instigate the transmission of, unsolicited communications for the purposes of direct marketing by means of electronic mail unless the recipient of the electronic mail has previously notified the sender that he consents for the time being to such communications being sent by, or at the instigation of, the sender.
(3) A person may send or instigate the sending of electronic mail for the purposes of direct marketing where—
(a)that person has obtained the contact details of the recipient of that electronic mail in the course of the sale or negotiations for the sale of a product or service to that recipient;
(b)the direct marketing is in respect of that person’s similar products and services only; and
(c)the recipient has been given a simple means of refusing (free of charge except for the costs of the transmission of the refusal) the use of his contact details for the purposes of such direct marketing, at the time that the details were initially collected, and, where he did not initially refuse the use of the details, at the time of each subsequent communication.
(4) A subscriber shall not permit his line to be used in contravention of paragraph (2).
If you have a database of contacts, I would suggest contacting these people individually to let them know about your business and inviting them to subscribe to your future newsletters. They can then opt in out of choice keeping you in line with the law.
Also, if you have various types of contacts such as colleagues, friends, clients etc, they are unlikely to all be attracted to just one message. Friends would respond better if addressed in a different way to colleagues as would clients and prospects. It will take a little more work creating separate messages but should get you far better results.
by Angela Taffs | Jul 26, 2016 | Sales and Marketing
Stop selling and start to make more sales
Really? Yes, I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but trust me on this one.
As I tell all my clients, the sales process has changed over the years. People no longer want to be sold to. They want to gather information, get recommendations from people they trust, search for comparable solutions and take their time to make a decision on their final purchase.
The old style hard sell approach has little room in today’s environment.
If you want to make more sales and to turn a prospect into a client, you need to nurture a relationship rather than going for a kiss me quick sale. Take the time to build trust and gain respect that will get you remembered for when that person is ready to buy. Give them something for free to show them how good you are and get them to want to come back and buy.
Here is an example that happened just a short while ago.
I do as much as I can to help people and to give them tips and advice for free. I do this to build relationships and is a reason for setting up my Facebook group so that others can share their valuable advice to support each other.
Take time to build relationships
This builds trust and respect and many of my clients come from this group.
One day in the group, a lady asked for some help. It was outside of my expertise so I tagged someone else who I knew was an expert in this particular field. What this person did was jump straight in with a sales pitch. No offer of support or just a quick tip. Just sell, sell, sell.
The lady who asked the question was not looking to buy. She had merely asked a quick question. I then found someone else who I thought may have an answer and she promptly gave some valuable advice and was more than happy to help.
What transpired from this was twofold.
The person who went straight into sales mode didn’t do herself any favours at all. I spoke to the lady who asked the original question and she felt uncomfortable being sold to when she had merely asked for a quick bit of advice. Additionally, I personally shall never suggest anyone goes to this person for help in the future. I also suspect anyone else in the group who saw the conversation may be reluctant to turn to her also.
However, the second person who answered the question did so in such a manner and was so helpful that she gained a new client over the course of the next couple of weeks. The lady asking the question was so impressed with her willingness to help and the quality of the response she got, that whilst she was not initially looking to buy, she saw the value of working with this lady. She also decided to sign up to my membership club as she was confident that I could her source information even if I didn’t have the answers myself and again, was impressed at how I went out of my way to help her.
Create an environment in which people want to buy from you
So think about how you can change from trying to sell to creating an environment in which people want to buy from you. It’s not as hard as you think.
Think about how you can
- Help your prospects by sharing tips and advice
- Entertain them with real life stories and quotes so they get to know and like you.
- Educate them as to what they need to do to solve their pain point and why they need to do it
- Inspire them to them to buy from you by providing the solution to their problem
You may be surprised that when you stop selling you start to make more sales!
P.S. If you are not already in my Facebook group but would like to join for advice and to share tips of your own, hop over and join now
by Angela Taffs | Jul 19, 2016 | Personal and Lifestyle
Money or memories. Which is more important to you?
Today, we rely more and more on social media. We become a social recluse and base our success and popularity by how many followers we have and how many people we have on our mailing lists.
We while away hour after hour sat staring at a screen in a virtual world, feeling ecstatic when someone comments on one of our posts only to return to a feeling of despondency when someone then unsubscribes from our mailing list.
We spend so much time trying to be proactive in these virtual communities that we stand a very real and present danger of alienating ourselves from the real world. Scary, but true!
While we become a social recluse, we stop seeing what is going on around us. We stop being present with our friends and family. Even if we do tear ourselves away from our laptop to go for coffee with a friend, we don’t really hear what they are saying as we are so busy reacting to the ping of a notification on our mobiles just in case we miss something.
Well STOP!!
Life is for living. Yes, you may want to build a business through online marketing but for goodness sake, don’t miss out on the real life you have here and now. By the time your business is at the level you want it to be, you may well have lost what is truly priceless in your life – your health, your friends and your family.
Learn to switch off and make memories, not just money
From today, promise yourself to disconnect for at least an hour a day. Go meet a friend for coffee with your mobile turned off. Go visit a family member or give them a call and chat without interruption. See how much better you feel and how much more refreshed you are.
And once you have got the habit of disconnecting for an hour, try a little longer. Go for a whole evening once per week and if you can bear it, do a whole day at the weekend.
Your business will not suffer. If it is so fragile that it is in danger of collapse from not being present for an hour or so, you have much bigger problems to worry about. You are doing something seriously wrong!
Promise me you will take time out to disconnect. Stop being a social recluse and go take part in the real world once again. Go live life. Go build memories. Don’t wait until it is too late.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments box below.
Angie x
by Angela Taffs | Jul 12, 2016 | Sales and Marketing
How to create 15 pieces of content from just one blog post
Do you still struggle to come up with ideas of what to post on social media? Do you get brain freeze trying to think of different ways to engage with your audience?
Well, I have a trick for you that is going to save you so much time and energy and give you oodles of content from just one source.
By repurposing content, you can reach new audiences, gain new followers and drive more traffic back to your website.
Firstly, you will need a blog post. This can either be a brand new post that you write or go back and find a favourite that you have created before.
From this one blog post, you can now create 15 pieces of content (at least).
All you need to do is create the following:
5 headlines
Yes, from this one post come up with 5 different headlines. This will allow you put out the same post a number of times but to potentially gain more attention with a variety of catchy headlines.
1 key question
Ask a question that leads back to your blog post. If you are a VA and your blog post is about saving clients time by doing their social media scheduling, ask the question ‘How much time do you spend on scheduling your social media and what else would you prefer to be doing with this time?’
This then opens up a conversation. Where people respond you can chat back with them, direct them to your blog post for tips and maintain ongoing contact with a potential prospect who may become a client – win win!!
2 quotes
These can be created either from your own words or find a famous quote that is relevant to your post. Find an engaging image and create a meme for each and post out on social media for people to like and share.
2 top tips
From your content pull out two top tips and use these as social media posts to provide snippets of valuable information to your audience to help raise your visibility and reputation.
1 x 60 second bite size video
Take one of your tips (or both if you like and create 2 videos) and record a video. Video is a great way of interacting with your audience and letting them get to know you. Again this will help build your visibility and trust.
1 x 15 min video tutorial
Now do a longer video talking about the content of your blog post. People who prefer to watch video can see who you are, hear how you speak and pick up your passion for what you do. You can post this out on social media and also showcase on your website and your YouTube channel.
Podcast
For those who prefer podcasts, take your video content and create a podcast. This again can be put on your website for future visitors.
Facebook live or periscope broadcast
A great way to gain new followers is to do a Facebook live on your business page or do a Persicope broadcast. You can talk about the content of your blog post and take questions from viewers and allow them to share their thoughts.
Worksheet
If relevant, create a worksheet or cheat sheet for your blog which you can offer out as a freebie. If you an events manager and your blog post is about planning a launch, how about creating a checklist for the launch day. You can then offer this as a freebie in return for an email address which you can then add to your mailing list.
Now you can see how from one blog post, you can create 15 social media posts that can be used again and again. What other ideas do you have? Share them in the comments
