15 Takeaways from 2009
I have been very blessed this year by having thousands of people cross my path. I got to know many people well, and some just crossed my path for a brief time. Throughout this journey I learned some important things about myself and about others. I thought I would share them with you here in hopes that they may bless and inspire you as they have me.
1. Make people feel special - Make a personal connection where ever possible. They’ll feel good and you’ll feel great.
2. Be a person of high integrity - If you don’t, it will bite you in the butt some day in some way. Guaranteed.
3. Over deliver. - The more you give, the more you will receive. Go the extra mile and give more than what is expected. Be strategic and purposeful with your giving, but give with an open heart and an attitude of abundance.
4. Deliver quality or don’t deliver at all - Deliver quality, and stand behind your products and your word. This is what your customers will remember.
5. Value yourself - This will hold you back and show up in more areas of your life and business than anything else. Embrace who you are. Acknowledge that you have value to offer. Step into it even if you are afraid. When you step into it, you will act it, then you will believe it, and finally you will claim it.
6. Always make time for you - Take time personally for yourself because that’s what matters most. At the end of the day, your health, well being and the people you love are what is most important.
7. Make learning a priority - In today’s busy internet world where people are selling and consuming more knowledge and information than ever before, if you aren’t learning and passing on your knowledge, you will QUICKLY be left behind.
8. A little sacrifice is a good thing - Building a business is hard work. You have to be prepared to make short term sacrifices for the long term gain.
9. Support your colleagues - Encourage your colleagues in their journey. Refer them, speak well of them, support them, and use their services. Zig Ziglar said it best when he said, “You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.”
10. Collaborate - Don’t try to do it alone. It’s harder and lonelier. The more you can collaborate, the more you will grow. And you will have more fun too.
11. You have no competitors - Always adopt an abundance mentality. There’s more business than there are people to provide it. If you approach your business with this perspective, you will never go hungry.
12. Always be growing your list - The more people you have to talk to, the more people you can serve. With no one to talk to, you have no one to serve.
13. Don’t wait for perfect - Perfection can be the enemy. Don’t wait for perfect or you will never take action.
14. Action is the enemy of fear - Fear of Failure/Success/Criticism/Responsibility/Power (you name it) is the biggest paralyzer of all. If you take action, your fear will minimize and it will become peripheral instead of primary. Just do it.
15. Failure isn’t fatal - This is a biggie. The more risks you take the more successes you will have - and the more failures too. Fail some so that you can see that you won’t die and the world won’t come to an end when you fail. Whew! O.K. failures, I’m ready for you now.
I hope you find these takeaways to be as helpful and insightful for you as they are for me. May we take these lessons into 2010 to find even more success, prosperity and fulfillment.
Blessings to you!
10 More Tips for Leading a Successful Teleseminar
At the heart of good facilitation of a workshop, teleseminar or other learning program is to let participants discover learning for themselves. As the facilitator, be open to allowing participants to express the learning that is most important to them.
You can do this by first creating a safe learning environment, which means responding neutrally to all participant comments, even those that may be at odds with the majority of the group. It is important to legitimize all contributions.
In a recent post entitled 8 Tips for Leading a Successful Telesminar, we covered 8 important strategies for optimizing the learner’s experience. Here are 10 more that will make your training program powerful and impactful.
1. Remember to also use stories, metaphors and word pictures whenever teaching a concept. This also helps to accommodate the different learning styles and is a powerful technique for locking in learning.
2. Do not interrupt – Let people finish their thoughts and try not to interrupt them mid sentence. Some people will have a tendency to go on too long, and when it does happen, you can then subtly interject and get the meeting back on track.
3. Silence is o.k. – When you ask questions or invite someone to volunteer, it’s o.k. to allow for some silence. People need time to think and when asked for volunteers, sometimes they are just waiting to see if someone else steps up. Wait for some time to pass, and ask the question again. Wait again. Then if someone answers thank them and affirm whatever they say. This will tell your other participants that participating is welcomed and encouraged.
If no one responds after the second request, continue on or encourage someone to speak up. Don’t be bashful to challenge your participants in a loving, fun way. They want to speak, they are just apprehensive at times.
4. Encourage participants to ask questions, and don’t be afraid of not knowing an answer - Learning is not about you parting your knowledge to others. Instead, learning is about creating a fertile space in which learning grows out of what participants share and reflect upon with each other. Handle questions in a way that encourages participants to express their own thoughts and feelings and to hear from others what they think and feel.
When a participant asks you a question, you can answer the question, or instead reflect it back to the entire group and see what they think first. For example, “Thank you Susan. What do the rest of you think about it?” Reflecting back to the entire group allows participants to explore and formulate their own answers by drawing upon the personal experience of others. Any time you can encourage participants to share their own thoughts, feelings, and experiences, rich learning will take place. Participants just want their questions answered; it doesn’t matter to them who ultimately provides it.
5. Remember that the best learning is entertaining as well as educational - This teleseminar has built-in activities to help ensure that participants are engaged during the call. Still, it is important to remember that participants will also respond directly to the facilitator’s own energy and enthusiasm. Participants will reflect the attitude of the facilitator, it’s that simple. If you want your teleseminar to be received in a positive and enthusiastic manner, it begins with the attitude you bring to the call.
6. Don’t rush through the telecall, worrying about whether a topic is ahead or behind schedule - Depending on the makeup of the group and their willingness to interact, chances are that the times allocated to each section of the teleseminar may be off – some sections taking longer than indicated, while others shorter than indicated. Don’t worry about this. Just trust that the overall time allocation for the telecall will work out despite the varying ebb and flow of each section. Give participants the time they need to absorb the material and ask the questions that the content and activities will provoke. The teleseminar is designed to flow easily and naturally, and audience participation will be a large part of the format. The more familiar you become with the content and flow, the easier it will be for you to regulate the amount of time people spend participating and keep the seminar on track.
7. Be unassuming - The way these telecalls are designed, the participants should do most of the talking. A good facilitator only says enough to present new content, give activity instructions, keep the telecall on track, and sum up what has been learned. Trying to be the center of attention during a teleseminar or making yourself appear important is not most conducive to participant learning, given the format of this teleseminar. Learning is fundamentally not about you and your content, but about participants and their learning. Concentrate on making learning happen by throwing the spotlight on your participants instead of yourself. By putting them in the driver’s seat of their own learning, you will reap the success you want for yourself.
8. Review this program thoroughly prior to delivering it the first time - Becoming comfortable with its content, activities, and logistics will help you nail down its flow. This will lend a great deal of credibility to you as participants willingly allow you to lead them through it with confidence.
9. Use affirmations - The idea behind this technique is pretty simple. Affirmations are like little reminder notes to ourselves to control negative self-talk and turn that talk into something positive. Developing a positive mindset is critical to successfully facilitating this teleseminar. Before offering it, say and believe these truths about yourself:
· Today, I will embrace the gift that I am to others.
· Today, I will be authentic and real.
· Today, I will release the need to be perfect.
· Today, I will trust that I am prepared and everything will unfold as it should.
10. Do your best - It is common to get less attendees than registrants with free telecalls - potentially up to 50-75% less. Therefore, it’s important for you to manage your expectations around the number of participants that actually show up for your teleseminar. If the actual number of attendees is smaller than what was hoped for, don’t express disappointment and don’t approach the teleseminar as unsuccessful. Instead, act as if whatever number of participants show up is exactly the number you planned for. Always give 100% no matter how many participants you have. This way, your participants get all of you, and a deeper learning experience is assured. And next time they’ll come back and bring someone!
If you are creating a product from your teleseminar, you will want to give it 100% of your energy and enthusiasm regardless of the number of attendees so that you can have a quality product to give to prospects and clients.
If you missed the first 8 tips, be sure to check out our recent post entitled 8 Tips for Leading a Successful Telesminar.
Finding Your “Sweet Spot”
Earlier this summer, my daughter and I traveled to Colorado Springs Colorado to spend a luxurious weekend getaway at a beautiful mountain resort.
We decided one day that we were going to play tennis. While out there, I was reminded of the sporting term “finding your sweet spot” - that location on the club, bat or racket where maximum energy is transferred to the ball for optimum performance.
There’s something so magical when you swing that golf club or tennis racket or baseball bat, and you hit that ball just perfect. It soars into the distance and lands exactly where you want it to be and all feels right with the world.
Aren’t our lives and business much the same? We know when we are struggling and hacking just to make a score, and we know when we have found our sweet spot.
And when we have hit our sweet spot, life just doesn’t get any better.
We are happy, content, fulfilled and we have boundless energy, and we know we have found our sweet spot.
Take Tiger Woods, as an athlete. Tiger is hitting his sweet spot. Tiger is LIVING his sweet spot.
And what about those crazy guys who host the T.V. show Mythbusters -
who get paid to blow things up? If you have ever seen that show,
you know that those guys are in their sweet spot.
So what about you?
What is your sweet spot?
What makes you feel most alive?
When do you have boundless energy?
When are you most fulfilled and content?
Find your sweet spot in your life and in your business - there is nothing like it when you’re there.
How to Beat the Fear of Success
Many of us have heard about the fear of failure holding people back, but what about the fear of success? Do you know of someone in your life who has so much potential to live big and bold, yet they hold themselves back? Are you one of those people?
I was recently talking to a dear friend and colleague who confessed that she was really struggling with her fear of success. I asked her what that level of success was that was causing her fear and anxiety. She said “breaking that $100,000 barrier.” So here’s what I suggested – “Get to $90,000, then let’s re-evaluate.”
She looked at me with tears in her eyes, and said that in that moment she felt totally freed from her fears, and that she could indeed see herself getting to the $90,000 mark first. We talked about how once she reached the $90,000 mark she could sit there a bit, get acquainted with the feeling of that kind of income, and feel what $100k will be like – afterall, it’s only $10k away.
What about you? What dreams are you holding you back due to you fear of success? Are you afraid to achieve an income goal, are you afraid to drop that weight because your “protection” will be gone, are you afraid to “put yourself out there” because of the responsibility that comes with it?
Try stepping on up to just shy of that which holds you back so you can get a closer look, and get acquainted with it. Then busting through to the next level will be just a small step away.
8 Tips for Leading a Successful Teleseminar
At the heart of good facilitation of a workshop, teleseminar or other learning program is to let participants discover learning for themselves. As the facilitator, be open to allowing participants to express the learning that is most important to them.
You can do this by first creating a safe learning environment, which means responding neutrally to all participant comments, even those that may be at odds with the majority of the group. It is important to legitimize all contributions.
As well, keep in mind the following facilitation and telecall protocol guidelines:
1. Prior to the call, send call in instructions and teleseminar protocol to the registrants
2. Send the handouts
3. Begin and end the teleseminar on time
4. Have people introduce themselves when they come on the line
5. Start the call with interest and excitement – Much like professional speakers start their speeches with a catchy phrase or story, you too should start you calls that way. It engages the audience immediately and they develop an instant impression that this call is going to be time well spent.
After your intro, you can announce yourself, announce the call, and discuss housekeeping items.
6. Exude a strong leadership presence- As the facilitator of the call, you set the tone for your telecall format, flow, and overall feeling. We’ve all been on calls before where the facilitator has talked in a monotone voice, lectured without engaging the audience, or was just boring. Therefore you want to be sure to be enthusiastic and confident in your delivery, and speak clearly and articulately.
Remember if you are new at this, you will get better every time, and before you know it, you will be a pro. But you have to work at it. Try to improve something in your presentation every time. The difference between those who are mediocre telecall facilitators and those who are excellent is working to constantly improve their skills.
7. Use vocal variety - Your voice is your main instrument on a teleseminar, and how you sound has a big effect on how people feel about you. Breathe from your belly instead of your throat, and notice how much deeper and resonant your voice sounds. A deeper, relaxed sounding voice tends to carry with it more gravitas than a squeaky, high pitched voice. Open your chest by pulling your shoulders back. Put a smile on your face as you speak as that will translate into a more friendly tone of voice. Vary your speed of speaking so you don’t end up sounding like a robot.
8. Accommodate all learning styles during the telecall – Remember you have different types of learners on the call – audio, visual and kinesthetic. Therefore give them something to see, something to hear and something to do whenever possible (this includes just writing some things down). Use the handouts we provide, and send in advance of the teleseminar.
Remember to also use stories, metaphors and word pictures whenever teaching a concept. This also helps to accommodate the different learning styles and is a powerful technique for locking in learning.
For 10 more important tips on how to lead a successful teleseminar, see the posting dated December 7th entitled 10 More Tips for Leading a Successful Teleseminar.
Tags: education based marketing, education marketing, marketing, ready made, ready2go, teleseminars, training progams, workshops
Do You Believe?
I love the quote by author Napolean Hill where he says, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.” And then goes on to say “…regardless of how many times you have failed in the past or how lofty your aims or hopes may be.”
In his book entitled Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill states that it is scientifically impossible to conceive something in your mind, to believe that you can do it, and then not be able to. The very fact that you can conceive something in your mind, and believe that you can do It, means that you can.
Belief is an ever important aspect of visioning. If you can imagine it, but you truly don’t believe it, then you will not be able to achieve it. Your worry, doubt and uncertainty will act as a barrier that prohibits your vision from manifesting itself.
Now, in order to manifest our dreams, goals and visions, we must believe 2 things:
- We must first believe that our vision can really become a reality,
- And second, we must believe that we deserve what we dream.
Therefore believing that you can achieve something is only half the battle. You MUST ALSO believe that you deserve what you desire.
This is tricky for a lot of us because a lot of us have obstacles and self limiting thoughts that keeping up from feeling that we truly deserve. But the good news is that if you practice the principles I am going to teach you in this series, YOUR BELIEF WILL GROW!
And when your belief comes, you radiate a different energy, which then allows God, the universe, your higher power, whatever that is for you, to work in your life.
Without belief, YOUR source can’t bless you to the level you deserve, because YOU prohibit it!
The universe wants to bless us. It is the universal law known as the law of abundance. There is enough for everyone to get everything they want, we just have to believe it and receive it.
There is so much abundance out there, that if everyone got what they wanted, there would still be tremendous abundance remaining.
So many of us operate under the premise of “TAKING OUR SHARE”, but we are not taking enough of our share or allowing ourselves to be rewarded with an abundant life. Our share is so much more, but we have to believe it first in order to receive it.
Dr. Wayne Dyer’s has a wonderful metaphor for this principle. He states:
“The ocean of abundance is there. You can go to that ocean of abundance, and you can take a mac truck and fill it up 20 times a day, and it doesn’t impact it at all, it doesn’t even go down a zillionth of an inch - its unlimited. Or you can go to the same ocean of abundance with an eye dropper and you can take that much out and say “that’s all that’s available for me.”
So the choice is yours – do you want to go to the ocean of abundance with a mac truck or with an eye dropper. Are you visions comparable to a vast ocean of possibility and opportunity, or are they limited by your doubts, worries and self limiting thoughts?
Check out this youtube video of Napolean Hill talking about this timeless philosophy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ0hHIQIr_E
Tags: education based marketing, education marketing, marketing, ready made, ready2go, teleseminars, training progams, workshops
Designing More Compelling Workshops
The idea of learning should never be regarded as something that’s boring, agonizing, or tedious. Instead, what makes learning a turnoff for so many is the overuse of ineffective instructional strategies. For learning to be effective, workshop participants need to be actively engaged in the learning process.
Here are three essential components that together create a simple, yet complete framework on which to design any workshop. By developing your workshop around these three pillars, you will go a long way in determining its success even before the first participant sets foot in the classroom.
Component #1 – Prepare Participants for Learning
The first section of any workshop must be designed to stimulate a participant’s receptiveness to learning. Preparation involves establishing positive feelings, generating interest, and priming them for the learning that’s about to take place. People often come to a workshop in a passive state or with an array of internal barriers that must be dealt with. If these barriers are not removed, full learning will not take place. Some of the biggest “mental blocks” that workshop participants may have are:
- Fear of looking stupid in front of others.
- Uneasiness about interacting with people they don’t know.
- Fear that the workshop will point out significant deficiencies in their character.
- Concern over the workshop being boring.
- Fear of not being able to accomplish tasks within the workshop.
The easiest way to deal with these barriers is to start your workshop off with an icebreaker activity that loosens up the participant and makes them feel comfortable. A good introductory activity is a powerful way to engage people and help them open up to learning while still focusing on the topic of the workshop.
Consider this: What will help prepare participants for the workshop and at the same time, introduce the topic?
30% of the workshop should be dedicated to the presentation of content, and 70% of the workshop should be spent allowing participants to practice working with that content.
Component #2 – Present New Content and Let Participants “Do”
The second part of the workshop is where participants will first encounter new information. Learning is not passive; it’s not an act of consumption. Instead, it requires active involvement. So consider creative ways to present new information to participants during this part of the workshop. Only as a last resort should you choose lecturing as the sole method for delivering content. Instead, help learners encounter new information in ways that are interesting, enjoyable, relevant, and multi-sensory.
Once new information has been presented, let participants practice and experiment with the content. Give them the opportunity to reflect on, discuss, and actively experience what they are gaining. As a general rule, 30% of the workshop should be dedicated to the presentation of content, and 70% should be spent allowing participants to practice working with that content.
Component #3 – Allow Participants to Apply Their New Knowledge
Participants need time to reflect on their experiences from the workshop and bring closure to their learning. Reviewing what has been learned is critical for long-term retention. This portion of the workshop is also meant to assist participants in applying their new knowledge to their lives. Unless what is learned is applied, there is no real learning. It is here that participants decide specifically how they will apply their new knowledge. What will they decide to follow through on? What actions will they take? This commits them to making their learning relevant and useful.
Remember to structure your workshops in this way:
- Prepare participants for learning and introduce the topic.
- Present content 30% of the time, and have participants practice 70% of the time.
- Have them commit to applying their new knowledge in their lives.
By developing your workshop around these three pillars, you will go a long way in determining the success of your training program long before the first participant sets foot in the classroom, and your training program will be far from the traditional boring and agonizing formats we are all so accustomed to.
Tags: education based marketing, education marketing, marketing, ready made, ready2go, teleseminars, training progams, workshops
3 Steps to Record, Upload and Distribute Your Audio Training Program
If you have wanted to create audio training programs but have been unsure how it all works together, then you are going to want to read this article where I explain in 3 easy steps how you can record, upload and distribute your own audio training program.
Audio training programs are a great product to offer to your list. They are a fun, unique and interesting way to touch your list and offer value added information to your clients and prospects.
This post will share with you the 3 simple steps required to record and prepare your audios for distribution so you can start enjoying the tremendous benefits of this powerful product.
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Once you have written the scripts for your audio training program, you will need to record and upload them for distribution. Once you complete these steps, you will have an automatic,
hands free, marketing tool that will be used over and over again for all your new prospects.
STEPS TO DEVELOP YOUR AUDIO PROGRAMTo keep the process simple, we recommend using a combination of Audio Acrobat and Audacity to record and edit your audio training programs.
1. Record your audios
Audio Acrobat is a very well known and highly used service. (www.audioacrobat.com). You can record your audios here, but Audio Acrobat does not have the capabilities of editing the recording. Therefore, if your file requires editing, you can download the audio file to your computer and use Audacity’s (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/) editing software.
This is a very quick and easy process.
Audacity is a free software application that allows you to edit pre-recorded audio. Audacity also allows you to record directly into your computer and easily edit the file there. If you choose to record directly with Audacity, you can easily edit your audio file, and then upload it to Audio Acrobat for emailing.
For better sound quality, consider recording with Audacity directly into your computer. You may want to invest in an external microphone for better sound quality.
After that, it’s easy to edit and upload to Audio Acrobat for distribution.
2. Create your web pages for listeners to link to play the audio.
Once the files are edited and uploaded to Audio Acrobat, you have two options for distributing them:
a. You can create 6 customized web pages that will have the link to the audios. You can create these pages as simple or elaborate as you desire. There are some that include the link along with testimonials, other offers, and include the previous audio recordings.
And there are some with simple verbiage and the link.
To see our audio tips web page, go to http://www.Ready2GoMarketingSolutions.com/ and sign up for our free offers. To get more ideas, research how some others in the industry
are creating theirs.
If you are not web savvy, most VAs who have web experience, and web designers, can build these web pages for you easily and inexpensively.
b. If you do not want to create customized web pages that play the audio, it is a simple process to embed the audio URL from Audio Acrobat directly into your email. Audio Acrobat’s support team can help you do this yourself in just a couple easy steps.
3. Preload into an autoresponder
After you have recorded the audios, you will then need to pre-load the emails that deliver each audio link for the recording into an auto responder email system. An auto responder is an automated email message that can be scheduled for delivery and is automatically sent to the recipient. You will indicate how often you want the emails to be sent and they will
be mailed automatically.
There are numerous auto responder services on the market that are very easy to use such as 1ShoppingCart (http://www.1shoppingcart.com) , AWeber (http://www.aweber.com), or Constant Contact (http://www.constantcontact.com).
Once you have the audios recorded, web pages built, and the emails loaded into your autoresponder program, you now have a hands free, automated marketing tool that you will use time and time again to offer a valued added product to your ever growing list.
And remember, if you need any assistance creating and implementing your audio training program, you can contact us for a consultation. We also can provide referrals to help you to get your Audio Program developed and implemented easily and affordably.
Tags: business growth, education based marketing, education marketing, If you have wanted to create audio training programs but have been unsure how it all works together, marketing, marketing tips, ready made, ready2go, teleseminars, then you are going to want to read this article where I explain in 3 easy steps how you can record, training progams, upload and distribute your own audio training program., workshops
Top Reasons to Use Audio Training Programs to Grow Your List
They have many benefits such as:
- They are a great list building special offer
- They give your prospects a better feel for you and your personality.
- The prospect connects with you faster and easier.
- It is something different than the customary written word
- Your prospects and clients can download them and listen in their car, ipod, etc.
- You can cover more information quicker than through the written word.
- People can listen while doing other things as opposed to reading.
- They can become viral and be sent around to others.
- If they are multi part (which we recommend), it allows you to touch your list multiple times with value added information that creates good will.
Using audio training programs will help to attract more prospects, grow your list, and ultimately convert more clients. It’s a win all the way around!
Stay tuned for next time when I will explain in 3 easy steps how you can record, upload and distribute your own audio training program.
Tags: business growth, education based marketing, education marketing, marketing, marketing tips, ready made, ready2go, teleseminars, training progams, workshops
Ideas for Follow Up After a Workshop
Whenever you are conducting a workshop, you want to have a plan for what you are going to offer your participants next. You may want them to sign up for a future workshop, sign up to have a complimentary session with you to become a one-on-one client, or join a group program. The key is to have a goal.
But not all your participants will be ready to engage with you further, so you want to have a plan to stay in touch with them. Here are a few suggestions:
-Follow up with participants by sending them a recent article and personal notes to keep them motivated.
- During the workshop, have each person write one idea they will take away from the workshop. Each week, email one idea that was collected.
- After 6 to 8 weeks have gone by, send out the results from the evaluation again so they will remember the positive effects from the workshop.
- Another great idea is to have each participant write on a blank sheet of paper the answer to the following questions:
o What factors will serve to prevent you from implementing the desired changes?
o What steps can you take to increase the likelihood of changing your behavior?
§ Take the papers and mail them to the individuals after 30 days with this question:
o How have you taken the necessary steps to improve yourself?
These are just a few things that will allow you to stay in touch, continue to nurture the relationship and remind the participant that you care.
Tags: business growth, education based marketing, education marketing, marketing, marketing tips, ready made, ready2go, teleseminars, training progams, workshops
