May
15

In honor of anti-entrepreneurial-burnout day

By | Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurial Spirits, Success

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Burnt out and fed up?

Dragging your butt?

Every single entrepreneur I know goes through it.  Every single person in a career goes through it.

That awful feeling of complete burn out.

Having been there and collected the t-shirt (more like a collection of them), I can feel your pain.

Actually, my burnout went beyond just that and led me into a multi-year bout of depression.  Never told you that before.  I spent far too long locked up in my office, avoiding people, being the recluse I am good at being…

…and it did me NO GOOD at all.

Interesting thing is, I have spoken to a LOT of entrepreneurs who let burn out lead to depression… and it is an awful thing to go through.

So, in honor of anti-burnout day (yup, just made that up)… here are a couple things I would recommend you do to fix it.

* Shake things up…in a BIG way.  Book a day without meetings and just call people you haven’t spoke to in a long time.  Long lost friends, clients, even leads you have that haven’t been followed up with properly.

* Go do something fun.  If you have children, go to a kids movie, or to the zoo, or to a carnival, or just out for a beautiful walk and picnic.  Being around the young ones is very refreshing and reinvigorating.

* Watch and play with some dogs.  Those fur balls are MASTERS at showing you how to live life to its fullest.  Their unbridled enthusiasm just for a little attention is contagious!  As you may know, I am doing some fun things in the pet business right now and absolutely love it!  If you watch to find out more about what I am doing – maybe even build yourself a business alongside me in the pet business, this video will give you an overview of what I am up to.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xCoT4FI2aw

* Have some FUN with your marketing.  Create some new wild and wacky campaigns.  Go out to the grocery store and pick up some National Enquirers, maybe a Cosmo or two.  Look at the headlines, read the stories… and spice up your marketing some.  Your clients and prospects will love you for it.

* GET OUTSIDE.  Nothing beats the blues better than some sunshine and exercise. I am out twice a day for 30-45 minute per time walking the dog at the dog park.  I do my martial arts 3 to 4 times a week.  I eat good and look after myself.  If you don’t now, start.  You and I aren’t getting any younger, so make the most out of every single day you have.

When the burnout blues grab hold of you, it’s in your court to beat them back.

Massive change and activity will do it every time.

So get busy will ya :O)?

Have a great day.

Troy

May
10

I love free publicity

By | Entrepreneur, Writing

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Just got this write-up from a workshop I did last week. The only reason I share, is that I think we should all be working a little harder to share the good stories.  The entrepreneurs in the workshop were passionate about their businesses and need more positive ideas to help them grow.

(http://www.prrecordgazette.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3557146)

Business owners learn how to write their story as a form of marketing in free workshop last week

By Erin Steele, Record-Gazette

Posted 1 day ago

About 20 Peace Country small business owners received instructions last week on how to draw-in customers through storytelling.

The workshop, ‘Writing for Online Business’ was free for ThinkLocalMarket.com merchants as part of the merchant training offered by the site, and was co-ordinated by the Horizon Learning Centre.

Troy White, a small business owner and copywriter from Calgary was the instructor for the day.

“I love using stories in marketing. It is too much sales, not enough stories,” he told the Record-Gazette outside the Northern Lakes College classroom during a break in the early hours of the workshop.

“Every entrepreneur sits on stories, they just don’t know it.”

Even if it begins as just an idea, White’s job that day was to help those in attendance transform that into something their clients would want to tell their friends and family. An example of this is White’s twin 11-year-old girls who, over the years, he has used to compare to the growth of his business.

“They have to learn to crawl before they walk; Have fun in business have fun in life,” he cited as two examples of the parallel.

If the merchants at the workshop leave with a new or renewed ability to share their stories through marketing, White will be satisfied.

“I hope they come out of here feeling more confident sharing stories,” he said.

Peace Riverite Melissa Earle knows she has stories to tell inside of her – it is the drawing them out that thus far has proven difficult.

“That’s what I’m learning – how to say it,” she said.

“Fear keeps us from saying anything. There’s so much to say. If I don’t say it, you’re not going to hear what is inside.”

Brad Rabiey, ThinkLocalMarket.com co-ordinator explained to the Record-Gazette that the workshop is part of the e-commerce directive to help its’ entrepreneurs grow their businesses.

“It’s turning your words into wealth,” he said.

Ultimately it can buff-up the client base which would help both the merchant and ThinkLocalMarket.com.

erin.steele@sunmedia.ca

May
10

Boomerang therapy for marketers and entrepreneurs

By | Entrepreneur, Main Content, Success, Time management and productivity, Writing

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Are you too busy being busy?

I have been lately.

Craziness at its finest…

But it pains me to admit something.

The most therapeutic thing I have done over the past 5 months, I have been slacking on.

Writing.

Daily.

Nothing has proven itself to be more beneficial to my business, my client’s businesses, and my head-space.

VERY, very therapeutic.

Yet I let busy-ness get in the way.

Battling my way back now.

What about you?

When you find a ritual that brings you success, do you ever struggle keeping that ritual going?

Much like my writing, your ritual may be writing, or blogging, or videos, or phone calls.

Are you slacking on them?

Here is a quick and easy solution.

It works best if you use Gmail.  But there are ways you can set it up in any of your mail systems.  If you use Gmail – get this plugin http://www.boomeranggmail.com – (not an affiliate link) – it is pure brilliance!  What it does is allows you to set reminder emails to yourself at whatever frequency you want. Or you can “Boomerang” an email that comes to you for a later date (not urgent today, but may be in a week – Boomerang it to email you again in a week).  There are so many ways to use this wonderful little tool, I can’t even begin.

Once you have Boomerang setup – schedule an automated reminder to come to you every 14 days.  In it describe whatever your goal is.  Want to write daily? Set it up in Boomerang to remind you daily. Want to make more phone calls? Reminder yourself daily.

It actually helps you hold yourself accountable.

If you are constantly being reminded to do something, chances are you will.

It is a beautiful thing and I hope you give it a go.

I have and love it.

Have a great day.

Troy

 

May
09

Referral marketing – webinar replay

By | Referral marketing

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I had the privilege yesterday of having marketing expert Tom Poland present a wonderful webinar for many for my clients and subscribers.

Tom showed us his wicked-smart strategies on… ‘How to get ten successful referrals every month – even when you are on holiday or asleep.’

Please note that I have organized a replay but it is only available for a short period of time… here’s the link: http://www.8020center.com/krmreplay/

Tom has agreed to leave this replay online until at least the end of the weekend so you have a couple of days to watch it.

Tom also made a super generous offer to everyone on the live webinar and he has allowed me to pass this same offer on to all my clients and subscribers as well. However this offer is only available until the end of the weekend as well. (You can see the offer at the end of the webinar or access it directly from the replay page.)

So if you would some delightfully simple, easy to use proven systems to get great referrals in your business I recommend you watch Tom’s presentation.

Here’s what other’s have said about the event…

“The multiple referrals system idea revolutionized my way of thinking about referral marketing. Thank you.”

Bozena Chorazewicz

 

“I’m very impressed with the information presented at this webinar. I will certainly attend any others in the future. What a delight to just not be ‘sold’ to!”

Sue Meyer

 

“This was a greatly refreshing seminar – Tom is a great, engaging speaker, love the voice! And of course, a great marketing leader.”

Trina Lo

 

“Thank you for respecting my time by presenting an excellent systematic approach to referrals! I like that you gave practical examples of HOW to implement them instead of only providing the WHAT.”

Paul Guyon

 

“Many ideas and the time just flew by. A wealth of knowledge and great ideas around referral marketing. Concrete, easy to understandable tips around referral marketing. Thanks so much!”

Francie Kane

 

“Thank you for making referrals interesting and motivating me to get started.  Looking forward to learning more from you.”

Ak Err

 

“Great job Tom – Loved the Godfather idea – Will certainly look to implement ASAP. Love seeing an Aussie teaching the world.”

Scott Osboldstone

 

“Many intriguing approaches to generating referrals. Great webinar!”

Sam McNamee

 

“I really appreciate all these valuable ideas, methods, tried and true marketing ideas. Your God Father strategy gave me a big ah ha moment!”

Marilyn Schauber

“That was most excellent, Tom, thanks!  I took copious notes and have since written them up properly. I look forward to making a plan based on them and then it’s all action!  Many thanks.”
Christine Fromont

“Thank you and Tom for the webinar yesterday – it was very informative and worthwhile for follow up action – the Godfather action approach is excellent – Have a great day.”
Coral Smith

“Hi there, I wish to thank you for your Seminar yesterday. The advice makes so much sense. The “Godfather” offer is so powerful. Thank you again. Best wishes.”
Lee Hanna

“Thank you very much Tom for clarifying how easy referrals can be. Awesome! Thank you again – you are wonderful! Regards to you both.”
Charlotte Campbell Lamerton

 

The strategy that everyone loved was Tom’s “Godfather” strategy to get large numbers of referrals in a short period of time.

Tom also shared a wonderful referral strategy for people with staff. He explained how simple it is to motivate each team member to get new clients in the door AND empower them to do just that.

He also explained costly but common mistakes to avoid and how to implement a number of referral strategies for little or no cost.

The most common question from people who attended the webinar was ‘Is there a replay of this webinar so I can watch it again and show it other people?’

Well like I mentioned above, the good news is that the webinar has been recorded and so if you go to this link you will be able to watch a video replay of the entire presentation.

http://www.8020center.com/krmreplay/

Troy

PS: I listen to a lot of marketing people each year and this presentation is one of the most useful I have seen for quite some time. So do take some time to check it before Tom takes it down.

http://www.8020center.com/krmreplay/

May
08

The quick, easy (and scary) way I eliminated my fear of snakes

By | Entrepreneurial Spirits, Success

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We all have fears.

Some people are scared to death of public speaking (used to be me too – Dale Carnegie training fixed that).

Some people have fears of heights, water, fire or spiders.

Mine used to be snakes.

The mere thought of them gave me the heeby-jeebies.

So I decided to do something about it…

…I bought a snake.

Then an aquarium.

And put it on the night stand next to my bed.

(gulp)

Nightmares for 2 weeks.

Cold sweats.

Fears of it getting out and wrapping itself around me while I slept.

Guess what?

I came out alive… and FREE of my fear of snakes.

What’s your fear?

My quick and dirty way of getting over the fear has applied to anything and everything I can think of in business.

Writing (hated English – almost failed it twice in University!).

Marketing.

Phone calls to cold leads.

What’s your fear?

Is there any possible way you can immerse yourself in the world you fear most?

It’s the easiest way to get over it once and for all.

I got bit by a dog as a kid… now I not only own one… I run a pawsitively fun dog business that I thoroughly enjoy.

(if you like dogs… marketing… and money… make sure you join me Wed at 2:00 MST – use this link

Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/249865786

Title:  Dog Park Dollars… Health and wealth for your favorite furry friend
Date:   Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Time:   2:00 PM – 2:37 PM MDT

Hope you have a great day… free of fears and full of fun.

Troy

Apr
27

The puzzles and the plates (with some hidden gold in between)

By | Main Content

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Last night I was over at a friends place for a bit.

They were gearing up for a garage sale and were going through their stuff.

There was a box of small, thin boxes that I asked about.

My buddies girlfriend said it was some old plates she was going to try and “pawn off” at the garage sale.

..but something didn’t look right.

The smaller, thinner boxes looked kinda special.

So I opened one.

Lo-and-behold…

…here were 10 Bradford exchange plates with certificates.

Authentic porcelain plates, delicately packaged, with certificates of authenticity and #s associated to the plate.

To me, that isn’t a plate you sell at a garage sale for $0.25!

It sounds like it could be worth some damn money… TIMES 10 of them.

She agreed :O)

No more garage sale – now its off to ebay or a collectors site they go.

Then another box of “old puzzles” was discovered.

She also was tossing these to the garage sale pile.

But my buddy is a puzzle freak, and started looking at these things.

There were about 8 or 9 of them – from the mid-60s – UNOPENED.

Again – to her they were junk, but to a collector they could be gold.

My point?

Inside these seemingly junk boxes were some real treasures.

That could be worth some serious coin.

I bet you have them too.

Inside your customer data.

Golden pieces of information that could be worth a BUNDLE to you.

…if you know where to look and how to find them.

My Facebook Jumpstart course is almost full – and it shows you HOW to find the gold, and WHAT to do with it when you find it.
http://blog.smallbusinesscopywriter.com/facebook-ads-training/

Me thinks this is worth FAR more than the minuscule $39 I am asking.

ONE single golden find is worth 10… maybe 100 TIMES the investment.

When you find it – you will immediate see the niche marketing potential.

And when you see that… a whole new world opens up.

Sounds simple.

Here’s how you start…
http://blog.smallbusinesscopywriter.com/facebook-ads-training/

Have a great weekend.

Troy

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