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Sandra P. Martini's Articles

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  • How to Instantly Boost Your Creativity and Your Happiness
    It wasn't long ago when a friend asked me what I was tolerating in my life. Tolerating? Me? I have a husband I adore and who adores me, 5 fabulous pets, a house we're comfortable in, supportive friends and family and a business which fulfills me while allowing me to help others. What could I possibly be tolerating?
  • Strong Boundaries: The Cornerstone of Every Profitable Business
    When was the last time a client called your cell phone after hours or sent you an email at 8pm and expected an answer by 9pm or didn't pay you per your agreement? Or a vendor or coach took a week to answer an email?
  • 5 Questions You MUST Ask Before Joining a High Level Coaching Program
    The latest rage among internet or online-focused businesses is the high level (over $10,000/year) coaching or mentoring program frequently referred to as "Gold", "Platinum" or "Diamond" programs - it seems that almost everyone has their version of one.
  • Website Not Performing As It Should? Ask These 7 Questions To Find Out Why
    In preparing to design and write my new website, I visited hundreds of other sites to get a feel for what I did/did not want. For example, "squeeze pages" are all the rage these days. You know, those pages which require you to enter your name and email just to get a peek at the actual website (or you can check the always-too-tiny "enter site" button to skip the squeeze page).
  • 4 Keys to Manifesting Your Reality
    People generally fail at achieving their goals and completing their projects for one of three reasons: poor systems, not clearly defining their goal/project or self sabotage (conscious or unconscious). We're going to focus on how to get out of your own way in order to overcome obstacles.
  • Are You Special or Just Another...?
    When most of us get into business, we look around at what everyone else in our industry is doing. If we're a bookkeeper, we look around at other bookkeepers. If we're a life coach, we look around at other life coaches. If we're a financial planner, we look around at other financial planners. If we're a virtual assistant, we look around at other virtual assistants. And then we do what they do.
  • The 3 Biggest Pricing Mistakes and How To Avoid Them
    I was recently on a forum where several "time for money" service professionals and business owners were discussing their "rates". I immediately noticed that these smart, savvy business owners were falling into some pricing myth traps.
  • Are You A Good Client?
    You often see people (including me) writing about customer service, successful vendor practices and the like, very rarely, however, do you see someone ask you to review your own actions and determine if you are a good client for someone else. And that's what today's article is about -- if you dare.
  • Marketing Overwhelm: A Curable Disease
    I once had a client who would tell me he figured out how to "fix" his business and what he needed to do to succeed. Unfortunately, he did this DAILY. Each day he had a new marketing strategy that he would drop everything else to implement. It was exhausting as well as counterproductive - for both of us.
  • What Do You Do When It All Goes Wrong?
    Sometimes problems are just problems and not "opportunities". Sometimes lemons make bad lemonade. And not all clouds have a silver lining. When everything goes wrong, try one (or all) of the techniques, accept it and move on knowing that things will get better!
  • Online Success Simplified: 5 Must-Have Tools for a 6-Figure and Beyond Business
    In building and growing an online business, or one with a strong online component, there are several must-have tools which will allow you to not only have passive revenue, but to enjoy multiple streams of it.
  • 5 Strategies To Getting Your Money's Worth At Seminars & Workshops
    You open your email to find a notice about an upcoming seminar or workshop on a topic you desperately want to learn more about.
  • Article Marketing Repurposing Strategy - Creating Information Products
    We all know the importance of keeping in touch with our ideal clients and prospects via frequent AND informative content. But that doesn't mean your articles, a.k.a. "informative content", should be relegated to your hard drive forevermore.
  • MySpace -- 5 Reasons It's Not Just for Teenagers Anymore
    It was not so long ago when I was watching my nephews eagerly upload their MySpace pictures and create their profiles. All the rave with teenagers and music bands, MySpace has become so much more!
  • How to Use Email as a Marketing Strategy
    Email. We use it for everything from chatting with our friends and family to corresponding with clients and sending business inquiries to helping others in online discussion forums.
  • Article Marketing Repurposing Strategy -- and it's NOT posting articles online
    Repurposing - the art of doing something once and using it in other ways - is one of the most effective and efficient systems you can create within your business.
  • Time and Productivity Management -- Sandy Style
    There are hundreds, if not thousands, of books on time and productivity management and most of them appear to have been written by dedicated individuals who work in a vacuum -- they certainly aren't entrepreneurs building businesses from home offices with all the distractions that environment can bring.
  • How to Develop a Professional Image
    In this day of technology and the dreaded recordings, insuring that you maintain a professional image is crucial to business success.
  • 9 "Low Cost/No Cost" Marketing Tips & Techniques
    Do you need to get more clients? Are you trying to get your first client? Is your marketing budget equivalent to the cost of a Happy Meal?
  • What EXACTLY are "processes and systems"?
    Creating processes and systems is all about setting things up so your business can pretty much run on its own.
  • Do You Have An Iron Cage Around Your Customers?
    You ordered a glass of wine and two bottles of water. The bill came to US $40 Are you shocked? Horrified?
  • Common Courtesy as a Client Magnet
    I recently needed to contact a vendor regarding a delivery question. Without naming names, I can tell you that the vendor is a small business and I do a not-insignificant amount of business with them.
  • Autoresponders: What are they and how to use them
    An autoresponder is a piece of software -- either standalone or as part of something larger like a shopping cart -- which AUTOMATICALLY sends an email, or a sequence of emails when triggered.
  • 3 Processes to Put Your Business on Automatic Pilot
    I often talk about implementing systems in your business to keep everything running smoothly. Lots of people talk about systems and processes, but very few actually explain what that means.
  • How To Handle Your Newsletter Unsubscribes
    The most common question I hear from my clients is "What did I do wrong?" immediately followed by "Maybe I should stop publishing my newsletter since no one likes it."
  • What have you done?
    Do you remember the day you worked for a company -- large or small, it doesn't matter -- and dreamed of owning your own business?
  • Are You Preventing Sales and Turning Away Customers?
    In their struggle to get clients and customers quickly, many self-employed business owners make the same mistakes again and again and wonder why no one's calling. Here's a look at just a few of them:
  • 3 Reasons Your Prospects Aren't Buying From You
    Despite what all the "instant gurus" may tell you about how you can generate millions of dollars of sales simply by purchasing their program and doing X, the reality is there's a system to building your business - whether online or offline.
  • 4 Ways to Build Your Ezine List Without Spending a Dime
    I want to cover the Top 4 ways I built my list. Each of the following items can be done without spending a dime.
  • How Different Personalities Deal With Change
    The most successful entrepreneurs not only embrace change, they actively seek it out knowing that greater fulfillment, greater success and greater profits come with constant adaptation to the market.
  • RSS and Aggregators: So Easy A Caveman Could Use Them
    "RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated digital content, such as blogs, news feeds or podcasts. Consumers of RSS content use special browsers called "aggregators" to watch for new content in dozens or even hundreds of web feeds.
  • Giving Back
    Have you ever noticed that people get incredibly happy whenever you unexpectedly think of them or do something for them?
  • 5 Must-Haves for Your Business Retreat
    The corporate world knows the value of taking time out for a step back, taking time to assess what is going right, what is going wrong and what just plain isn't going anywhere.
  • Are you a "Dynamic Dan", "Opportunistic Oliver" or "Scared Susie"?
    As a person, your success, or failure, depends in part on how well you adapt to change.
  • "Where's the cash? 7 SIMPLE and PROVEN steps you can easily take right now to get paid faster"
    It's that time again. You send out invoices and sit and wait, and wait, and wait for your clients to pay you. Sometimes it's a matter of cash flow on their end, sometimes they are just too busy and forget and other times it's something little that they are unsure of, but haven't found the time to contact you.
  • 7 Simple Ways to Consistently Build Your Ezine List
    HOW do I build my ezine list? or How do I get more people to sign up for my ezine list?
  • Where are You in the Hierarchy?
    There is what I call a "Hierarchy of Connection" - the higher the level of your connection, the more credibility you have and the more likely prospects are to turn into clients and refer others to you - think of this as the "know, like and trust" factor you hear so much about.
  • What business are you REALLY in?
    Many businesses spend thousands of dollars branding everything they do to create a familiarity with their prospects and customers and yet, sadly, miss the boat completely when it comes to their service.
  • The Top 5 Ways To Build A Quality Prospect List
    Every time you turn around these days, people are telling you that you need to have "a big list". Is this true? "Yes. . .and no." Truth is, you must have a list of qualified prospects who relate to you AND who want to purchase the products and services you offer.
  • Do You Suffer From Marketing Overwhelm?
    It's important to remember that good marketing is about two things: 1/ educating your community (target audience) about what problems you solve and 2/ building a relationship with those in your community.
  • Do You Know YOUR *Why* For Publishing An Ezine?
    I received the following question yesterday: "How do I get started publishing and marketing my ezine?" While the question is broad enough to warrant its own seminar, let's discuss the "How do I get started publishing?" question this week and the "marketing" of it next week.
  • Which is Better: Direct Mail, Teleseminars or Webinars?
    With every new technology, comes groups of users who immediately want to dispense with the old. Now that webinars are becoming mainstream, I've had a few clients ask which is better to use in their business: old-fashioned direct mail, teleseminars or webinars?
  • Are You Client Friendly?
    There was a teleseminar I was interested in attending last week (promoted in a colleague's e-newsletter) and so I dutifully clicked the "register here" link. That link took me to another web page (after 3 tries), which gave me another description of the same teleseminar and asked me to "register here". So I have to ask you, are you "client friendly" - that is, are you easy to do business with?
  • The Most Common Client Objections and How to Deal With Them
    "A desire can overcome all objections and obstacles." -- Anonymous Think about the above quote for a second. When you want, I mean REALLY want something, you can almost always rationalize getting it. You find a way to overcome that nagging little voice whose job it is to object and throw up obstacles. I want you to view objections as a good thing. Yes, seriously!
  • Does Your Elevator Speech Pass the Goldfish Test?
    Hello! How are you? So what do you do? The clock has started. I've just met you and within those first several seconds have formed an opinion of your success, your income, your education, etc. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to get our attention so that we are focused on you and your business. You have between 20 and 30 seconds max. Can you do it?
  • Top 5 Tools For Insuring Your Marketing Plan Attracts Clients
    In order to insure that your pipeline doesn't dry up as existing clients take vacations or move on, you want to overfill your marketing funnel in order to create a waiting list of people who want to work with you.
  • 5 Success Indicators to Knowing If You Have a Hobby or a Business
    I'd like you to take a step back, look at your business as an outsider would and ask the question "Is this a hobby or a business?" Put aside the anger that immediately boils to the surface because, after all, you are working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week; eating and non-sleeping this entity known as your business with little financial return and look at it objectively.
  • 7 Tried and True Ways to Get More Subscribers
    You've made the decision to start your own ezine or newsletter. You've formatted your newsletter, written an article or tip or two and sent it to your parents, siblings and friends. Great! Now what? The question I'm asked most from new ezine/newsletter publishers is how to get more subscribers on their list. Here are 7 simple ways for you to grow your ezine list - - with integrity and authenticity!
  • 7 Tips to Writing Great Articles Which Showcase Your Expertise
    As a business owner, do you find yourself needing to write more and more? You've probably heard that you should be writing articles to promote your business (and it is a great, no cost way to showcase your expertise), but may be leery of starting. Here are 7 tips to get you writing effective articles.
  • 4 Unconventional Ways to Market Your Ezine
    There are hundreds of ways to market your ezine. Some are good, some are expensive and many are both. We've all heard of: * article marketing (effective if done right) * ezine advertising (can work) * Google Adwords (can be expensive) * purchasing lists (I don't recommend) * hosting teleseminars (very effective if marketed well) But have you considered. . .
  • 5 Simple and Easy Ways to Use Facebook to Market Your Business
    Facebook is another in a long list of social networking sites. There's MySpace, LinkedIn, Ryze, etc. Certainly too many to join and keep up with AND run your business at the same time. Are these sites just a place to hang out and avoid work or do they have a place in the busy entrepreneur's life?
  • 5 Steps For Getting Clients Quickly
    I received an email from a struggling business owner the other day. She’s good at what she does, but is in danger of closing her doors after being in business for over 3 years due to a lack of long term clients. The problem? There are actually two...
  • Is Your Business in a Slump?
    Business tends to slow down during certain times of year. If you are experiencing one of those "slumps", it's a good time to take a look at your marketing materials and *freshen* them up a bit to insure that they are doing their job.
  • How to Avoid 97% of What Causes All Failures
    Two scenarios: A. You're in your office making up a new client folder for a client who doesn't yet exist. Your thinking about how you'll work together and the phone rings. It's a prospect who's interested in working with you. B. You're sitting at your desk deeply involved in a project and the phone rings. It's a prospect who's interested in working with you. Which one of the above prospects will get the *best* you?
  • 4 Requirements for a Successful Teleseminar
    Teleseminars -- presentations via telephone -- are the fastest way to build your ezine list as you share knowledge with those in your target audience. Before we jump into the "how", let's discuss the different types of teleseminars and why each is a valuable service you can offer.
  • Is Your Website Doing Its Job?
    In marketing your business these days, one of the most important "conversations" you will ever have with prospective clients happens without you even being present. It's the home page of your website. Is your website doing its job?
  • 3 Common Mistakes That Could Lose You Ezine Subscribers
    We all get ezines, we all read *some* of them -- I just went through a "decluttering" process where I unsubscribed from about 10 ezines. All because they failed to meet my expectations. Unsubscribes typically occur as a result of one of the below; these are easy to correct and well worth the time involved.
  • What Exactly IS The "Law of Attraction"?
    With all the publicity surrounding "The Secret", it's no wonder readers want to know more about the "Law of Attraction". Read on to learn more about the Law of Attraction and how you can use it to create the life of your dreams!
  • How Do You Know It's Time to Fire a Client?
    As a business owner, you're no longer sitting in your too-small cubicle waiting to be called to HR for yet another downsizing in yet another company. No more being told when you can take lunch, make a personal call or, heavens forbid, go to the bathroom. Owning your own business comes with lots of perks. One of them that is frequently overlooked however is that you now have the ability to fire a client.
  • Proven Time Management & Productivity Techniques for Entrepreneurs -- Part II
    The following techniques work incredibly well for me. You should read and adapt them for your own personality and work style. Techniques 1 and 2 were in last week’s article and can be found at Proven Productivity and Time Management Techniques for Entrepreneurs – Part I.
  • Proven Time Management & Productivity Techniques for Entrepreneurs
    My friends are always amazed at how much I accomplish and frequently ask "How do you get so much done?". I normally just shrug it off, but the question has been coming so much lately that I decided to share my top productivity techniques. My top two are included here and the remainder will come in next week's article.
  • How to Develop a Professional Image -- Even If You Work Virtually
    In this day of technology and the dreaded recordings, insuring that you maintain a professional image is crucial to business success. How you come across on the phone, through your website, on a plane or at a networking event directly impacts how others (read "potential clients") perceive you and your business. Especially if you ARE your business.
  • Do You 'Make a Sale' or 'Provide an Experience'?
    You ordered a glass of wine and two bottles of water. The bill came to US $40. Are you shocked? Horrified? I smiled. Why did I smile rather than cringe? It was the "experience". I was immediately brought back to the people, the chatting, the smells, the feel of the warm sun on a winter's day, the sound of the Fountain of Four Rivers -- all of it, generated off a receipt for wine and bottled water.
  • December 31, 2007: Where Will Your Business Be?
    You create your list, you write your plan, you dream your dreams and, before you know it, another year has passed and you're no closer to achieving them. Are you thinking "been there, done that"? If so, I'd like you to repeat after me...
  • New Year's Resolutions, "The Word" and a Small Business Retreat
    Do you spend so much time working IN your business that you never work ON your business? The corporate world knows the value of taking time out to assess what is going right, what is going wrong and what just plain isn’t going anywhere. It is critical to take time out to plan for the upcoming time period, be it a year, or even a long-term goal. Otherwise, how can you get where you want to be if you don’t know where that is?
  • Podcasting: What is it and how can it help your small business?
    Our world has gotten increasingly "grab and go" and podcasting allows the customer/client to subscribe to a podcaster (read "entrepreneur") that he likes and automatically get all the latest information from that person via audio files which he can listen to in his car, take to the gym, listen to on a plane, take on a walk. . .you get the idea. As such, it makes sense for the small business owner to jump on the podcasting bandwagon.
  • What is a Blog and how can one help your small business?
    To put it simply, a blog is an online journal and can be about any topic that you want to write on: from marketing to gardening to weight loss to new business techniques. In the business world, blogs are a great way to market your business by generating traffic to your website.
  • 3 Simple Steps to Insure Your Clients Pay You
    You’ve done the marketing, you’ve filled your funnel and the phone starts ringing – you’ve got a new client! Now what? Whether you are a consultant, coach, virtual assistant or other type of service provider, it’s important to insure you start off your client relationship properly.
  • What To Do When Clients Don't Pay -- 6 Strategies to Get Your Money
    You love the people, you’re really enjoying the work, things are going great. Everything proceeds along smoothly for several months until that fateful month where you submit a large invoice and payment isn’t immediate. “No problem” you think. “Things are a little tight. It will be paid a little late.” What are your options when a client doesn’t – or can’t – pay you?
  • Email Marketing: A Simple, Free and Overlooked Way to Market Your Business
    There’s a limited amount of real estate in every email that you send. How you use it determines, in part, how effective your emails are and how well you are marketing yourself. Given how often emails are forwarded around, a well-crafted email signature can get you calls/emails from prospects you never knew even existed, new ezine subscribers and, in the best cases, a new client – this is a great return on free marketing.
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