In Client Attraction, Focus on Service, Not Accumulation

“I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve—Albert Schweitzer

I’ve mentored a few already-successful solopreneurs recently who walk the line between ‘high-achiever’ and ‘overachiever’ and let me tell you, there IS a difference. You’ve heard me say many times that I work best with high-achieving go getters who know exactly what they want (usually it’s more clients, more in-come, with more time off to enjoy it all) and who say to me, “Fabienne, show me how to do it and I’ll do exactly what you say.” That’s the kind of person who sees results.

But sometimes, there’s a different breed of person. The person who takes on too much, too fast, and seems to always be RACING towards the next level. (I know firsthand about this, I used to be one.) The ‘high-achiever’ sets high goals and then does what it takes to make those goals happen. The ‘overachiever’ seems to want to accumulate just for the sake of accumulating. (I know, because again, I used to think like that.)

A few years ago, a coaching colleague asked me, “Hey, I notice that you move at a very fast pace. What’s the deal? Why do you feel the need to accomplish so much in such a short period of time?” I was stunned actually. Didn’t quite know how to answer. So I said, “It’s a game for me. Seeing how much I can accomplish is fun.” But it took me a while to “get” what he was trying to say.

I think that I was focused on accumulation rather than service. It was about amassing clients and in-come, probably having to do with proving something to someone from a bazillion years ago. Yes, it was a game, a competition against self, but was there a point to it all? Probably mo-ney, but even that is just a number sometimes. It began to feel like a hamster wheel, an empty process. There seemed to be no meaning to accomplishment at a fast pace.

It’s when I stepped back and looked into the REASON for why I started this business that it stopped being a race. I got focused on SERVICE again, on my purpose and skills, and why I got into this in the first place. I think I’d lost that along the way. The minute I realized this, Client Attraction became less about filling a void, and more about being of service. Less about accumulation, and more about really making a serious difference in people’s lives and businesses.

Being focused on service, I started being happier, clients got even better results, our friendship was deeper and even more satisfying, and the best part was, it stopped feeling like WORK. I started getting a feeling that I couldn’t believe I was being paid (well) for doing something so gratifying. And then I noticed something…

Ironically, when I tapped back into SERVICE, that’s when my in-come began growing much more rapidly. That’s when the referrals started pouring in again. That’s when my numbers started really increasing dramatically. That’s when bigger and bigger opportunities began coming my way.

“He who wishes to secure the good of others, has already secured his own.” —Confucius

Your Assignment:

Notice how you approach your business. Does it feel like a race for the mo-ney, rather than being of service to others in a BIG way? Has the MEANING of what you’re doing gotten lost along the way? Is it more about accumulation now? If so, take a step back and reconnect to the reason you got into this in the first place: service and the DIFFERENCE you can make in people’s lives. That’s what’s going to make you happy.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not even close to suggesting that you should stop marketing and setting up systems for everything in your business. What I am saying is, couple this with consistently working on implementing your marketing and Client Attraction strategies, and attracting clients will become big time easy (then the in-come will naturally follow).

Not sure on where to start creating these marketing systems, even if you’re already successful? I recommend getting a copy of the Client Attraction Home Study System™. It gives you the most important things to do to set up simple, solid marketing systems, so that you consistently fill your pipeline and continually get new clients. It’s all step-by-step, not a big mishmash of things. So, you do step one of the system, and when you’re done with that, you move on to step two, and so on. All the tools, scripts, templates, and examples are handed to you on a silver platter. Easy. You can get it at TheClientAttractionSystem.com.

© 2007 Client Attraction, LLC. All Rights Reserved

Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System™ and www.ClientAttraction.com, the proven step-by-step program to attract more clients, make more m’oney being self-employed, while having more time off to enjoy it all. To receive your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and get weekly how-to articles on attracting more clients, visit www.ClientAttraction.com.

Become a Client Magnet by Outsourcing

If you want to start making mo.re being self-employed while having more time off, it’s crucial to outsource, delegate, and systematize different parts of your business, even if you’re a beginner. Let’s face it, it takes a lot to make your solo-business a Client Attraction machine, but even more so if you’re doing it all on your own.

One of the reasons so many solopreneurs quit or watch their businesses fail is that they’re doing everything themselves and they eventually run the business into the ground. When we think of being self-employed, we often think it should be just “us,” like we’re out to prove something. Thing is, you CANNOT do it all on your own. (Believe me, I tried.) If you do, you won’t grow and worse, you’ll eventually burn out, both personally and professionally.

This is where you may need to let go of your ICF (“Inner Control Freak”) and start delegating and outsourcing some aspects of your business. I’ll admit; sometimes that’s easier said than done. The most frequent question that comes up when I talk to entrepreneurs about delegating and outsourcing is, “Where do I start? What should I outsource?”

The key with outsourcing is to LEVERAGE your time and resources by delegating specific things in your business to someone else who’s happy to do them for you. That said, here’s what you should begin outsourcing:

• Stuff you’re not good at.
  
• Stuff you don’t know how to do.
  
• Stuff you don’t have time to do.
  
• Anything outside of your brilliance/genius. (Usually stuff only YOU can do. For me, that’s coaching, speaking, writing, and marketing.)

Outsourcing the above allows you to strengthen your strengths, not your weaknesses. Here’s what I mean. For years, I’ve been really good at marketing and attracting clients, both for myself and for my own clients. It comes to me naturally; it’s my passion and my core competency. Bookkeeping on the other hand, is NOT. For years, I would beat myself up for not being able to balance a checkbook, organize my receipts, making sure stuff was paid on time, or taxes filed on time. It was a big source of shame for me.

A few years ago, I decided I was going to strengthen my weakness and get REALLY good at bookkeeping for my business. I bought a brand new copy of QuickBooks, cleared the whole weekend, pulled all the receipts, old bills, credit card receipts and tax papers out of the many shopping bags I’d stuffed under the bed and in the closet, and decided I was going to master this THING, once and for all.

Not only did it take me all weekend, but I got exasperated and anxious, depressed, and honestly, I cried more than once. You see, I was working OUTSIDE of my brilliance and “genius” work. I was trying to get really good at something I will never be really good at. And what I realized is, even if I got “really” good at it, I would only be a mediocre bookkeeper, in comparison to people whose brilliance that stuff is. Even if I conquered this weakness, I would still not master it.

I realized that if I’d spent the same time doing things I’m really good at, like making mo.ney, I would have made a LOT more than what I would have paid someone to do this for me. Using the same number of hours marketing and writing, I could have written a new info-product or created a new program, both of which would have brought in thousands and thousands of dollars. But I chose instead to get good at bookkeeping? Never again.

Today, I’ve got an entire virtual business team that works with me to help me focus on what I do best: 3 virtual assistants, one transcriptions assistant, an off-shore team to take care of miscellaneous things, an in-person assistant to run errands and file, a bookkeeping team, an accounting team, a law firm, a fulfillment house, a CD duplication company, an event planning team, travel agents, graphic designers, ghostwriter, and more.

It sounds like a lot (and I certainly didn’t start out that way), but believe me, just my 3 virtual assistants save me SO much time, at least 117 hours per month, so I can work on what I do best. That’s almost 3 weeks’ worth of 9-hour days, not even counting lunch or bathroom breaks, and I’m only counting 3 of those people, not the entire team

Wow! Maybe you CAN have more than 24 hours in a day. That is, IF you outsource. If it doesn’t come easily to me, then I delegate it and use my time doing what I’m best at. It’s the ultimate leverage.

Your Assignment:

Take out a pad of paper and make a list of specific things in your business that you could outsource or delegate to someone else:

• Stuff you’re not good at.
• Stuff you don’t know how to do.
• Stuff you don’t have time to do.
• Stuff someone ELSE will be better at.
• Anything outside of your brilliance/genius

Make another list of your strengths and then one of your weaknesses (it’s OK, we all have ‘em). Begin to focus on delegating your weaknesses and anything that’s not Client Attraction and client work. You’ll begin to see a MAJOR difference in your re-venues, often as early as within a couple of weeks. When you see more mo.ney coming in, you’ll want to outsource ALL you can and it’ll become a game really worth playing. You make mo.re, play more. Everyone wins.

That said, you may be wondering WHERE to begin finding people to outsource to so you can make Client Attraction a priority and market your business in a way that’ll give you the most returns with little effort on your part. If so, I recommend getting a copy of the Client Attraction Home Study System™. It gives you the most important things to do to set up simple, solid marketing systems, so that you consistently fill your pipeline and continually get new clients. It’s all step-by-step, not a big mishmash of things. So, you do step one of the system, and when you’re done with that, you move on to step two, and so on. All the tools, scripts, templates, and examples are handed to you on a silver platter. Easy. You can get it at TheClientAttractionSystem.com.

© 2007 Client Attraction, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System™ and www.ClientAttraction.com, the proven step-by-step program to attract more clients, make more m’oney being self-employed, while having more time off to enjoy it all. To receive your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and get weekly how-to articles on attracting more clients, visit www.ClientAttraction.com.

Get Past Procrastination and Into Client Attraction: My 5 Steps to Getting Things Done

Have you ever looked at your to-do list and just wanted to run away? Sometimes, procrastination gets the best of us self-employed people. It seems that everything is priority and we tend to put some things on the back burner. The thing is, if the items on your to-do list have to do with marketing and Client Attraction, then you don’t want to ignore them (if you do, your pipeline of prospects will be empty in 6 months).

Procrastination creeps its ugly head in my business every now and then. Personally, I think it’s more overwhelm than procrastination and the list can be so overwhelming that I tend to go in avoidance/denial mode, preferring to just not deal with it. (Has that ever happened to you too?)

Realistically, you can’t ignore having to market yourself, so you sometimes just have to bite the bullet and do what it takes. Here’s my personal action checklist to take me from procrastination to massive action:

1. Prioritize: Your list may be a mile long or just a half page long. Either way, the best way to get into action is to sort out what your return on investment is going to be for each item on your list (financially, time-wise, resource-wise) and then sort them by the one that will reap the most benefits (e.g., clients and revenue) from the littlest output on your part. You’ll start with that one.
   
   
2. What’s getting in the way? Sometimes, I find procrastination is more about something getting in the way than anything else. It could be you don’t have every piece of the puzzle to be able to move forward into accomplishing something. It could be you don’t know how to do ONE aspect of it. It could also be that this is a SHOULD and isn’t absolutely necessary to your success. Whatever’s holding you back, just get clear on it.
   
   
3. How long will it REALLY take: I’ve found that often, I delay on a marketing task (or any task, for that matter) because I anticipate it taking a lot longer than it really will. To get past this, look at a task and ask yourself how long it will realistically take to get done. Then, take out the to-do list and write down the time it will take you to accomplish it next to each item (15 minutes, 2 hours, etc.).
   
   
4. Schedule it: Look at your calendar and find time slots that correspond to the time allotment for each task you did above and schedule them, as if they were client appointments you were unable to cancel.
   
   
5. Just do it: Once you’ve got the “task appointments” scheduled in your book, just do them. You’ll power through them like you’ve never done before. It’s actually pretty cool.

Your Assignment:

When marketing yourself, take notice of when you start slipping into procrastination mode (it happens to most everyone, believe me). Prioritize the tasks on your list to focus on the ones that will get you the highest return on investment, notice what’s getting in the way or what piece is missing, and solve the issue accordingly, establish how long it will take to get done, and then schedule it in your calendar. You’ll have no excuse not to do it.

Remember, there’s never a point at which you can say (about marketing), “I’m successful now, I might as well take a nap.” Notice the very successful entrepreneurs you look up to. They never stop marketing. In fact, they’re always adding new things to their existing marketing plans. Do the same. Get past your procrastination and into Client Attraction. ALWAYS BE MARKETING and you’ll always have clients (especially if you have systems in place).

You may be wondering WHAT to do to market your business that’ll give you the most returns with little effort on your part. If so, I recommend getting a copy of the Client Attraction Home Study System™. It gives you the most important things to do to set up simple, solid marketing systems, so that you consistently fill your pipeline and continually get new clients. It’s all step-by-step, not a big mishmash of things. So, you do step one of the system, and when you’re done with that, you move on to step two, and so on. All the tools, scripts, templates, and examples are handed to you on a silver platter. Easy. You can get it at TheClientAttractionSystem.com.

© 2007 Client Attraction, LLC. All Rights Reserved

Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System™ and http://www.clientattraction.com/, the proven step-by-step program to attract more clients, make more m’oney being self-employed, while having more time off to enjoy it all. To receive your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and get weekly how-to articles on attracting more clients, visit http://www.clientattraction.com/.