Sep 30

Next Masterclass-Advanced PowerPoint Demonstration

PowerPoint demonstrationVideos are one of the best ways to attract potential clients to opt-in to your list. A simple short video on your website can also create a much higher website ranking with the search engines.

If you notice, you can see how many online businesses attract the attention of clients through short animation videos. Human attention span is very limited when it comes to viewing ads. Long videos might persuade the customer to go to the next video.

Therefore, many employers reach out to service providers or designers who can help them produce short interesting videos that market their product or services properly. More online training is done with video than any other media.

So it pays to know how to create a video. Having a slide presentation to go along with what you have to say is more impressive and impressionable than just audio or teleclass. In other words, viewers retain what you said longer if there’s a visual that goes along with the audio.

That said, a PowerPoint presentation does not need to be tedious and limited. There are tons of guides and resources that offer PowerPoint Tips to help you create visually attractive slides. You can always read up on them and get the right understanding to make your video content that much more engaging and educational.

This week Lynn Jordan and Jeannette Koczela will be doing a follow-up masterclass, “Power Up Your PowerPoint Presentations” on using PowerPoint, based on a recent class we took. We’ll be showing you how to create a simple video for your site or your list using PowerPoint, including how to use graphics, animation, sound, and other cool stuff. You’ll be able to see us put together a presentation on the spot, using many of the advanced techniques available in PowerPoint. We’ve teamed together on this so you can see how to use these advanced techniques on a MAC or a PC.

Sep 23

Review of “Power Up For Profits”

I have found that there are very few really good books on online marketing.  So I was eager to get my copy of Kathleen Gage’s “Power Up For Profits” because I knew it would be one of the good ones.  Why? Because I’ve been following her for years and she always gives high-value content.  Her book is no exception.

Although her chapters go through the usual suspects, such as choosing your niche, ideal client, creating products, building a list, etc., Kathleen adds to the mix her vast experience and many inside tips along the way. You get to see how SHE did it. Plus in her content, she also discusses why you should do this or that.  It’s important to know the “why.”

She illustrates her strategies with charts that make it easy-to-understand and see at a glance the entire process.  For example, in the chapter on information products, she illustrates her points with a chart on the “Product Life Cycle.” This is a very helpful chart that lays out the process that a product goes through. You can see at a glance where your product is in the cycle and also see what stages you might be leaving out.

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Sep 09

Entrepreneurs Need to Network

Job security is changing. “Safe” jobs with a guaranteed pension are a thing of the past. Owning a business is much more secure than a job, provided you know how to operate one successfully.

Reid Hoffman, Co-founder/CEO of LinkedIn, says that you should think of yourself as a permanent start-up company, or as he calls it, “permanent beta.” Big companies like Apple, Netflix, Google, and Amazon know that they are always in the test phase. Jeff Bezos, founder/CEO of Amazon concludes every annual letter to shareholders by reminding them that “it’s still Day 1.” 

If the shareholders know that the person in charge still treats his hugely successful business as a start-up then they know their investment is in good hands. In other words, great companies are always changing and evolving. And so is your life coaching business.

“Entrepreneurs deal with uncertainties, changes, and constraints head-on. They take stock of their assets, aspirations, and the market realities to develop a competitive advantage. They craft flexible, iterative plans. They build a network of relationships throughout their industry that outlives their start-up. They aggressively seek and create breakout opportunities that involve focused risk and actively manage that risk. They tap their network for the business intelligence to navigate tough challenges.” – from “The Start-up of You” by Reid Hoffman.

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Sep 02

Are you really an entrepreneur?

Businesspeople in MeetingWhen people ask you what you do, you tell them you are a life coach. I’m proud of my job and I spent years learning how to be a great life coach. I did some NLP certification training and I’ve got many years of experience working with real clients too. But unless you are a life coach for someone else’s company, you’re also an entrepreneur.

The problem is that coach’s training programs do not include entrepreneurial training. Yes, they may teach you a few things about marketing, mindset, and sales conversations, but there is an entrepreneurial way of thinking and acting that make some businesses wildly successful. It’s the mindset that created companies like Intel, Apple, Adobe, Google, eBay, PayPal, YouTube, Craigslist, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

One thing that these companies have in common is that they took bold risks to accomplish something outstanding.

The majority of life coaches that I have talked to personally say the same thing to me about their risk tolerance. It usually sounds like, “I’ve spent so much money on this business.” Or, “I’m not going to spend anymore money on this business until it starts making money.” In other words, they have a very low tolerance for risk. What they need to know is that if you’re going to start-up a business, you will need to take on some risk.  Bigger risks can mean potentially bigger rewards. And just like investment and bettings, any risk you make should be calculated, strategic, intelligent risk.

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Aug 19

My best recommendation for expanding your business

Rich German and Milana Leshinsky

Ask any successful coach, author, or speaker what are powerful marketing tools, for expanding your business, 90% of them would say around the same variety of things.

  • Posting on Facebook or Twitter.
  • Perhaps blogging or SEO.
  • Print media like newsletters or articles.

But if you ask any successful coach, author, or speaker what their #1 most powerful marketing strategy is, and 90% will say the same single thing.

Here’s a hint, it’s rarely one of the above.

But if you really looked at what can drive the BULK of your sales, you would discover that JOINT VENTURES are the #1 marketing strategy force driving new clients into your business.

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Aug 12

What you don’t know about PowerPoint slide design is hurting your results!

My first encounter with computer software was when I was doing architectural renderings for a construction company in the 90’s and they asked me to learn AutoCad. The textbook was 300 pages and I found out later that the author, Ellen Finkelstein, was on faculty at the local university in my town.

Years later I met her at the first meeting of a local group called “Women with Websites.” I was so excited to meet and get to know the author of a text for probably the most complicated software program ever created. One day Ellen told me that although she knew AutoCad very well, her mastery and passion was PowerPoint. In fact she not only wrote the textbook but also is one of the world’s leading experts on the PowerPoint software program. 

Since I didn’t do presentations, I wasn’t interested in PowerPoint and never talked to her about it. Fast forward about 10 years and I found myself stumbling through the program to do my first video for my coaching business. Nowadays, 

Ellen has observed my progress from web designer to life coach to running an association for coaches and was always supportive and helpful. So after several association members told me their frustrations with PowerPoint presentations, I asked Ellen if she would teach us a class on it, and she graciously agreed.

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Aug 05

Get Clients Now Masterclass Duo

Judith Wentzel

Judith Wentzel

If you are ready to enjoy a steady stream of new clients month after month….

If you would love to stop struggling with marketing and finally have a proven system to consistently grow your business with ease and joy…

If you would like to connect to your business in a way that can allow you to define your unique marketing message…

You need to attend “The Secret To Connecting And Growing Your Business Through Marketing Made Easy,” a two part masterclass series, rescheduled due to illness for August 22 and September 5, designed to empower you to more effectively market your business.

Judith Wentzel, a licensed GET CLIENTS NOW!™ facilitator, and IAPLC member, will be sharing with you some of the GET CLIENTS NOW!™ professional services marketing system. You will also discover a process that can allow you to truly connect to your business in a way that makes marketing your easy and far more effective.

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Jul 29

New Gmail Feature Needs Your Full Attention

Google has announced a new Gmail feature that affects email marketing for all business owners. Here’s the scoop in a nutshell:

If you use Gmail and subscribe to newsletters, over the next few days and weeks, you’re going to get email after email begging you to drag the sender’s emails to the “PRIMARY” tab and click “YES” to confirm. Because, if you don’t, their emails will bypass your inbox and, instead, go to the new “PROMOTIONS” tab, which you’re less likely to read.

These Gmail changes will happen automatically, without your permission, and will most likely mis-filter your emails.

If you send out a newsletter or have a subscriber list of any kind, your emails may not get read if you don’t alert your subscribers to this.

You may not have this feature active in your Gmail yet as Google is rolling out this feature over time. But, if you use Gmail, YOU WILL have it soon and, if you send newsletters, so will your subscribers.

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Jul 08

Are You Doing What You Most Want? by Carl Stewart

energy

energy (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

Guest Post by Carl Stewart, IAPLC member

 

“This is your life. Do what you want and do it often. . . .
Life is about the people you meet and the things you create with
them, so go out, and start creating. Life is short, live your dream,
and wear your passion.”

Are you doing what you most want to be doing? What you would truly love to do?

Yes? Great.

No!

The obvious next question might be “why not?”

And the answers might be something such as:

“I don’t know how.”

“I don’t have the funding.”

“I don’t have the confidence.”

Or, “I’m scared. I’m afraid I’d fail.”

Well, if you do not do it, you, will fail anyway, so why not give it a
whirl.

How You Structure You Answer Guides Your Action 

First, let me help you with how you structure your answer to
“why not?”

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Jun 17

Time Management Struggles by Sharon Ball

Guest Post by Sharon Ball

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Since a goal without a plan is just a wish, I actually began the year by writing down a Business Plan. I began with a description of my ideal client. Unfortunately, my target market has always been too broad. Mentors have been telling me for years to narrow it down. So I looked at the situation again and decided my ideal client was actually three ideal clients. So I listed the three ideal clients and designed a focus for each. The second ideal client will require their own website but instead of spending my time designing and creating the website, I am delegating it.

Of course, delegation costs money but if I put more hours each week into making that money I can afford to hire a webmaster. And I will pay him half of what I can make doing what I do best. And since he knows what he is doing, he is not going g to waste hours figuring things out as I would do. Ok, that’s on its way. Ideal client three is on hold until the future. So now it is time to concentrate on ideal client one.

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